April 26, 2020 – Today I traveled to the cottage to meet with D&N Construction. D&N is the first roofing contractor that we are soliciting for a price on furnishing and installing metal roof on the cottage. I will get at least three prices before making the final decision. It is exciting to be at the point where we can begin this process.
Dustin and his young son arrived promptly at 9:30 AM. They both climbed on the roof and measured it up. Dustin had several questions on the roof construction and remaining shingles.
When they finished measuring we talked about soffit, fascia, gutters and downspouts. D&N does not do gutters and downspouts but they provided me with a contact number for Spouting Unlimited. Soffit they will do on a time and material basis, it’s out choice. I requested they provide a quote on the Kyfus Metal Sales textured metal roofing and a quote on standing seam roofing along with a quote on fascia. Dustin indicated that he will send me the quotes sometime next week.
I am scheduled to meet the second roofing contractor this Friday. It was a short sweet visit today.
April 25, 2020 – This morning we traveled to the cottage to get the renovation started back up. It took awhile to get everything packed so we got a late start. Not going to get much done today but that’s okay.
When we arrived I noticed that we had some pinhole leaks in the roof above the old kitchen. When Troy and I covered this section back in June of 2019 ,we only had 15 lb. felt. No wonder it was leaking.
Re-felting the roof over the old kitchen.
Luckily, I had some 30 lb. roofing felt on hand. I got up on the roof and quickly re-covered the area that was leaking. That will take care of the leaks until the metal roof is on.
Renovation Start Up – Additional layer of roof felt over old kitchen.
Rob starting cleaning up the mess the Lumberjacks left in the yard and I did an inventory of my fasteners and straightened out my tools. That is the extent of what we accomplished today.
Before we went back home I set 8 mouse traps in various places. Robrandi wants to be sure that we don’t have any mice. Tomorrow we are coming back down to meet with D&N Construction to begin the process of pricing up the metal roofing.
April 19, 2020 – It’s been a month since our last trip to the cottage. We are now in the middle of a full blown COVID-19 pandemic. The Governor of Pennsylvania basically shut down the State on March 19, so we have been very hesitant to travel. Being mid-April, we are way behind out usual opening time of mid-March.
COVID 19 pandemic check in. Cottage from the Lookout.Firewood stacked up at the Pavilion.
Unfortunately, today is not a work day. We walked around and checked everything out. It’s all pretty much the same as it was back in March at our last visit. The firewood pile looks good. The river always look good and the cottage is fine. Hopefully on our next trip I will be able to start up and continue the renovation. Fingers crossed.
March 14, 2020 – Today was not a work day. We haven’t been been to the Land Before Time since last November so we decided that we better take a trip down and check in on the cottage.
Sometime, during our absence, the Lumberjacks showed up, felled, cut and split the thirteen trees that Robrandi had marked back in November. Many of these trees were dead or dying. If they fell over, they posed a serious threat to the cottage and potentially anyone sleeping near them in a tent. The result is awesome. Just look at all the firewood we have for our night long campfire sessions. I can’t wait!
Pavilion stacked full with firewood.Firewood stacked behind the Pavilion.Large Oak trees next to and in front of the Outhouse removed.
We walked around the yard and checked inside the cottage. Everything looked fine so we turned around and headed home.
Checking up on the Lookout.
In Mifflintown we stopped at the Clubhouse Grill & Restaurant for dinner. This is one of our hangouts that we enjoy frequenting. You can catch them on Facebook at Clubhouse Grill Mifflintown.
Having dinner and a beer at the Clubhouse Grill in Mifflintown.
Little did we know that after this dine out the whole world would change when the COVID-19 pandemic exploded.
November 17, 2019 – Today I am framing the second span of the porch roof overhang on the west end of the new porch. Yesterday I completed the first span. The work today will involve some demolition of the existing overhang on the old cottage roof and some framing around the the vent pipe. Though not big deal I need to exercise caution working around the vent. Because it is PVC, it can easily be snapped off if I hit it with any of the framing boards.
First span of the porch roof overhang framed yesterday.
Demolition
After removing the tarps I cut and removed the existing overhang from the old cottage roof. The old overhang was built by simply running the roof decking past the sidewall by one foot. It is one inch thick oak plank and was never closed in with any type of soffit. As a result we have numerous bird, bee and wasp nests to deal with during the season. Soon, the overhangs around the entire cottage are going to have soffit which will eliminate these pests.
Old overhang demo. One inch oak planking.Overhang demo at vent pipe.Existing overhang demo complete.
New Framing
After the demo of the existing overhang I built out an extension to the ridge board to accept the second span edge joist. The edge joist installation follows. It attaches to the end of the first span edge joist and the ridge board extension.
Extending the ridge board for the edge joist.Second span edge joist installed.
Similar to the first span once the edge joist is in place I am able to frame in the outriggers to fully complete the framing for the west end overhang.
Outrigger framing at the vent pipe.Additional outriggers framed into the west end overhang.
At the end of the day I have to put the blue tarps back over the roof opening to keep the inside dry. So far I haven’t had any leaks inside the cottage. Knock on wood.
Tarps installed to maintain dry in until next time.
In the next installment I will place the last of the plywood roof sheathing and roofing felt on this new overhang framing. Stay tuned, the renovation continues.
November 16, 2019 – The goal for this weekend is to frame the porch roof overhang on the west side of the deck. The west side is at the pavilion end of the deck. I am getting closer to the completion of the roof and this is the last of the roof framing for the new porch. The first overhang was framed way back here: Overhang Framing At New Kitchen Addition
First things first, I remove the blue tarps to expose the open roof. Next I extend the framing out from second to the last joist to establish a one foot overhang. These extensions are called outriggers. With one outrigger extended and the fascia board cut to the correct length, I install the last roof joist, i.e. the edge joist, along the overhang.
Open roof covered with blue tarps.Outrigger extended to create a one foot overhang.Fascia board extended to create the bottom of the porch roof overhang.The last roof joist along the edge of the overhang.
After the edge joist is installed additional outriggers are placed to complete the overhang. The outriggers are 16′ inches apart to facilitate the installation of plywood roof decking with minimal cutting and minimum waste.
Framing additional outriggers.Outriggers and edge joist along the overhang.Porch roof overhang framing.
The framing you see in the pictures above establishes the overhang from the outside of the new porch up to the existing wall of the cottage. I have been calling this the first span of the new roof in previous posts so I’ll be consistent. This is the first span of porch roof overhang on the western side of the deck. Amen.
Framing the porch roof overhang involves more cutting and measuring so it takes me a little longer to complete. This is it for today. Tomorrow I will frame the overhang on the second span of roof along the western side.
Postscript
My last blog in 2019 was published on December 5th and it covered day #110. As often happens, life gets in the way, and it forces you in a different direction. In my case, it stopped my writing for ashort while.
I would like to record as accurate a transcript as I can of the cottage renovation. To that end, I am picking up where I left off last fall. Over the next several days or weeks there will be a flurry of posts as I attempt to get caught up. If it’s too much, feel free to opt out or write me back and I’ll remove you from the list.
November 02, 2019 – Back after a few weekends off. I’ll be framing the 2nd span of rafters in the last roof section. First I remove the temporary weather protection (blue tarps) to expose the old roof planks.
Peeling back the blur tarps.
Old oak roof planking exposed.
With the tarps removed I begin cutting and removing the top 7 or 8 rows of the oak roof planking. This gives me access to the existing ridge board.
After I have access to the existing ridge board I can install the galvanized joist hangers and begin setting the 2nd span roof rafters.
Ridge beam exposed, galvanized hangers and 2nd span roof rafters.
The process of roof plank demo, hanger installation and rafter setting continues until I reach the end of the new porch roof. After the last 2nd span rafter is set into place I drop back and nail everything up.
Setting the roof rafters.One rafter left.
This gets me to the end of the day. No rain is expected tonight so I can get away with just a few tarps to cover over the roof. Tomorrow I’ll be installing the new plywood sheathing on the last roof section. We are getting closer to the metal roof installation!
October 13, 2019 – Today is a milestone day! I started the roof rafters in section three. It won’t be long until the roof framing is complete.
Toady Frogmeyer came over to see what I was up to. I offered him some coffee but he wasn’t having any of it. Anyway….
Toady Frogmeyer comes to visit.
To install the first span of roof rafters I construct a short knee wall. The wall is framed on the ground and then lifted into place atop the the existing exterior wall. After the framing is fastened, it is gusseted with plywood sheathing. This knee wall provides support at the mid span of the roof rafters.
Constructing the knee wall on saw horses on the ground.Knee wall framing set atop the exterior wall.The knee wall is covered with plywood and the roof rafter installation begins.
Once the knee wall is complete I begin setting the first span of roof rafters in section three. There are twelve rafter in this last section. I hustled up all twelve rafters and had the last one set in place by about 2:30 PM. At about 3:45 PM I had the blue tarps nailed back down to keep out any inclement weather.
Roof rafters section three are set into place.Roof section three temporary weather protection.
After I cleaned up I headed for home. The renovation and the second span of section three roof rafters will be on hold for the next two weekends. We have a PANA Conference at Bedford Springs next weekend and a SOFA Designer Bag Bingo the following weekend. I’m sure we will soon be fighting the weather and I also have to drain down and water and winter safe the drains. Busy, busy, busy….!
October 12, 2019 – Yesterday I completed the remaining posts and edge beams. Today the framing at the porch roof section three can begin in earnest.
Cutting off the old oak rafter tails.
The first order of business is cutting off the old oak rafter tails. On the last rafter tail there is a motion activated spot light. Installed by one of Fanny’s friends decades ago, I can’t remember the last time it actually worked. I had to climb up into the attic and crawl back to the back bedroom to disconnect the wiring. The color and the light coming through the cracks in the roof decking made for a surreal look inside the attic.
Strange lighting scene in the rear of the attic.The old motion activated light to be removed.
Ceiling Joists – Porch Roof Section Three
With the rafter tails and spot light removed I started install the ceiling joists in porch roof section three. Each of the three porch roof sections contains about twelve ceiling joists and twelve rafters. Coincidentally, it takes twelve sheets of plywood to cover a section.
Ceiling joists in the porch roof section three.
Immediately after ceiling joists comes the installation of the solid bridging. If you are following this blog, you will note that this process is repetitive. I have written about ceiling joists and solid bridging at least two times before. The great thing is that this is the last section so I won’t have to bore you anymore.
Solid bridging installation.
Near the end of the day I finished up the solid bridging. After checking the blue tarps to make sure that we were good if it rains, I headed into town to grab a bite to eat. Downtown OIP & Grille, it is a pizza and beer kind of night!
Blue tarps in place to dry in the roof.
Tomorrow I’ll start the first span of rafters in the porch roof section three. See you then!
October 11, 2019 – Today I officially started the last section of the new porch roof. To kick it off I installed the 4 ×4 Douglas Fir posts and built up beams. Since my work hours are limited on Friday due to the lack of daylight at night this is all that I accomplished.
Douglas Fir post to support the next built up beam.Constructing a built up beam.Built up beam in place above the 4×4 post.
Tomorrow I’ll be installing porch ceiling joists and solid blocking.
