My how times have changed. Back in the early 80’s my ex and I wanted to put a metal roof on the log house we built–NOT! No insurance company would touch it…..huh? Nowadays it’s a common thing for folks to use metal, and I used metal on the timber frame house. Don’t know why, but there aren’t any pics of the roof construction.
On top of the rafters I nailed 2×6 tongue and groove pine boards. On top of that was a really good roofing underlayment, not roofing felt but a really strong nylon/plastic/”tyvec” sort of material. Shane brought that over because we knew that it would be a while before the final roof was put on the house.
When the time did come to put on the roof, I had help (thank goodness) with most of it. On top of the roll material was styrofoam insulation then another roll product that is aluminum foil/1/4″ foam rubber/aluminum foil. It has an R-value of 14.5 and reflects heat out of the house in the summer and keeps heat in the house during the winter. After heating the house for several seasons, I can say that it works really well. On top of the aluminum foil, batten strips were screwed through the insulation into the decking, then the metal was attached to the battens. Shane and a friend helped put the roof on one side of the house and got the first piece put on the other side of the house. Several days went by and I waited…..severe thunderstorms were in the forecast for the afternoon so I did the unthinkable–something I probably wouldn’t do now–I climbed up on the house and put the metal on the remaining side by myself. The electricians were working in the house and they were nice enough to slide the pieces of roofing onto the porch and stand them up where I could reach them. It was stressful and hard, but it got done 🙂
The porches are 8′ deep and wrap around 3 sides of the house. The joists are oak (given to me–hard to nail into, but free is good!) and the flooring is pine. The framing nailer is a wonderful tool!
A friend across the way gave me enough cedar posts to use for the three porches around the house. The south side of the house was left open to facilitate passive solar through the windows during the winter–that works well too!
In this photo you can see the roof is finished and the cedar posts are up–leftovers piled up for storage until needed for something else. I went back to the friend (with a case of beer) and got smaller cedars for the top rails around the porch. Fascia boards are on both sides of the house but the front fascia board is still laying on the porch waiting for installation.
Every construction site has a pair of blocks and board somewhere to step up into the house. Shane kept saying that someone was going to get killed or break a leg on my temporary step, so he showed up at the house one day with a trailer load of really BIG rocks–Crab Orchard Stone, of course. It’s a type of sandstone that is technically called “Tennessee Quartzite” but because it’s only found in areas in and around Crab Orchard, that’s what it’s called. Anyway, he built the awesome set of steps going up to the porch–
I don’t think they are going anywhere……
A couple of years later he built a set going off the back of the porch–that was a birthday present. I love rocks!
next up—floors and wall finishes
Wild Things Farm 