Awning Roof Goes On

Just over a year ago the roofing went on the main sections of the house and now the awnings have received their roof and guttering. We needed scaffolding again for this work to be done. It was an annoying expense, but as I was keen to have the professional roofers do the work so that I do not get any leaks, I had to provide them with scaffolding. I contacted Andrew again from Access Scaffolding at Wollongong and he sent his crew down to put up the scaffolding on afternoon before the roofers arrived.

Scaffolding goes up for the front awning

And the back awnings

The roofing (and scaffolding) had been put off for two weeks due to delays caused by a week of heavy rain in the Shoalhaven, so I was keen for it to all go smoothly. The day the scaffolding went up I phoned the roofing company, Kiteley’s, to confirm they were all lined up for the following day, only to discover at this late stage that they had booked the fascia and gutter to be done Friday and the roofing on the Monday. I wanted to be on site to discuss with the roofers the flashing of the awning roof into the hemp walls and quickly had to rearrange work and family to be on site on the Monday.

I had originally not wanted to have guttering on the awnings, in an effort to make them visually and actually lighter and because we have no storm water and any excess water, not diverted to the water tank, had to be dealt with on site. I also did not want the heavy look of downpipes coming off the awnings. But my concerns about the decks under the awnings rotting from the constant dripping from dew and rain caused me to change my mind and get gutters. I have also decided to use rain chains from the awning gutters and make a feature of and incorporate the use of the water in the landscaping.

The metal fascia and gutter, in Windspray colour to match the other gutters and window frames, started to go up quickly Friday morning, but rain threatened. It sprinkled with rain, stopped and sprinkled again, then a brief shower made the materials too slippery to put up and the roofers put off the job until Saturday, when fine weather was predicted.

The roofers were back Saturday and the remainder of the fascia and guttering were attached, save for the awkward join over the entry area that was not a standard angle and required a different piece to the one that had been provided.

Metal fascia and half round gutters go on the front awnings

And the back awnings

 Monday a different crew of roofers arrived and shortly thereafter so did the roofing. Discussions were had about how to install the flashing where the awnings abutted the hemp walls. I thought it would be easy to chase the overflashing into the hemp as I had had no trouble cutting the hemp with an angle grinder. What I did not know is that on a brick wall they normally chase in a thin groove and slide the overflashing into this and this holds it in place. The groove cut in the hemp walls was not such a tight fit and after discussion of possible alternatives it was decided to try to use silicon to try to keep the overflashing attached to the hemp wall and to have that flashing set in from the finished face of the render so if any water ran down the walls it would drip off the bottom of the render rather than running along the flashing and into the wall.

Some last minute work was needed adjusting the ridge over the entry section. In order to get the minimum 5 degree fall in the roof over the entry and bathroom the framing company had come up with a solution to push the ridge back slightly from the junction with the wall of the main pavilion. This however caused problems for the roofing because a valley commenced at this junction and it commenced any higher there would be water running toward the hemp wall above that junction. The solution was to put the ridge in line with this junction and have a stepped ridge. I originally thought this would look awkward but quickly realised that because of the angles of the roof you will not be able to see it. To then do this all I needed was to add some extra timber for the moved ridge capping to attach to. 

The next problem was that, while I had carefully put in my valley boards and cut off my battens 20mm from the valley boards, I had forgotten to put in the valley battens. So I commenced trimming all the battens and putting in the valley battens parallel to and 20mm out from the valley boards. Being an unusual angle I had to measure all the angles for the valley batten. There are three valleys in the awnings, one over the entry and two either side of the hallway. The valleys over the hallway had the added difficulty of water pipes running through the ceiling that needed channels cut away in the rafters to allow them to fit underneath the valley battens. The temporary roofing over the back valleys were all taken off to put the battens in and then put back on again as the roofers had to come back the next day to finish the back section and the flashing.

Finally a covering over the entryway

The two different height awnings in Shale Grey colourbond

Looking down the awning over the main room

I am keen to see what the house looks like with the awning completed, without the scaffolding in the way, and to see how the flashing to the hemp wall has turned out.