Half raftered

Today I got the ridge beam up.  What a harrowing experience.  It was OK until I actually had to get up there and nail them.  By the time I am on the 4th rung of a ladder, I am getting a little wobbly.  I put it up in stages with lots of help from Sally.  First I put the ladders at each end.

I used that as the first stage of getting it in place.

Then I worked it up a bit at a time.  To the top plate, then the collar tie, and finally (the pooping my pants part) up over top, a half twist, and down into the slot (no, it would not go in from the bottom).  Then make sure it is lined up and four 3 1/4" nails blown into the end of each rafter from the opposite side of the ridge beam.

I had to take a break I was shaking so much from the work, my knee, and my not being very comfortable with heights.

After I settled down for a bit I went back out and transferred lines from every wall stud up to the top plate, marking where the rafter ends should land.

Then put up rafter 3.  That wasn't as bad now that I had something to get a death grip on once up there.

I nailed in the peak first, the same way as the end ones, then toe nailed the ends into the top plate of the wall.

This rafter and the next required a bit of beating and banging to get them into place.  I hung them upside down, flipped them 1/2 way, propped it with a stud, then up the ladder 3 steps and swing them part way into place, and then beat them from the floor with a long 2 x 4 until in the right spot.  Then up 4 steps, check alignment with my lines and blow 4 nails in from each side.

After that, it seemed like everything kind of started to line up better and the rafters could be swung right up with out having to hammer on them.  I did notice with my 5th one that the top of the ridge beam was not flush with the top of the rafters any more.  Instead, it was getting a bit lower toward the bottom of the rafter.

Not much, and it won't make any difference, but I put a 10 foot 2x4 under the ridge beam a ways away and propped and sag out of it so it fits nicer.

Sally then came up with a great idea.  She suggested that I cut a piece of scrap to go between the tail ends of the last installed rafter, to help align the next one going up.

Such a clever girl, and such good taste in men on top of it too!  

So with the rafters now going up pretty easy we managed to get half of them (8) up today.

A quick eye balling of it and they look fairly even and you can also see the 10 footer I wedged the ridge beam with.

There is still a lot of day left.  I am not sure if I have it in me to do any more though.  The next 2 rafter sets brings me to the splice in the ridge beam, so they have to be done together as one will be in the way of the other swinging into place if it is in place.  I will run into the same scenario when I put the last one in too.

So, perhaps that is it for the day, I have not cleaned everything up, so if I do get to the point where I think I can put up another 2, I will.  I have had to take the broom to all of the rafters to get all the dirt off them that the rain splashed all over.  We had almost 8" of rain in a day and a half.  It came down in torrents to the point where we could not see across the yard.  Which, in southern Ontario means....humidity.  That takes away energy pretty quick too.  So, until next time....

Thanks for dropping in!