Completing the Tongue and Groove and Starting the Dormers

This week we concentrated on completing all the tongue and groove. The back half of the house has an 8/12 pitch which was a vast improvement over the front 10/12 pitch.

I can't adequately describe how good this tongue and groove ceiling looks. Here you see the back about half done.

When installing the T&G one of the things you need to do is to pre-install the sofit vents. These are simple 2" holes spaced evenly between the purlins that allow air to circulate and vent the insulation in the roof system.

Once the hole is drilled the "boss" cuts a piece of screen the appropriate size.

Then the screen is stapled in place.

Here is one sofit vent board ready for installation. Although all our ceiling T&G was polyurethaned prior to installation inside the boards used outside for the roof overhang were NOT polyurethaned. They need to accept stain so polyurethane was a big no no for these boards.

Here's a view of the sofit vents installed. We actually added a few extra vents over what the company calls for just to make sure we had good ventilation, given the heat of the Arizona summer.

Here are views of the completed tongue and groove. The opening is where the chimney will go, a project for next week.

A view from the great room down stairs.

After the T&G was completed we started work on the front dormers. Our roofing contractor will be by at the end of next week to complete the insulation and sheeting of the T&G section of the roof so we need to have the dormers pretty much done before he arrives. The first wall was constructed in place just to make sure all measurements were correct.

After this wall was done we took close measurements from it and built three more just like it.

These were built and sheeted inside and then installed.

The first one was sheeted in place. Not an easy thing to do on a 40 degree pitch roof.

This is one of the pre-sheeted walls ready for installation. It was much easier to do it this way but a little note of advice here. Don't try to install them in 25 mph winds like we did. What a job that was.

Sometimes there's no substitute for pure muscle.

We finished the week building the front of the dormers. With the walls now in place we will be able to install the front sections and sheet them from the outside using a 24' extension ladder. Each will have a cutout for a decorative window.

That's it for this week. Next week we'll finish the dormers including the rafter roof systems and build a chimney box. We're using a Lennox propane fireplace which is capable by itself of heating most of the house. This is a backup unit and will be used (for heating) just in case the power goes out during winter snow storms. Something that has been known to happen out here. Propane fireplaces only require a "chase" for an 8" vent to exit the roof. All we will have to do for the chimney is build a "box" on the roof. This box will eventually be covered with a manufactured stone product that goes on a lot like tile. When the entire chase is done it will look and feel from floor to ceiling (and from outside) just like a built in place masonry fireplace.

Check back soon.