On with the roof, Part 1

This is exciting, the walls are up to plate level and we can start the roof, soon have a complete shell. There was still plenty of brickwork to do, like gable ends, dentil brickwork eaves and the chimney but the roof trusses needed to be in place before this could be done. There is a plethora  of truss manufacturers about and we were spoilt for choice,  in the event we were able to order well in advance and be assured of delivery. However loft trusses are very heavy and this is one area where we resisted our natural tendency to do everything ourselves so we hired a couple of local joiners to help put up the trusses, we also needed a crane for the third time. Crane drivers have a lot of skill and this guy was able to get a very large crane onto the drive and swing up its jib between the house and the overhead power wires with no trouble

Trusses delivered and temporarily secured to scaffolding

Moving trusses to side of house to aid the crane driver

Ready to go

A rather large crane

 The first truss swings into place. A very artistic shot by my wife don't you think?








The two guys helping to install the trusses

All the trusses in place and braced ready for the final pieces for the roof lights.

Another couple of artistic shots by my wife,  getting good at this isn't she?

Once the trusses were in place it was time to complete the gable ends and finish the eaves and chimney.

Gable end Block work



                                   
                                                      

 Excuse my back but I was concentrating on pointing of the eaves

More pointing  of the dentil brickwork along the eaves, notice the spikes which will support the rise and fall brackets for the guttering My first attempt at fancy brickwork and though I say it myself it looks pretty good

Another shot showing the brickwork detail

My wife working on the pointing of the chimney, well not really, but she was very brave as this was about eight meters off the floor and she does not like heights. 







 Fantastic!!!! Wow !!! What a moment, I show you this picture because we were at the top and this is the last brick of the house

The roof timbers were on and secure, the gable ends,eaves and chimney were complete and the next step was to cover the roof, including fitting velux windows and tiling. 

In my next post I will show you how we completed the timber work for the roof lights, installed a membrane and tiled the roof. 

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