Rafters go on

In the week after the frame went up the builders spent a couple of days putting the rafters and battens on the back and main pavilion, for the roof. The skillion roofs were quite straightforward, but some details needed to be attended to such as cutting down the thickness of the rafters where they formed the eaves, so that they were the right thickness for the metal fascia I would be using.

Back pavilion rafters done

Main pavilion rafters done

 I was back on site on Tuesday and the builders were up to putting the rafters on the front pavilion. This all went smoothly, as did the change of pitch section which intersects with the side wall of the main pavilion. After a little thought was put into the positioning of the large ridge beam for the hall, even that section went well. By the end of the day all the roof timbers were in place - aside from the awnings that will have to be done at a later date.

Front pavilion rafters going up

Threatened rain did not eventuate

The builders were busy at work so I busied myself making a new site toilet. An old toilet pan that had been sitting behind my shed for some years was cleaned up, had a new seat added and hooked up over the sewer pipe in what will be the bathroom. As Len, my plumber, had connected all the waste pipes to the sewer I could now have a flush toilet, albeit a bucket flush. Some of the damaged sheets of OSB that I would not use as formwork, were nailed to the frame and an off cut of plastic for a door were added to provide some privacy.

New temporary toilet

With the roof timbers going smoothly my next problem was scaffolding. All my quotes for the metal roof had not included scaffolding. I did not quite realise what this meant - it meant I had to organise and pay for scaffolding, an extra item I had not budgeted for. Bruce from Kiteleys Roofing World met me on site and advised that I needed scaffolding everywhere where it was over 3.2m from the ground to the top plate. This is a Workcover requirement so there was no getting around it. As the house has three skillion roofs this has meant a lot of scaffolding, since each roof is over 3.2m on three sides. I set to work straight away phoning for quotes, with the roofers booked for Wednesday next week I did not have much time. By the end of the week Access Scaffolding from Wollongong had been booked to erect the scaffolding Tuesday, in time for the roofing. I am now hoping for fine weather for next week to get the roof on.