Button 'er up!

On August 28 we had - and PASSED - our framing inspection!  There were so many things I was worried about and the inspector didn't say anything about any of them.  He looked everything over, told Rick it looked good and to go ahead and "button her up".  So that's what we're doing now.

Our friend Dennis of "roof truss angel" fame returned to help us with this next phase - which is to get the underlayment up, flashing in place and metal roofing installed.  Our friend Steve came back to help as well.  We've spent the last four days doing the underlayment.

Dennis is a California guy <g>

First course of underlayment going on.

Steve and Dennis hard at work.

Dennis and Steve taking a well deserved break.

This is the garage area.  Behind Dennis is the start of the house proper.  He is standing in the doorway which will open into our sunspace.  The bedroom will be to the right.  There's a real sense of volume now.

We got the first three courses of underlayment up without too much difficulty but how to reach and tack down that last course - that was the question and I ended up thinking about it at 4 AM.  Here's what I came up with.

We found some really cool ladder hooks on line that attach to the top of the ladder and allows the ladder to hook over the peak of the roof thus giving a stable structure from which to work.

I decided I needed a "hands free" method of unrolling the underlayment so I threaded a couple of lengths of bailing twine through the tube.  Tied the tube to the ladder at the correct height . . .

which then allowed me to move the ladder and unroll the paper at the same time.  I was able to reach about 3 feet and climbing up and down the ladder allowed me to get to all the tacking marks.

Here I am snugging the paper in place.  This method worked like a charm.  I was able to do one section - by myself - in a little over an hour.  Hard work though.

Dennis finishing up the last few feet of underlayment.

Steve and Rick installing the purlins at the eaves of the house.

Dennis and Rick starting the instillation of the drip flashing.  We're finally on to the metal bits and hope to start the final roofing material tomorrow.

This has been really hard work but we've accomplished a lot in a few days and hope to get a good start on the metal roof before Dennis leaves.

This has been a huge job!  One that certainly would have taken a whole lot longer without the help of friends!  I will be SOOOOO glad when the roof is done and I don't have to climb up there any more!