Week 11: November 30 - December 6

Here in Week 11, we have a better picture of the top plates that will interlock. The left wall is still missing it's second top plate in this picture, but when it is added, the left wall's top plate will overlap the back and front walls first plate - butting right up against their top plates.

And here we're finishing our work on the right wall with a rough door opening. Just adding the second top plate.

Nailing... You can also see in this picture the clamp we're using to hold the walls flush together. The clamp will keep the walls in the position we will ultimately want them to end up in. Whatever shape they're taking when we start to nail (or screw) them together, is the shape they'll hold as an end result.

Here we are adding more bracing. These are called spring braces, and help us to push or pull the walls into square and alignment. The top board is screwed into the top of the wall and into the subfloor. The second, shorter board is squeezed into a leverage position somewhere in the middle. As we push the second shorter board, it pushes up on the top board, creating tension. This tension pulls the wall the top of the board is nailed into, in.

The photo above and the two that follow, depict us setting up staging. The cross bars go into anchored spots on the top and bottom of the ladders, to the left and right. These keep the staging spread and upright. 

The staging platform added on top also helps to hold everything together... as well as providing a vantage point for us to work from!

u

For the latter part of the week, we worked on practicing rafter layout. The pitch of this mock roof was determined and rafters were cut to their specified sizes. The first rafters to be laid are the two just inside of the outermost rafter locations. The outermost rafters should be placed last, because they're the most difficult to adjust.

Toe nailing the rafters in place... Typically the bottom of the rafter would be secured first, and then attached at the ridgeboard up top. This method allows us to perfectly seat the bird's mouth cut, and then - assuming the angle of the rafter is cut correctly - we can just raise the rafter up to meet the ridgeboard, and this will give us the correct pitch for our roof.

Seating the opposite rafter and ready to be toe nailed.

Now all four supporting rafters are in place, and the ridgeboard is being held up on it's own. The remaining rafters can all be seated and aligned with the ridgeboard.

The mock roof with all of it's rafters, and gable end studs, in place.

The heavy thinking that takes place when determining the appropriate slope for our shed's roof. Once we determine the best slope to use, we took that information and calculated the line length of our rafters, the bird's mouth cut, the projection and facia. Also, the ridge reduction will be added in. Line length is the distance from the beginning of the rafter to where the rafter will meet the outside of framing. Just beyond that we have to add a 1/2" for our exterior sheathing. From that we can add in the bird's mouth cut, which is where the rafter rests on the wall. The projection is how far the rafter extends beyond the wall framing. Lastly we add in the facia, which is where the rafter will be on the level.