A solid day

I tried a slightly different tactic to get my lazy arse out of bed this morning - putting my phone alarm on the far side of the caravan! Whaddya know, I was out of bed before sunrise! :)

First job this morning as planned yesterday, was to finish the flat roof structure over the pump room. I had originally intended to install corrugated iron roof sheet to this roof as for the rest of the building, but in order to use that I need a 5º fall, whereas I can use flat sheeting and get away with 1º (why!?). With very little room to play with underneath the garage roof trusses, I've elected to go with 1º - I would need a full 250mm rise at the wall end of the roof to get 5º, and there's just not that much space.

So with that decision made, I got into it. First job was installing the permanent wall bracing below, and making sure it was all square and plumb then tying the top and bottom plates to the studs. Then with that done, I used a single 90x45 bearer at the wall end to give me 1.5º fall over the length of the roof, which is plenty for the flat sheeting. More 90x45 rafters at 450mm centres provide the structure, with a notched 90x45 atop the internal wall to support the rafters.

Tying all this down however took approximately forever...

.. but shortly thereafter I was able to start installing the ply sheeting. Any doubts I may have had as to the sufficiency of my structure were very quickly dispelled - this roof is solid as a rock, with no hint of bounce in the rafters or flex in the ply. Quite unlike the trussed roofs - these are spaced at 1200mm centres, and there's a very definite give in the ply if you stand on the sheets between the trusses.

So with that job finally out of the way, I got cracking on the rest of the garage roof. This section however is shorter between the trusses than the 2400mm length ply, so there was a bit of head scratching to be done when I got to the junction between the trussed roof and rafters, which I'd already clad. This last sheet also creeps up onto the wall/truss structure which I've not yet constructed, so at the moment it's cantilevered in free space.

Must remember not to step on this bit...

With day fast running out, this is what I've got left of the garage roof to go. Might just get it finished tomorrow! :)