Red House Renovations

A Story of Transformation by Rebecca Buyers and Nils Johnson

Post 25: Raising the Roof

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Monday was a washout, but our construction crew made a big push to raise the roof on the new ell and closed it in earlier than expected, creating the shape of the new Red House-to-be.

Ryan, Al and Josh – managed to lift the 24 foot long LDL ridgepole up to the second floor and nail it into position over their heads. Setting a ridgepole, we thought, is a job requiring a crane and a crew of seven. Not necessarily, we discovered when the crew leader is and engineer and is “feeling froggy.” We missed the big moment, but were on site to marvel at their feat at the end of the day.

How’d you do that?
Ell ridgepole
View from the ground

That was on Tuesday. On Wednesday, a crew of six arrived to nail in the rafters. Watch them work through a snow squall!

Lumber for rafters
Two roof peaks

It was too windy to haul sheets of plywood up the second floor; the crew climbed the high scaffolding on a calmer day to close it all in.

It’s been a productive three-day week and we are very pleased with the way things are shaping up. Today it was a three ring circus with activity on the roof, in the basement and the old cellar hole. Stay tuned for our next blog post on bricks, blocks and rocks!

2 responses to “Post 25: Raising the Roof”

  2. Needless to say, they are efficient. David and I by ourselves put on the roof of ‘our farm’. Wood lengths about the same. Ridge board was a challenge. We drilled holes in the ends of the rafters and did have a ratchet. I was on the high end, and David on the low. We had bird’s mouths cut into the timber to catch and lock the wood into place on the blocks. Ancient photos somewhere….