How to Install a Roof by Labor Day - Act 1

Act 1:

Aside from the work of having a frame from which to hang your trusses, installing decking, and all that fun stuff, there are just a few simple steps:

Hang your "base layer" - in our case it was drip edge on the bottom, followed by a row of bituthene, followed by rows of tar paper, and then drip edge on the side.  Sounds simple enough, I know.  Thomas and I got in the act early on Saturday with the south side of the roof.  Getting the drip edge along the bottom was mostly easy, though I don't much like to be that close to the edge.  Cutting the bituthene was relatively easy with the sawzall, though I was still vibrating long after Tom turned of the saw.  Applying the bituthene was the beginning of the problem.  Tearing paper and a breeze caused a few ripples, but it was pretty smooth when it was all over.

I won't lie that the first round of tar paper was riddled with expletives and tried patience.  First someone was subliminally bawled out for getting too little, though I distinctly remember pulling out a cell phone to use the calculator and thinking we should grab one more roll.  Next, rolling it across the roof after securing only one corner, the wind made Pop's point more clear about tacking down the paper excessively if you don't want to pick it off the fence.  We overlapped our tears and more aggressively secured the ensuing layers.  When we tacked and stapled till our hearts content, we secured the drip edge over the edges and took a lunch break.  Propanel would be a job for a few more people.

Saturday we nearly hung all the propanel on the south side before quitting time.  Sunday a few of us would finish it while work on the tar paper on the north side began.

Working on the north side of the roof, Tom was lucky to have four hand to help, as Jennifer and Daniel helped roll it out.  (On the other side, Shaun, Mary, and I finished the last of the propanel.)

 With the propanel finished on the south side, you can see the pretty sage green of our roof.

 Securing the bottom edge of the roof was easiest from the scaffolding, and it also came with the perk of being rolled around by Daniel and Pop.  (I felt like quite the monkey hopping up and down over and over again.)

We had many great teams handing up the panels.  Pop and Daniel did a fine job Sunday afternoon.  Ground crews were also running batteries back and forth, picking up dropped screws, and entertaining (or being entertained by) Mackenzie. 

Much fun!  I'll be back after the intermission with the rest of the story and pictures.