summer adventures
Over the trusses and under the metal roof to come, the guys are putting on the “Zip system” plywood-like underlayment that secures the trusses and is the first waterproof layer. The pieces fit together with tongue and groove, and will be made more waterproof with tape on the seams.
Mid-day there was a lunch break featuring home-made pizza on the grill, made by Hawley and Craig.
Today the trusses went up. A truss is a flat, triangular piece of roof, regularly repeated, that forms the frame of the roof. These were custom measured and built at the factory in nearby Belchertown, MA. A crane came in the morning to place them on the roof.
It turns out that trusses are floppy seemingly like spaghetti until the cross beams are secured. It’ll be great, says the Kevin. Big spaghetti, because they are “persuading” them with a large sledgehammer to get the right alignment.
At around 6:30am we started hearing the sound of a backup beep and airbrakes snorting so out we went and were greeted by the trusses… on a very long truck.
Early on in the process it started pouring.
For a tiny bathroom, removing the tiles/walls is taking an awfully long time. Our house was constructed with metal lath and plaster and the bathrooms were tiled in a lovely 50’s style: one is pink with black and the other is/was yellow with black. Busting through the plaster and lath and tile is involving a lot of work with the sledge hammer and then sweeping up garbage cans full of debris, putting it into the bucket of the tractor and driving it around the house to the dumpster.
At lease the tractor makes the work a little easier.
Today the guys finished up the sleepers and the mason came and extended the chimney for our boiler…. All of this in preparation for the trusses arriving on Friday and being put up on Monday.
Today the guys started attaching sleepers to the perimeter of the roof. These are all being set level to each other to make up for the fact that our roof edge is definitely not level.
It was ridiculously hot and humid and is supposed to continue to be in the 90’s for the rest of the week so tomorrow work is starting at 6am in an attempt to avoid noonday sun.
Trusses are expected to arrive a week from today.
We are still trying to find the sweet spot where torrential downpours outside don’t result in moisture coming inside…. we are almost there, but not quite. We have been lucky, so far, and any water that has come in has been caught quickly with nothing ruined…. but it will be very nice to have the trusses up and sheathed so that there are overhangs and a water proof lid on our home.
We had a torrential downpour yesterday…. all day, so the guys put a bunch of time into clearing the roof of water to start the day and doing some extra taping and flashing before heading home for the weekend.
Craig and I have been busy baking the cake for a 250 guest wedding and today, we have to deliver.
Meanwhile, here at the homestead, the guys are preparing for rain. The plan for the day was to do a minimal amount of framing work and then to make sure that everything was buttoned up tight against the rain…. Oh yes, and the electrician came and hooked up the power for the AC.
The tree cam is back! We have some good footage of today’s work.
On the inside: the plumbers came and disconnected the fixtures in the yelow bathroom. On the outside: the bedroom wall was knocked down and the new exterior wall was framed.
Kevin-the-contractor gave us good news: the trusses will arrive on July 6th, which means that we should have a watertight roof over the house by July 10th. That will be a relief for everybody.
