not quite a timber frame

[ljmathias]

Skipped church today- pastor is at annual conference and the guest speaker didn't sound to good (turns out I was wrong on that) plus had to use the forklift to finish up what it could do before it goes back tomorrow.  Did a lot of "fill in the blanks" type work first, though- checking alignment of the trusses we put up yesterday and then screwing them to the top plates with 6" log screws.  Incredible how strong these things are although without pre-drilling the holes, they just won't go into this resinous pine I cut and the fir that the trusses are made of... so it takes some time but boy, does it tighten everything up.  

Then did stuff I could do alone- daughter did her Sunday good deed driving a friends mother to visit him, and then finishing up clothes washing and helping son pack for scout camp.  Boy, is he excited but a little anxious also, since this is his first time to be away for so long.  His mom, on the other hand, claims it will be a great vacation for her, but my guess is she misses him already.   :'(  So what stuff is easy alone in this heat?  Not much actually, but I did get some floor joists up (first picture) and locked in place with log screws.  These will butt up to the stair header for the stringers (or vice versa, depending which direction you're looking) so they need to be held fast and solid.  Then decided to try moving the last four long trusses into place by myself (second picture).  Took it slow and careful as I didn't have any "eyes" up there to tell me where they were as I moved them up and in.  That means I ended up jumping down, climbing a ladder or scaffolding, getting a fix on progress, climbing down and moving everything a little closer to where it should be.  Do this a few times, and your legs will ache by the end of the day...  :(  along with your back, your arms, your neck and your brain, although what use the brain was today I couldn't tell.  ???





So after trying for an hour or so, I finally just left them hanging there till I could get some help, which happened late in the day, around 5:30 or so.  Son Josh came over with his two boys, and they played and scrambled around on the other side of the house from where we were working- dangerous place, new house construction site.  When Josh actually moved the forklift, he had both boys in the cab with him so he would know where they were.  Lost a pup on Thursday to the garbage truck- he was a youngster (daughter's "rescued" pup) and was just starting to show real growth and fill in after being not treated to kindly before we got him.  Made us all sad and very mindful of how easy it is to end a life or maim a young body- good lesson but sad way to learn it.

So when he and the boys left an hour later, the last four trusses were up and blocked and braced (picture below).  I'll to final alignment with a string tomorrow and screw them down tight.  Need to get more substantial bracing up as well, so we'll need some of the longer 2X4's I'd cut that have been drying for a little while- not dry enough for careful work but plenty good for hidden braces.



You might notice the sizable gap between the two sets of long trusses- that's on purpose, and was designed in by the engineer to accommodate the two- and three-piece truss sets that will make up the dormers.  There's an identical gap over the vaulted ceiling in the living room, but the trusses for that area are even more complicated because of a longer span without support.  Totally forgot to build the support walls that will house the dormer windows- not very wide or tall, but without them, there's nothing to hold up the trusses so we couldn't even start putting those in.  First job for tomorrow will be to build one of those.

Final job for the forklift before I sent it home was to place the 12 14' floor joists that will make up the loft floor and kitchen ceiling- could be done by hand but these things are just heavy enough and awkward enough that bruised and broken were in the forecast- hooked all of them with the forks. lifted them up and into the kitchen area, only to discover that they were backward- should have been turned 180 degrees to put a small pocket they each have all on the interior for final alignment with a clean 2X4 or two.



It was too much trouble and too hard to back and shift that monster forklift to turn the joists around on the ground, so I left them up there and put some planking in place to walk on.  Scared me some- don't like being even 8' up with possibility of a fall, which was highly likely since I was manhandling the darn things around up there to get them all pointed in the right direction.  Quit with three left- getting dark and muscles wouldn't work for me any more- at least some parts of the body have enough sense to know when to quit and go get supper.... although I was too tired to eat much, just a shower and snack, and a delicious oatmeal cookie made fresh yesterday for the helpers.  Since there weren't as many as we'd expected, that meant leftovers, always a good thing.

Lj

[Magicman]

Looking good Lj.  Who says us elderly folks can't work in HOT weather.  It hit 102° at my place today.

[ljmathias]

I think the Mother Nature this year is shooting at 100- missing some days, going over others; not a very good shot, all told, but we all love her anyways...     I cheat, though- although I've done a couple days straight through, I also have other stuff to take care of so between 12 and 4 or so, I work in the shade or inside, then hit it again till dark.  Yesterday was one of those days, however, where I did a lot of detail stuff (nailing or screwing down trusses and floor joists, laying out positions for today's work, putting in braces and making everything stand up square and parallel).  Today we're finishing up alignment and bracing on the long trusses, putting in some more short, two piece trusses and finishing the floor joists- I really like some place to stand on wider then a 2X4, so we'll throw some OSB up to walk on without all that nervous tension that saps your (my) energy and makes me much less productive.  I've also got to find my air-hose splitter so we can have a nail gun at both sides of the house- getting old dropping one down, walking it over and climbing up on the other end to nail up a brace or two, and then carry it back to the other side.  Wasting a lot of time with that kind of up-and-down tool moving but I've learned from one bad experience how important it is to get trusses right now so sheathing fits right and tight- I hate having to put up "nailers" when one is out of alignment by an inch.  Bout time to go start sweating again... :-\

Lj

[Magicman]

And what would we ever do without nail guns?  I don't even want to remember.

Stay cool Lj.  I'm off today.    ;)

[Qweaver]

We moved to south Texas in 1977 and I've spent most of those 30+ summers sweating over welding jobs of one kind or another.  That heat is one of the main reasons that we decided to build the cabin in West Virginia.  It's going to be 72 deg here today and 95 in Texas City.  But winter in Texas is pretty darn nice.
Great looking place you are building!

[ljmathias]

Trouble sleeping last night, between the full moon and dreaming half-awake about putting up trusses and laying T&G floor underlayment in the upstairs area...  :-\  Wasn't that long ago our ancestors lived in caves and tents and were chased by all sorts of meanies during bright nights, some walking on two legs.  Oh, well, just time for a short update before work starts again.

I think I said this once before somewhere, but it seems to fit again- this house is a work in progress, and most times there's more work than progress.  Been putting in all the needed braces for the trusses that are up, and laying down floor joists for the loft area, plus putting up a couple of small truss ends that will be part of the roof support over the stairwell.  Mostly, though, it's been the dormer truss sections which have been taking up a lot of time.  First picture below shows the north support sections with a double top plate on which will sit one leg of the roof trusses that extend up and out over the south main roof.  One of these is shown in the second picture- almost had a crash on that one- nailed up a support 2X4 to slide the roof extension up and out over so I could lift the "foot" into the cradle shown in the first section.  These pieces weigh in at over a hundred pounds- a little much for me to lift with one hand and nail-gun in place with the other.  So I got it up in the air with the base in place and as I climb the ladder to nail the main part up, I see the nails are just starting to slide out and about to drop the whole thing.  This would be bad for lots of reasons, one of which is me in the way.   >:(  I quickly get my shoulder under the truss (stupid- should have used a 2X4 prop instead), strain to get it back up to where it should be with a couple whacks up using the nail gun as a sledge hammer (another bad idea- the top is already cracked where I've done this before, but it's amazing what you find yourself doing when you actually don't have that third hand that would be so very useful) and banged in a couple nails to secure it.  Caught my breath and nailed it and used some 3" screws to secure it in place.  Third picture shows the other side, south view, where I have to build a support frame for the rest of the dormer roof units and the window header and frame.







Speaking of which, I've been searching everywhere for dormer windows, the old fashioned kind that have two hinged window sections that open in the window and back toward the room.  To close them, you just push them together and lock in place manually.  I can't find them anywhere- anyone have an idea where I could buy them at not-too-steep-a-price?

Last, spent several hours getting floor trusses for the loft oriented, lined up with a string (love that stuff) and screwed down on both ends.  I've been using 8" log screws with pre-drilled holes that go through an angled leg and base plate of the trusses down into the frame wall top plates or into the porch beam.  This makes them secure to tilt and to uplift, so I may or may not add the hurricane ties when I get the trusses all up, or maybe just put them in select areas.



Oh, and just an added note: I decided to pay for the full week of the forklift rent- no way I could single-handedly muscle most of the trusses pieces up, and that work is going lots slower than I'd hoped.  Speaking of which, off to finish up the north porch beam so I can lift the truss pieces over the kitchen and loft into place, hopefully today.

Lj

[Larry]

Speaking of which, I've been searching everywhere for dormer windows, the old fashioned kind that have two hinged window sections that open in the window and back toward the room.  To close them, you just push them together and lock in place manually.  I can't find them anywhere- anyone have an idea where I could buy them at not-too-steep-a-price?

Two (used to be three) of the local lumber yards here have custom door shops.  I'm not for sure what they can make but I bought a non standard french style door a while back that was custom made.  It turned out cheaper than a standard door from one of the door manufactures.  Give em a call and if they don't do that kind of work bet they know somebody that does.

On the house I'm building now I just used pretty much standard trusses.  The salesman gave me a little tour of there company and I'm amazed at what they can put together.  It's really interesting seeing you build with your trusses.  I know I'm learning something.

[ljmathias]

Yesterday was a good day- worked mostly alone but a helper from church showed up and we really got stuff done.  As he said, "two guys working well together are four times more productive than one alone."  If you throw in the nail gun, he's probably right.

First thing we did is finish up the posts and beam for the northern porch.  I'd deliberately left these undone so I could drive close with the FEL and forklift to get stuff in place, but the great room-kitchen trusses rest on these so we had to get them up before we could move forward.  First picture shows my good friend and retired pastor (although he's been called back- no rest for the wicked or willing) putting up one of the last posts, and second the finished northern porch structure through the trees and mess around the worksite.





You might notice the telescopic forklift is still here- I found I couldn't live without it (wish I could afford to buy one) so we kept it for another week, and may extend that till we get the trusses up, the roof sheathed and the metal roofing on- it is SO much easier to just lift things into position rather than having to wrestle them up there by hand and FEL.  Next picture shows why: with the forklift, two pieces of rope and my trusty assistant, we lifted into place the first of the great room trusses in about 10 minutes, and had it screwed down tight in another ten.   8) 8)



I'd been sweating these trusses for days- they weigh about 150-200 pounds each, way to much for one person, and even two strong people (not me) to lift up into place without damage to body, mind and the trusses.  Today he's supposed to come back early this morning- if so, we might get all the big trusses up and locked in place.

In the last picture for today, you can see what I spent the evening doing- sub-flooring.  This is new-to-me stuff called Advantech that is supposedly rain-proof OSB tongue-and-groove flooring, 3/4 inch MOL that allows you to get your flooring down when it's easy, use it for safer working on second floors, and it's not all that expensive.  The safety factor alone is worth it- I hate walking on non-nailed OSB sitting on floor joists, or even worse, walking on just floor joists.  Made the comment about not liking heights much any more, and David (helper for the day) replied that after seeing how hard it was for his wife to heal from a major injury, he'd decided it wasn't worth risking anymore- too slow to heal at our age and never right again afterward.  Weird how your outlook changes as you get older...  :D



Off to the work site to get started for the day.  Hope to have lots more of the trusses up and some support walls built for the dormer windows by end of day... wish me luck.   :

Lj

[Norm]

I used the advantech on our last house for the flooring. I'd had too many houses built that as soon as the OSB got wet it swelled at the edges. It worked even better than I hoped. 

[Magicman]

Lj,  I tried to send you some cool weather, but it did not get to me.   :-\

Those trusses really look good, but your prep work looks even better.   

[ljmathias]

Thanks, MM, been working when I can I get through the heat- this is one of the worst summers we've had in years.  Between the sun and humidity, I just can't get through the 12-3 time slot most days, and even mornings are tough to stay hydrated.  It was 80 this morning at 5:30 and my shirt soaked by 6.   >:(

Did make some progress today but forgot the camera- finished up the window frame and support structure for the grandson's bedroom dormer.  Decided to go with the biggest window I could find- a 48" by 36" sliding window from Lowes, if we can get it delivered.  That left me a little less than I would have liked for space- 4" just below the window for flashing and trim, and not quite enough for a good header.  The roof over the dormer is light and well supported on both sides with only two smaller trusses coming from a knee wall on the north side, up and onto the window wall.  Lifted the last three trusses into place with the telescopic forklift- what a time and body saver that has turned out to be!   8)  Oh, and I put it on a credit card so I don't really have to pay for it.   ???

So now I have two-thirds of the trusses up and braced and screwed down with 8 or 12" log screws, depending.  Finished the sub-floor so that's all done now, and decided for evening shift to start stairs.  Like a lot of part-timers out there, cutting stringers has always been a slow process, fraught with mistakes that I end up fixing by trial-and-error.  Found a stair calculator on-line that gives a detailed listing of cut locations, stringer length and run-rise settings to use on a square.  Jim Rogers had given me two of the brass buttons that you screw onto a framing square to lock in the locations for the run and rise- thanks again, Jim!  Made the first one as carefully as I could, then set it in place- was off 3/16th at the top and almost 1/4" at the bottom on slant- trimmed those up and I'll use it as a template for the other two, get those nailed together and put up, then screw down rough under-steps so we can eliminate the ladder climbing- after 10 or 20 times up and down in a shift, I've gotten more exercise that working out at the gym.  ;)

Well, grandson made it all the way through his first summer scout camp- he got homesick but toughed it out, so to celebrate, we had home-made pizza and watched the new True Grit- great night off.  And tomorrow, I'll finish the stairs early, then church and dinner-on-the-grounds with our departing pastor, and just taking it easy the rest of the day.  After all, it is father's day tomorrow, so doing nothing with family might be just the ticket!

Lj

[Magicman]

Indeed a well earned day off.  I'm looking forward to mine.   

[Larry]

Like a lot of part-timers out there, cutting stringers has always been a slow process, fraught with mistakes that I end up fixing by trial-and-error.  Found a stair calculator on-line that gives a detailed listing of cut locations, stringer length and run-rise settings to use on a square.  Jim Rogers had given me two of the brass buttons that you screw onto a framing square to lock in the locations for the run and rise- thanks again, Jim! 

My experience exactly.  Friday I found a online calculator and did the same...not trusting the first calculator I found a second one and both agreed.  At the top end I have a bit of brick ribbon to cut around so I drew the stringer in SketchUp.



All ready to cut the stringers just need some wood.  The steps are for an outside deck and the bottom rests on the ground (flat rock).  Figured I need ground contact pressure treated.  Found out most quick, ground contact 2 X 12's are not a stock item at most yards.  My local yard had to order them so it will be a few days before I find out if my calculations work.

Wish I had some of those buttons as I've used em in the past and they make for accurate work.

[ljmathias]

Yes, the buttons work great- here's a picture of them on my grandfather's old framing square- a bit rusty but I hate to mess with it trying to clean it up for fear I'll mess with it...  ;)



Word of caution: they work great if your wood is square and straight, otherwise when you slide down for the next run and riser, you might be off just a hair, and that makes a huge difference by the time you've done 13 or 15 of them.  You could be off half an inch and not through trying to be accurate.  Using the stair calculator, you get a listing of every "point" of the zig-zag- mark each and it gives you a check on your slide-and-mark process.  It is much more accurate using the calculated and marked point settings, which are laid out to the nearest 32nd of an inch.  The only problem with all this is the one we should always keep reminding ourselves (as noted in the "braces shrank" thread nearby): wood moves.

I assumed (foolishly, of course) that Lowes prime 16' 2X12's sold specifically for making stringers (which cost two arms and a leg) would, in fact, work perfectly for making stringers: HA! I meticulously laid out the first stringer with double checks on all lines marked with a sharp pencil, cut exactly to the line and very carefully hand-sawed down just to the intersecting line, did notice a little binding of the skill saw blade but figured it was just in need of sharpening or replacement, got all done and stood back to admire my handiwork: what?  the stringer that was perfectly straight to the eye before now has a pronounced bow in it?  Yeah, it sure does- seems my notching out the steps relieved tension and let the board relax over an inch and a half from straight.  I'd planned on using this first one as template for the other two, but now what?  My son happened to drop over with his eldest daughter who just turned two, and she suggested putting some pressure on it while nailing a "straightening board" to the side.  Smart girl!

So I tried that with a 2X4 because I wanted space to drop drywall and trim down next to the stringer against the wall it would be fastened two, and got back maybe half of what had bowed.  Ended up using it as the template after all, slowly lining up the flat each time I moved down the length marking each run and rise- stupid way to do it, I suppose, but I figured it was no worse than laying out the next one from scratch and having it do the same or maybe do it in the reverse direction.  This time I screwed a 2X6 on and that helped some- not nearly as much bow, and on the third one, got it pretty straight.  So now I have three stringers, each with a different amount of bow in them... we'll see how they go up.  I was going to pre-fab the entire staircase on the floor and lift it into place, but decided I may have to replace or re-do one of them so decided instead to fasten them up one at a time and then put bracing in between after I checked for flat, plumb and square.



Oh, and just to point out one problem with the on-line stair calculator (well, not really a problem if you know about it): the program assumes a true 12" width and gives the end-to-end and bottom and top chord lengths based on that width which is wrong for dimension lumber.  In fact, the 2X12s I bought varied in width from 11 plus a hair up to 11 1/4 which they are supposed to be.  That meant also that using one for a template chops off the ends of the zig-zag points of each step- no big deal since I'll be covering them anyway but irritating just the same.   :-\

Finally got all three cut and braced with screwed on lumber; sorry for the blurry picture, but it was getting dark and the camera shutter was slower than me heading for home and a shower.



You might notice that one stringer appears to have steps cut in both sides- I figured we'd try to build an Escher staircase and see who tries to walk on the bottom...  :D

Hope to get these up first thing in the morning and planked with 2X8's for rough steps while we build.  I like using 2X for step underlayment so when you glue and screw your actual treads on top, you get an extremely solid, non-squeaky set of stairs.

Last points: I almost forgot to take into account the width (thickness) of the wood flooring that will go on the second floor- you have to use this in your calculation and stringer setting to get things right.  Then I almost forgot to subtract the thickness of the rough steps (1 1/2") from the bottom of the stringer, so I had to cut that off of the template before I made the others.  Then I forgot that the stringers will sit on the concrete of the slab (with sill seal underneath) instead of on the ground floor flooring, so that added back on an inch or so.

All in all, stringers and stairs are probably the hardest part of building a two-story house (if you want access to the second floor, that is), and one that requires remembering and taking into account things that come later (floor covering thicknesses) and rough treads (if used) and finish tread thicknesses.  Finally, the on-line program I used apparently has a major flaw: it does not take into account how you fasten the stringers to the supporting wall.  I have truss ends to fasten to which means I really don't need a 1" or 1 1/2" end plate pre-fastened to the stringers before lifting them into place.  This almost caught me here: in one of my umpteen measurement checks, I found that the top run was a full inch shorter than the others, and this after very carefully measuring and cutting exactly as the program had them laid out.  I'll compensate by using a piece of 1X nailed in behind the ends of the stringers, although maybe pushing the first step out a little more with a piece of 2X would be better- make the top step (coming down) just a little wider to prevent missteps maybe, a bigger target being easier to hit?

Time to read the news and go to sleep- supposed to have help at dawn to put up the last of the trusses, and dawn is coming early nowadays.

Lj

[Magicman]

Yup, I had several 2X6's to close up on my saw while cutting rafters.  Sometimes more than once on the same cut.  Stress and compression wood does strange things, no matter who's sawmill it came from.  It seems worse if it has both heart and sapwood, which yours appears to have.

Anyway, lumber always has the last word.

[dukndog]

LJ,
I got a square that looked like that from my grandfather as well. I did clean it up a bit with some white vinegar. It'll remove alot of the rust from them.
I really enjoy following your story on this home your building!! Very informative and with pictures, even I can understand it!!
Rich Miller

[Larry]

Using the stair calculator, you get a listing of every "point" of the zig-zag- mark each and it gives you a check on your slide-and-mark process.  It is much more accurate using the calculated and marked point settings, which are laid out to the nearest 32nd of an inch.  

That's a great idea but something my calculator did not give me.  I added dimensions to my SketchUp drawing.  It looks like SketchUp will only dimension to a 16th...maybe it needs a little tweaking or maybe that is close nuff.



Learning more and more from this thread.

[ljmathias]

Larry- not sure you really need more accurate layout.  I don't know about you all but I can't pencil in and cut to that level of accuracy anyway; I'm doing real good to get it to a sixteenth...  

Quick update before getting to work- my volunteer helper is the first assistant I've ever had who actually shows up on time, even if that time is dawn.  So yesterday was one of those fantastical days that happens rarely when building something as large and complicated as a house- everything went extremely well. As my daughter told me one time, some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you.  Yesterday was a day when the bear and I sat down and had dinner together in peace and harmony.

First the stairs: after all my concern with the bowing and then using a bowed template that I straightened as I went, we put up the stringers and wonder of all wonders: it was as near perfect as anything I've ever done on that scale!   8) 8)  Not only were the runs all level but they and the risers lined up perfectly across the three stringers.  I did decide to use a 2X8 for the top brace and spacer which brought the first step out a little more then the rest, but it helped hold the three stringers in alignment while we wrestled them into place.  We also put a brace at the bottom under where the stairs will be closed in and that helped as well.



Turns out the runs were just long enough to accept 2X8 rough treads which I put flush with the rise each was sitting on.  This left over an inch of space behind to drop the finish risers into, which should work great- leaves enough wiggle room to get everything lined up right when the time comes.  I may have mentioned that I tend to over build things, so to secure the stringers to the frame, I used 8" and 12" log screws through the wall stringer into the (and through sometimes) the studs there, and through the floor joist components into the stringer ends at the top.  Later I'll build the side wall that will go under the outer stringer to finish off the closet space under the stairs.  It is very nice being able to climb up and down on stairs rather than ladders:



Second major accomplishment yesterday was building in an end brace for the trusses over the stairwell.  The truss engineer said he couldn't figure out how to do it with pre-made trusses, so we'd have to do it stick framing.  Used two 2X6's, one on top of the other spanning the two sets of doubled trusses on either side, then set the two south trusses in place, nailed them from behind, and added two more pieces of 2X6 behind the first set.  The lower one we set in parallel and nailed it flat to the one next to it, but the top one we turned 90 degrees and made a strong-back to help prevent sideways motion and to stiffen up the whole assembly: worked great!   8) 8)





Both projects hadn't taken nearly as long as I'd thought, so we had time to put in trusses on the north side.  In fact, we managed to set all the remaining sections other than the gabel end piece that will go on last:





Wow, it's beginning to look like a real house!    8) 8)  We got all this done by 6:30 which was a good thing because our departing pastor and his wife were coming over for desert and coffee before they make the long trek "up north-" which means somewhere in northern Mississippi.  They've been transferred to a church in Hernando (spelling?) and we will miss them sorely: he's baptized all four of my youngest son's children and kept my son and his wife involved in the church over the last 9 years- and that's quite a feat.  He was also there when I had heart surgery and later when I had my prostrate sent to a better place because it decided to cultivate some cancer cells.  Hate to see someone leave who's been such a big part of our lives over the years.

Dawn's coming, time for work and the last of the trusses, I hope, although there's forecast for thunderstorms.  We did get some rain last night, hallelulah!  Maybe the grass will turn back from brown to green and the pond fill up some.  Blueberries never did finish plumping up- no water for a month now.

Lj

[shinnlinger]

Nice work and I too am a fan of Advantech... and zipwall and ziproof for that matter but let me highly recommend you hold onto that Lull as long as you can. 

Whip up a platform 12 ft wide that slides/locks on those forks and you can set your tools, materials and a workstation for roofing and siding and climb onto with a ladder.  I was lucky enough to do maintenance on a Lull while I built my place, it took me a while to finish up working on the machine so I could keep it a "little longer", a "little longer", a "little longer", until it ended up being here for a year and a half.  If you are working virtually alone it will dramatically increase your productivity and safety.

Dave

[ljmathias]

Well, I have to admit that the Advantech flooring lives up to its claims- been raining off and on for three days now and no end swelling or flaking of the OSB.  It rained a downpour about 6 this evening which ended my work for the day, but it started out great and we got a ton done despite the occasional drizzle during the morning.  First picture shows daughter Jessie helping with the west dormer window framing that we had to get up so we could lift the dormer roof trusses into place.  Second picture shows the three short trusses laid on the upper beam of the bent and the dormer window frame we'd just made. I'd show the picture of those finished but major problem came to light when I installed them in the afternoon- supposed to have five and the company only made up (and charged me for) three, so both sides of the dormer need trusses which I'll call about in the morning.  Hope they can make them up quick for me...   ???  





We then finished up the last two south halves of the main cathedral ceiling truss sets, and finally the gable end.  First picture below shows that truss all gussied up with 2X4's to make her pretty but mostly to keep pieces from breaking off when I lifted from the middle- at over 500 pounds, that's a lot of weight to suspend from a single point and I didn't have a strong-back lifting bar.  Instead, we stiffened the truss by screwing on 16' 2X4's at the bottom near both ends and doubled up in the middle.  My faithful helper, David, came back for the finish, and in his usual role (as retired pastor), he guided the flock to its resting place on the end of the frame.  With the reinforcement added, we used a single rope tied in the middle to lift- that allowed David to turn and align the truss as I lifted it and telescoped it up into place.  Wow, that forklift is useful!  If it wasn't so expensive, I'd keep it for a while or better yet, buy a used one- anyone got one they want to part with? Next picture shows the gable truss in place and nailed and screwed tight enough to hold it- I'll finish up aligning and bracing it tomorrow in good light.





You may notice occasional metal braces between trusses in some of the pictures.  These were available from the fabrication company and are perfect for spacing and light bracing- they make for exactly two foot OC and all you have to do is pound the main spikes down and then bend in and set the two latch locks on either side- simple and fast.  You just have to be careful of two things: you have to seat the trusses tight against the shoulder stops or your spacing will be off, and you have to watch out for the sharp spikes that hold them in place.  Got several nicks over the last few days, but today I moved too fast near one and jammed a spike into my thumb- bled like a stuck pig.   >:(  :D  Goes to show, no matter how hard you try, stuff happens.  Picture below shows one of the benefits of these spacing braces: with careful measurement and alignment in the other two dimensions, you can get a pretty flat set of trusses ready for sheathing.



Speaking of sheathing, I decided to try to get some done before it rained again today.  But first, I set three or four braces between and at a diagonal to the trusses- sure does make things nice and solid, not so swayable when you climb around in them up high, which I really, really hate.    First picture below shows the two I managed to get up.  To make the first row go a little easier, I use pressure treated decking for fascia, first coated with the same sealant used for the siding and porch posts and beams.  It matches well, and is resistant to pretty much everything except carpenter bees, dang them!  By raising this fascia board the width of the sheathing above the truss tops, I could put glue on the trusses then flop a sheet of OSB into place where it was held by the fascia and nail it down with the hurriquake nails.  Slick and smooth with two people, but for the afternoon, it was just me and the forklift- works great at lifting sheets into place and giving me something to stand on while I laid them down.  Was about to start the third one that will overhang the east gable end and fly rafter (I started in the center of the roof this time to see if that made it easier to keep things aligned and square on the trusses- not good to run out of nailing places before you get to the end of the roof).  I'm using plywood for the last section over the gable ends- more about that tomorrow... today it started to rain a little and I just had time to get tools under cover when it opened up- got soaked on the way home.  Pictures below show the first two sheets of roof sheathing (in the rain) and the dormer window west (in the rain).  You can just see the three dormer roof trusses I'd set earlier sitting all by themselves and forlorn, waiting for the rest of the family to join them.





Tomorrow I only have the forklift till late afternoon, so I'll try to get as much sheathing onto the roof as I can.  Should go reasonably well, but I'll have to also do the fly rafters (or part of them, the support 2X's at least) so I can nail and screw the sheathing onto them to help hold them up till I can finish the ends later.  Still got bracing to add, two more dormer trusses to order and get up, the west gable truss to line up and brace, and both gable end fly rafters to finish... for now, and then roofing felt and metal roofing.  Sure hope to get it dried in by early next week... the frame is getting soaked every day now, and that's not good.  :-[

Lj

[Norm]

Looking good! Did the cold front we had come through make it that far?

[ljmathias]

Don't know about any cold front, Norm, although it did get all the way down to mid 70's last night.  :D

Rain put a damper on work some yesterday and the frame interior was full of water this morning.  Grandson River came over to help and spent some time pushing water toward the door with a push broom... some success although he claimed the water was faster than he was.    He helped in other ways as well, running for drinks and watermelon during breaks, handing me nails and glue tubes while I was out on the roof sheathing, and helping mark the positions for purlins for the fly rafter (first picture)- guess you could call them fly purlins?



Most of the stuff I read describes building a "ladder" of joists and 2X runners to lift up and nail in place on the gable ends- sheathing then helps hold it in place.  Two reasons I don't like this approach- I have a hard time holding up one end in place while I push the other up and fasten it where it needs to be.  Sure, there are ways around this, but most involve time consuming and sometimes dangerous "fixes" to the hoisting problem.  Second reason is stability- hanging all that weight from end-nailed sections plus the nails through the sheathing, and of course, you can't stand on the outer edge to work, especially if your sheathing is OSB which allows nails to pull through pretty easily.  I do it a little differently- probably learned this method from someone but can't remember if I did or who it might have been- oh, well, memory is a fickle reflection of reality anyway.

What I do is make a two-board assembly that will become the fly purlins, if that's the best way to describe them- the part that sticks out from the last supported truss to the end of which is attached the actual fly rafter.  I've used two versions of this idea on the current house I'm building, one that doesn't use 2X fly rafters (just 1" facia that is screwed to the sheathing and the fly purlins) and one that does.  First picture below shows the former- I used 16 1/2" purlins and support shelves that were 43" long to span from the purlin to the second truss in.  Having marked locations for these (either 16" or 24" OC depending on what you prefer), I hold one up tight, nail gun the inside support shelve up first, then at the outer truss and finally through the outer truss and into the purlin itself.  I'm using screws on one side of the house and ring-shanks on the other to see which holds better.  I'm sure the screws will if tested, but the nails should provide plenty of support and stability.  Second picture shows the purlins on the other side of the house from the first ones- I cut the 2X4 back by 1 1/2" but left the shelf going out: I'll attach a 2X4 to the end on top of the shelving which will help hold it up while I align it and nail it into place.  Guess you could call this "building a fly rafter on the fly" or something crazy.





First set went up on the northern half of the east gable wall- seemed to work fine but I cheated a couple of ways.  First, I use plywood instead of OSB to help support the fly rafters and purlins, as much for my piece of mind (and safety when I'm standing out there) as anything.  Second, I use screws driven from top of the plywood sheathing down into the fly purlins- really holds them tight.  Third, I used glue between the purlins and the sheathing.  In fact, I'm gluing everything down and then using hurriquake nails for most of the sheathing, screws for just the flying part.  Next picture shows what I got down this morning with the help of the forklift- what a useful piece of equipment!  I was able to load a dozen of so sheets on the forks, then position it so that I could just walk the sheathing into place, hook the spacers and drop it down on the glue.  I was worried the 7/12 pitch would be too hard to walk on, and it was when it was wet at dawn.  As the OSB and plywood dried out, things got better and I was able to walk fine, which explains the sore feet I'm now nursing- standing and walking at that angle plays heck with your ankles and the soles of your feet, but it was worth as shown below.





Now the good news: called the equipment rental place to have them come pick up a most useful tool that I can't afford anymore, and they sadly announced that they couldn't come and get it today, would Monday be alright?  Was it in your way?  I said, no, it's not in the way, so it's fine till Monday.  Of course, I was jumping for joy inside-  8) 8)- didn't want them to know as they might charge me for more days- I just might be able to finish the roof sheathing over the weekend, and if not, at least get all the ply and OSB up on the roof so I won't have to manhandle it up by myself...  I'm beat as it is, and pushing and pulling sheathing up two stories gets old real fast!

Now for the bad news: pink lumber is breeding into pink mold:



The high humidity and heavy rain the last few days have caused this stuff to sprout in several locations on the trusses- seems to be specific to those, though, as I haven't seen it anywhere else.  Question is: is it something to worry about or will it just die out and go away once the house is dried in and dried out?  I know this isn't a mold forum, but hey, one of you must have seen this stuff somewhere somewhen, no?   ??? ???

Tomorrow bright and early back at the sheathing- will finish out a couple of rows on the north side, then try to get some done on the south.  Problem is, I still have to build in a section of trusses and purlins over part of the stairwell- engineer at the truss place couldn't figure out how to do it with their stuff so he left it to me.  Also need to mount two dormer trusses that somehow got left off the cut list- I put up what I had and I guess I was tired because I kept thinking something doesn't look right...  :  Was back up in the loft looking at my handiwork and enjoying the view when suddenly it hit me: I didn't have either of the gable trusses for the dormer!  Seems they just went missing between the final design and the cut list... they did a rush job for me (why it's good to use local if you can- they want repeat business like everyone, but they know it's more likely to come from us local yokels).  Also have to build and mount the fly rafter purlins for the south half of the gable ends- another 11 each side- so I can glue and screw the ply sheathing to them as I build rows up...  hope it doesn't rain this weekend!

Lj

[Larry]

I've never heard the term "fly rafters".  I think they are the same as what I call barge rafters.  It is an easy way to build the rake.  Notch the end truss on the ground for a 2 x 4.  After the truss is in place its an easy job to put in the pre-cut  2 X 4 barge rafters plus a 2 X 6 at right angle.  But...its now near impossible to attach the fascia single handed.  To make it even harder I used a 2 X 6 with a Hardi plank on top of that...hopefully so I'll never have to do any maintenance.

On my garage gable end I built the ladder thingy on the ground and hoisted it up with blocks.  Through bolted to the end truss and sheathed with osb using glue/Hurri-quake nails.  I think its plenty strong plus I have a metal roof.  I made sure it was safe but it took all day for me to do what should have been a 1 hour job at most.  On the actual house gable ends I got help and did it the right way with barge rafters.  I also had to put up with hee-haws from my helpers on the way I did the garage. :-[ :-[

[Magicman]

Looks like the rain is mostly gone for a while anyway.  I know that we need rain, but builders don't.

Did I understand that you were going to use metal roofing?

[ljmathias]

Yes, MM, metal roofing and I may put metal rake and flashing the same color.  The metal fab shop I bought my last batch from has moved or disappeared, so I've got to track them down or find a new source- the slump is hitting everybody it seems.

Larry: my trusses are just 2X4 and the gable trusses are not all that solid to begin with, so I decided not to cut out 1 1/2" slots for the supports like you did- probably would have been fine but we do live in hurricane alley here.  And you're right on the time involved- for something so simple in concept and easy to do at ground level, it's a difficult, slow job up high, and I hate working at that height.  I just can't seem to relax and enjoy it like some do, which means I'm twice as tired by day's end- once from the work and once from being tense all the time with muscles knotted up and tight waiting for the slightest tilt or twist that would start a fall.  Aren't we humans crazy creatures?  Saw a National Geographic picture of a lion in the top of a tree leaping from one branch to another, and lions ain't no lightweights either!  Be nice to be a lion sometimes... :D

Lj