This is now week 8 of our new home construction! We are building a raised bungalow on 30 acres of land in the country, acting as our own general contractors. Last week we finished up the house framing, and this week was the roof trusses and the tin roof.
New home Roof Trusses
Last week Monday we started putting up the trusses. We rented a crane for the day to get the trusses up there. It also ended up being kind of cold for the middle of June, and very windy! The trusses were flying around like kites. The guys spent a good amount of time bracing and strapping the trusses once they got them up there. It would have been a disaster if the wind knocked the trusses over.
It was a very long day. We all put in at least 12 hours at the house; by 8:00 pm we had all the house trusses in place. We got the garage trusses up there at least, and did some of the strapping. See the trees in the pictures? It was incredibly windy all day long!
On Wednesday night I helped Tony install some of the house strapping. I have a fear of heights, so I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it, and I was definitely not quick, but it felt good to be up there and help a bit.
I love all the trees on the property, but the view is even better from the top of the roof!
By Friday we finished all the strapping on the house. We installed the trusses for the front peak, and also fascia board.
Vicwest Tin Roof
On Saturday we had a bunch of friends help install the tin roof. We ordered black Vicwest tin from H & I Country Supply in Brinston, ON. We decided to go with tin instead of shingles because we didn’t want to ever have to redo the roof. Shingles don’t seem to last as long as they are supposed to, but this tin will hopefully last the rest of our lifetime. The cost for tin is a little more than shingles, but we thought this upgrade was important.
The weather this week went from one extreme to the other! Monday was cool and windy, and by Saturday we were in the middle of a heat wave. The tin was so hot that some of the guys said they could feel their hands burning through their gloves. By the end of the day on Saturday they had just about all of the tin on the back of the house done…
.. and about half of the front of the house.
Here is how it looks from the inside of the house.
There are a few things to finish yet before we install the tin on the garage, such as the the ladders on the end. Here’s a little tidbit of info that I didn’t know before building this house: the end gables are made slightly smaller than the roof trusses. The ladders are to be installed on top of the gables so that they are flush with the top of the other trusses. They then provide the overhang above the gable. They can only overhang on the outside as much as they are supported on the inside.
The fascia board and all the strapping on the garage also needs to be finished.
Today was another VERY hot day! We took it a little easy after the busy week last week, but back into the swing of things tomorrow.
Your tin roof is exactly what I want to add to our house the next time we reroof… and do our big addition. Did you DIY the install of that too?
We hired a contractor to help us with the install of the tin. The installation was done between our contractor, my husband, and a group of our friends
Thanks for the info, Jessica.