Sunday, November 25, 2012

Roof/Walls

I was still working out exactly what I wanted to do with the ceiling/roof. I didn't like the way it looked sunk into the room in the pictures I'd seen of finished MD100s. Additionally, the sun is really strong here, and I wanted some kind of roof insulation/ventilation; this design is great, but its a greenhouse waiting to happen. I decided to mount the roof frame so its bottom was flush with the bottom of the top rail on the walls, instead of the top flush with the top of the walls. This made the roof frame stick 2" above the wall framing.

roof frame change detail

I also wanted a little extra overhang on the front of the building, so in the Summer the East-facing front would be shaded that much sooner in the morning (ok, only half an hour, but it counts). I  cut boards to extend from the roof frame, with a divot to go over the front/back wall, and then stick out to 3" short of where I wanted the roof to end. These are positioned and fastened to the roof frame as if they are extensions of the original roof frame design off the front and back. (I cut the ends at the 6° angle.) These don't fit perfectly, but they don't really need to, and caulk heals a multitude of gaps. I  put a 2" support block in the middle of the 48" span as well.



I put polyester fiber called Flex-o-Vent Ridge Vent strips into the spaces between the roof frame boards on the front and back walls. Then I cut down four 2x4x10' boards to actual 2"x1.5"x10' to build up each side wall to the new roof height. I wanted to make sure the roof weight was sitting on the walls, and not only on the roof frame that's just hanging there by some screws. Because I had changed things, the roof is no longer supported as well at the front and the back, so side support is more crucial.

After I got the roof frame changes dealt with, hubby and I cut the plywood, adjusting the  dimension (I added 1' to the front), and he helped me hoist it all up there. That's when I realized that without wallboard, the whole frame did a hula with every move on the roof. I'm pretty sure it was fine, but it was sufficiently disconcerting that roof assembly halted till I got the corrugated walls on. I should add that during the roof frame changes I ran out of the square drive screws and just started using my preferred philips deck screws—still drilling pilot holes, though. 

Putting up the corrugated was pretty easy, but I had to do the first wall twice to get the hang of it. Probably should have followed EB's instructions and done this part before erecting the walls (oops). Regardless, I recommend you tack down ONE of the end channels first (these are in the drywall part of the store, btw) so you can tuck each sheet into a known straight and level place—use a couple short deck screws so they're out of the way. (Make sure you get self-driving metal screws with a washer and rubber gasket collar on them. I used Grip-Rite, which came with a driver in the box.) It was easier if I moved the gasket & rubber collar down towards the point of the screw to start it.

After the all the corrugated sheets are tacked down in a couple spots in the middle, put the other end channel on—it will stay with just friction. Then tuck in the foam from behind both of them before you screw down the ends. I just bent the edges up a bit out of the way for each screw and used a leather mallet to ding them back into place afterwards. Its not perfect, but it looks good from a distance.

After the corrugated was up, the roof was much less mobile, and I finished that in a day or two. The corrugated had the added benefit of making the structure look like "something" finally. Hard to believe this was a swimming pool.

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