The 1st 12/12 Roof is Done

Welcome back to the build. Yesterday was not a good day, so I didn’t record most of it. We started the day up on the roof and some of the seams on the roof panels weren’t looking as great. When we installed the roof panels, we were in direct sun, and when we were in the shade we could really see those seams. So I went up there and tweaked some of the panels a little bit, and then scooted in our top ribs at the seams and got that done. So that was okay.

Donavan was down here and got some of the wall steel up, which was also incredibly challenging. Yesterday was very windy, so between gusts he was able to get some of the panels on here. Very excited about seeing some color on the building.

While Donavan was working on the walls, Jack and I were in the lift working on getting the soffit installed up on this end. And that is where we encountered our next oopsie. So on this buildup here we have the fascia piece, and then we have this cap piece which wraps the roof line down onto the fascia. That piece is not supposed to go onto the end wall here. This gets a bigger cap that we installed later, after the roof is finished. We did not realize that until we got all of this installed and ran out of the cap piece at the very end. And that’s when we were like, “yeah this is one of those days that’s not going well at all.” That’s one of those realities that I learned when we started on the renovation project. Some days just don’t work, and no matter what you do, the universe is fighting against you, and you’re never going to beat the universe. 

So today we’re going to pull down what we’ve put up, which is fairly easy to get down. Then we can reuse it as we go down that side wall. But for now, the wind is very calm, so we are going to try and get a few sheets of roofing up before the wind starts picking up later today. 

The wind is holding off for now, so we are going to shift our anchor points and keep going. 

Back on the ground for lunchtime, and I’m pretty happy with this progress for today. It’s a lot of progress compared to yesterday. 

Here’s how it’s looking from the inside with a little more roof on there. Looking more like a building. 

We are onto the last sheet which will be different because now we can’t go over to the right side with the ladder. Working left-handed for now. 

That’s going to do it for today. It’s weird that a half day today was more productive than a full day yesterday. So today we finished the first section of roof, except for a partial piece on the end. We installed more than half of that today in about three hours.

It’s extremely difficult to get good camera coverage up there when I have to be climbing around, so I haven’t been able to show a whole lot of details of how the roof system actually works. So I’ll run through the panel system quickly. Roof panels and wall panels are exactly the same, with a rib design that overlaps onto the next sheet.

There are two different styles of final ribs. This one has a little tail sticking out of the side. 

And this one doesn’t have the extra little bit of material over there to the right. 

And they just sit together like that. We’ve been putting screws in the valley next to every rib, all of the way down. Then we come back and put a screw where the pieces overlap, straight through both pieces and into the purlin below. That really sucks these together and makes that seam nice and tight. 

Another detail, which I haven’t been able to show is that along the bottom here we have some foam pieces which prevent wind from getting underneath the sheet. That foam fills all of the ribs and channels up through there. 

Lastly, here are the screws we are using. They’re a self tapping, self drilling screw which can go through the metal, and then suck down into the wood beneath. They have a rubber washer on them, so as you’re cranking down the screw, that washer compresses and forms your seal to keep the hole from leaking. 

This was my first time doing any kind of metal roofing. It’s definitely different and weird, with this 12/12 pitch, my body needs some stretching. When you’re up there, there’s nowhere to really sit and rest your body at all, so you’re constantly bracing yourself to hold the weight of your body and not fall off. I have been wearing a fall harness, which is nice. I have a retractable one, which is nice because you don’t have to worry about it, but it means that I’m always working against that retraction spring a little bit. So that takes a little bit of getting used to as well, and it adds a little more to the physical nature of being up there. 

This is starting to really come together, and I am extremely excited to be at this point where it’s actually starting to look like a building. Thank you, as always, for joining. I greatly appreciate it. If you have any questions or comments on the barn, please feel free to leave me your comments. As always, I’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have. And, until next time, happy woodworking.

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