The House Project: The Roof

OK, so it's been a little while since I posted about the house. Maybe it's because subconsciously I know that soon it'll be time to go out to the house and take more pictures and try to remember everything we've done since we dried in the house. Theoretically that would be the fun part, but what I look forward to is when I have "caught up" on blogging about it and can start photographing the process and posting as we work on it! That's when I hope this blog will develop a more DIY flavor!

So I left off with the framing. At that point we took a break for about a month before putting the roof on. My job during that break was to stain the cedar trim so that it would be weather proof. We had been warned that rain and sun would cause the cedar to bow or shrink, causing the seams to be more apparent. Staining was tedious, particularly because I had to stand on a stool and was still working at or above eye level. I got it finished in a few separate sessions. It took probably eight hours for the initial coat, and I had to allow it to dry for several hours before it rained. It did rain halfway through, so after we got the roof on I went back over it, as well as staining the inner row of trim and garage door/porch trim at a later date (all that took even longer... Lets just say I am now a pro at staining wood!)

We managed to save some money on the roof by ordering it from the family member of a friend. We saved on installation cost by having family and friends out to help us put it on ourselves over Labor Day weekend 2012! It's a metal (galvalume) roof so it was trickier to put on than a normal shingle roof. The pieces all had to be measured and cut just right, and to get all the pieces to fit we had to have a pretty good plan ahead of time as to who did what and which sections had to be done first.

The bulk of the work took about three days. We had friends out to help on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. The "small stuff" like ridge caps, sealing the vents, and other finishing touches took Bruce about a week to do with some help from one other person (my Dad came over several more times). Below are some pictures taken throughout the process!

A nice crowd of "workers" here! 

Taking a little break

Although still hard at work down below!

This is around back, looking at the kitchen and garage from the backyard

 Here is the back door to the dining room!

This is the long stretch along the East side of the house.

Yeah, it got really hot up there! It's a great way to tan (or burn) your underside!

All done!

Actually I'm not sure if all the finishing touches were complete in this picture, but in my next "house" entry I'll show pictures with the rock on the exterior walls and I know the roof was finished by then!

We love our roof, and due to its reflective properties combined with the foam insulation it does a wonderful job keeping the house cool in the summer! Even without all the walls insulated and no AC running it stays significantly cooler in the house than outside! Living in Texas, an efficient house is a necessity to get through the hot summers without a huge electric bill!