Roof Trusses

The focus this week was installing the roof trusses and panels and as a consequence, the house is really starting to take shape:

Here's the view out of the front guest room looking down onto the porch roof. We have 'over-sized' the porch because, as the house faces south, we expect to be able to enjoy both sunshine and a view of the Cascades mountain range on good weather days.

Here are the roof trusses spanning the master bath and Julia's upstairs studio. The trusses arrived pre-built which makes the construction process quicker, though Stanley said he would rather build them himself given the time.

Greg's on the studio roof putting the roof panels in place. The pitch of the roof is pretty steep - 8 inches up for every 12 inches across which had me a little concerned about Greg's safety once he was actually standing on the panels.

In order to provide some safety, Greg has a 'kick board' beneath him with the idea that before he slides over the edge of the roof, he 'kicks' the 2x6 and avoids a fall:

Meanwhile all the walls have been trued and the substantial steel earthquake brackets have been installed. These brackets are bolted to the foundations and attached to the load bearing uprights and are designed to prevent the frame of the house shearing off the foundations in the event of an earthquake. Although we do not experience earth tremors on a weekly basis like we did in the Bay area, research over the last couple of decades has shown the Cascadia fault off the Oregon coast is capable of creating a quake bigger than the Hayward or San Andreas faults in the San Francisco area. I don't know if building codes here have fully caught up with this revelation yet, but it does seem that the design of our house is taking quakes into serious consideration.

Looking forward, the windows have arrived and are sitting in the garage area waiting to be installed:

Similarly, the pre-primed fascia boards are also ready to be installed:

That's all folks...