What Can't Be Done With Good Friends?

First of all, this blog is brought to you by Luke Bair of Redwing Farm in Monroe County, West Virginia; we could not have done it without him. Everyone should be lucky enough to have one friend like this in their lifetime.

First, a "before" picture. This is what the house looked like on Friday morning at eight a.m.:

So what did we do with ourselves? First, the speed square and a little bit of instruction:

 

And then, the first rafters. This was easily the most time-consuming part of the day. There is quite a bit of math involved in this, and quite a bit of figuring, fitting and re-fitting. Once we had the right fit, that served as a template, and up they went. 

 

 

There is a bit of a gap in pictures; we had all hands on deck for rafters, and I had to run out and pick up six sheets of plywood for roof sheathing, 15 2x6s, roofing felt, a wacker tacker (best. tool. ever.) and about eleventy millions screws, nails and fasteners.

 

Ella and Sicily got started on the first layer of housewrap; it got a little crooked in the beginning but we made it work.



 



And Ella's dad Kyle got up on the ladders to help with the rafters; Kyle was CRUCIAL on this day.

Everyone got involved in the final housewrap layer:

 

Girding our loins. This step is not for kids (safety first!), so La Petite is the photographer for roof shots. Luke essentially hauled a full sheet up the ladder and handed it to Kyle and I; we all then squared and nailed the sheet. Did I mention that I am scared of heights?

First sheet up:

Second sheet was a piece of cake compared to the first; this was not a full sheet, and it was going on the shallow-pitched dormer.

Add some felt:

 

 

In the meantime, the girls learned how to put in a window, and then promptly put them all in (after documenting the roofing). #NotYourAverageSchool

 

 

 

 

We don't have action photos of all of this, but here is an interesting window, one that needed adjustment to make more room for the loft. I also picked this up with all of the wood and bozillion screws, nails and fasteners. We had to go from a 2x3 to a 2x2. Yes, we are planning on filling in the big gap. #ItsTheRealWorldSoBeFlexible

 



 

The temporary view from the bumpout window:

 

 

 

In the midst of all of this, we had a fence guy, Steve, setting posts. He was also wrangling Lucy, the dachshund, when she tried to make a break for it. What a good sport he was!!!

 



There is a huge gap in photos due to a natural phenomenon that occurred right around 7:30: the sun began to set. We continued roofing in the dark, trying to get the roof up. Alas, one cannot rush roofing.

However, you remember the before picture? Well, here it is again, just in case:

 

Drumroll, please...here is the after:

 

 

 

 

 

So there we are. The result of a thirteen-hour day, finished in the dark, with an excellent job boss and good friends. We would have gotten a nice group photo, except it was dark, and late, and everyone was probably too exhausted to smile (it would have been a grim photo). The plan is to get the house dried in in the next two weeks so we can start work on the inside.

 

It is real. La Petite is building a house.

 

Really, what can't be done with good friends?