Building alone brings challenges, and forces you to be innovative. There are times where you need that extra set of hands, that just aren't there. So, sometimes you need to make them.
Sheathing the roof was the part of the build I was least looking forward to. The roof pitch is steep, its almost 45 degrees (42 to be exact), and plywood sheets can be awkward to handle. A 1/2" sheet of plywood weighs about 18 kgs (40 lbs) and acts like a sail in any sort of wind. The lowest line of sheathing would be the easiest, as I could reach it from a ladder or scaffolding. After that, means getting on the roof, without sliding off and falling. So, I started with the easiest job, and that was getting sheathing on the porch, a much less pitched roof and only two sheets.
So in order to get the sheets onto the roof, and not slide down and cut me in half. My solution was to screw small pieces of wood onto the rafter tails, that extended above them. Then I could lift the sheets up the ladder, lay them onto the roof and they'd not slide off. Then it was simply a matter of positioning them, and nailing them in place.
Once I had the first rows done, it was more or less time to figure out how I could, safely, get the other rows up, and nailed into place. Some of it could be done from the porch roof, and some I could reach, but clearly that wouldn't be enough.
They make a hook system that attaches to a ladder, allowing you to hook it over a peak of a roof and work off the ladder. They make them, but clearly I couldn't run down to the store and pick up a set. I did end up ordering one, that arrived to late for this portion of the build (although they'd come in handy later on). So... I made a set. Now these were heavy af, and awkward, and I needed to change the angle of the hooks when I moved from one side of the roof to the other. (It's probably not clear why, so a brief explanation... when hanging the ladder onto an unfinished side, the ladder hangs on the centre ridge beam, when hanging on a side with sheeting in place it hangs on the sheeting, a difference of 42 degrees.)
I built these hooks on with Soviet engineering concepts: Over build the heck out of it and hope it holds together. But they did the job, and gave me a workout at the same time. I spent a lot of time going up and down ladders on this project, and this certainly was the case here. The basic process was to get a sheet of plywood up on to the aforementioned jigs/stops. Reposition and then push it further up so it could catch the edge of the lower sheet of plywood, climb a ladder, then get onto the hanging ladder. After that the sheet would be put into its final position, nailed, the hanging ladder would then be moved across to finish the nailing across the entire sheet.
Typically I'd only get a sheet or three up in a session, along with perhaps some other fiddly stuff. So this part of the project took awhile. About three weeks awhile. But eventually, the entire roof got sheathed in, and I finally had an enclosed cabin.
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