Dog House Roof

2007-09-03

I finally got all the wall bracing taken down and have started getting the extension for the roof out over the east side porch area.

the lumber yard delivered my rafter and plywood material for the roof.

I cut all the rafters with my ‘old’ work hardened worm drive saws and hand saw.

This one is the Porter-Cable and it weighs about twice as much as the new skillsaw 77’s that they use now. This 'old guy' I don’t think a person could wear out in a lifetime of use.

My old friend Henry Disston & Sons  D23. This is one of my favorite saws that I have hand sharpened many times over the years I worked as a carpenter.

This is another one of my ‘old’ saws. Same thing, it weighs twice as much as the new ones but should last another 50 years or so.

About a third of the rafters cut and stacked and ready to get high.

First rafters are up!!!

The next two rafters are up now and the ridge board is in place. This is no easy feat when you are working by yourself.

Now rafter are fairly easy to put up but it is always interesting and somewhat dangerous when putting up the next ridge board.

This is the first indication of what shadow the roof will throw.

The building is starting to take shape now and I can get an idea of what space it is going to occupy.

One of the locals came by for inspection.

Rafter tails all in a line…..

A day later I was up early in the morning putting up a few boards when Mark Weeding came by. He took this photo and the next of me screwing around up on a ladder.

I am putting in one of the two boards that span the structure at plate height. My architect friend Mike Stevenson (who gave great advice and also drew up some nice simple plans) recommended that I use either a couple of boards or two ¼ inch aircraft cables to tie the walls together. There shouldn’t be hardly any stress on these unless there is a huge wet snowfall and it doesn’t slide off the metal roof. I could probably leave them out but they should make a nice place to hang hats up out of the way.

Mark and his young friend Mark helped me get up the lookout rafters (the end rafter on both ends of the building

This is the first day that I saw sun come in the south facing windows. Soon it will cover the floor as winter approaches. Notice that the pile of rafters are now gone………..

The sheathing started on the south side.

All the plywood is on except for that one piece. Wow, it sure does feel different inside the cabin now.

The workers finally shutting down after a great workday morning.

The east end has a place for a fan vent if necessary.

The west end has a framed hole for an awning window that will be placed way up high.

Mark came back a few days later and helped me put up the tin roof. Mark has put up several tin roofs and he had lots of great ideas to keep everything on line and looking good.

He had mentioned that it is best to have the tin clamped down before drilling the holes for the screws so I got little Alice tractor (Allis Chalmers Model CA) running after several years of rest and pulled up my old twenty foot cotton trailer for a work station. The trailer has a two by six deck and I was able to drill through the tin and not hurt the deck of the trailer. It worked really slick and if you don’t do it this way or something similar you will break drill bits getting the holes drilled.

I ended up being the ground man and Mark screwed the tin down. We were able to get all the tin up and the ridge cap on before noon. We work well together.

I was expecting Sheila to come for a visit with her dog Spice. Spice needs to be put on a chain sometimes and the best place seems to be in the motorcycle shed. I needed to rearrange them and make room for that little Bloodhound puppy that I just got back from Bob’s shop. The bloodhound is running extremely well now after having Bob completely go through the engine and replace the block and several parts that got screwed up when I fell down on it down in Arizona and it scooped up some mud in the valve cover. I hope to not let it play in the mud anymore. Five puppies in the pack now and another stray pup still over in Bob’s shop that he hopes to get to this winter. That pup is a R 75/6 that I picked up down in goldfield last winter. These are all really good bikes and all of them could be just started up now and ridden anywhere……………  

From left to right; 1993, R100GS/PD the ‘Yellow dog’, 1976, R90/6 the ‘Black dog’, 1983, R80GS the ‘Fat dog’, 1981, R80GS the ‘Bloodhound’, and 1960, R50 with Dreyer sidecar the ‘Old dog’.

The windows and door installed. I think this is going to make a dandy little dog house. The door is a 3'-6"  that will allow me to ride my motorcycles inside as well as allow me wheel chair access in the future if necessary.