Roof Installed

Yesterday was a busy day.  I spent the entire day, until dark, installing the new roof over the play house and the new outdoor kitchen/grilling area.  It was definitely a productive day, although, it was a bit frustrating and not necessarily a "good" day.

I kept dropping things especially after climbing up a ladder.  Then I'd have to climb down, retrieve what I dropped, then climb back up.  Then I'd drop something else and have to go down and up again.  Then, I'd realize I forgot to bring a tool up with me and have to go down and up again.  

The valleys were two difficult areas.  It has been a long time since I built a valley and I've never done it in metal roofing material so it was a bit of a challenge.  I couldn't really get into position well enough to get accurate measurements.  I'd end up measuring twice, sometimes three times, to see if I can get consistent results before cutting.  The angles at which I was viewing the tape measure were shallow which makes it difficult to see exactly where a mark is compared to the tape measure.  If I was looking straight down, I could have gotten more accurate measurements but I couldn't safely get into those positions.  

Then I'd cut the roof panel to fit the valley...   it wouldn't fit exactly right so I'd mark it and then cut it again to the new mark.  So, measuring three times and cutting twice.  And, up and down the ladder in between each time.  It was time consuming and energy sapping.  In the end, however, the valleys look surprisingly good.


I purchased some rolled flashing material so I could bend my own valleys and ridges.  Bending by hand worked okay for the valleys but I quickly realized that bending by hand won't work for the ridge cap.  Bending the metal was time consuming too.  The hand bends were not crisp enough.  Worse yet, the bends are mildly wavy.  If I owned a bending brake, this would have been a piece of cake.  Also, I don't feel like the rolled flashing material is stiff enough to use for a ridge cap so we are headed out today to buy two ridge caps.  

Here, below, is the other side of the structure showing the second valley...


On the front side of the play house, I added a clear roof panel.  Under this clear roof panel is a skylight frame that I built.  After I install the ceiling planks around the skylight frame on the ceiling, it will look like a normal skylight.  I thought this would be a nice touch for a rather small play house...  (after seeing this photo, I noticed that I missed one screw on the roof...  I'll fix that when I get back up there to install the ridge cap)...


Below, you can see the clear roof panel in the center of the roof lined up with the door opening.  The play house will also get a door frame and a screen door...  same with the window openings on each end...


Here is a view from the inside looking up through skylight frame and the clear roof panel....


Now a few photos of the whole roof installed, sans ridge cap...








Next is the ridge cap.  Then I will start on building cabinets and a butcher block countertop.  After I get the kitchen grill area completed, I will then get more work done on the play house renovation including a small deck on the front of the play house.




Comments