Roof Framing for reals

We've started framing the roof, now it's time to sheet the gable, cut in the lookouts, and add the rest of the roof & ceiling joists.

Gable is sheeted!

Got Kelley in this shot

added the lookouts

 

I saw how to make lookouts from watching the Crazy Framer on youtube. Cut a notch into the gable the size of a 2x4. Cut a 2x6 to 10.5" long. You have to have two joists up, one being the gable and the other acts as a nailer. If you're using trusses, the gable truss should be smaller than the rest, and you want to sheet it on the ground. Then lay the lookouts on top of the gable with 2x4 separators. The way I did it, measure the distance from the inside of the 2nd joist to 10.5" outside of the gable sheeting. Cut 2x4's that length, then nail the 2x6's to form an L shape. Nail through the 2nd joist into the back of the 2x4, be sure you are creating a level lookout. I cut notches into the gable that are the exact dimensions of the 2x4, so the board can sit right in the notch. The 2x6 should then be flush against the sheeting. I used about a 20" overhang on the sides. So I measured 3' up from the end, and attached the lookouts every 2' after that. For my roof here, that means I had 5 lookouts per side. I also attached a center block to attach the fascia.

I used a double 2x6 center beam for the ceiling center support.

check out those joists

My framing brings all the girls to the yard

Those are the easy roof joists

I had to come up with something here. It's creative, but looks like an afterthought

This is where I knew it would get sticky. The roof joists in front of the wall are standard. To get between the standard joists and the chimney I had to get creative. This leaves the existing roofline intact. The correct way to do that is to extend framing across the existing roof to change the pitch, but that means I'll have to wrap around the chimney and that's going to be really really hard. 

I'm hanging ceiling joists

Hurricane straps installed

Now with all of the ceiling joists up

adding the first piece of fascia

All that fascia!

Really happy with the way this came out

Ready for sheeting, but I still have to deal with that existing roofline. Got some family advice that the drop thing looks like an afterthought, which it was.

Start Roofing

Every roofing project has to start somewhere. Getting this thing kicked off for the front porch is daunting at best. So daunting, in fact, that I built a test roof over the driveway, a smaller version of this one. Also I actually got a contractor to come by and look at it, his crew could frame and sheet this thing in a day or two, probably, and it would be done right. Then he took too long to schedule it, so I figure out how to do it myself in the meantime. It started with drawing on the building and the rim.

Before - the columns are done and painted, the rim is finished off

Drawing the plan on top of the post

I added some blocks in the rim to keep the joints tight

I drew on the roof there, and the siding to get my centerline

Already a warm day even though it was the end of March

The view from the roof

We also painted the front door pink, same as the side door

Street view at the start

Framing lumber - all 2x6's and a couple of 2x8's

The pollen hit the porch hard this spring

She didn't like the jigsaw very much

but was a natural with the circular saw

We started by buying the lumber after I was able to draw joist locations on the rim and figure out how many of those 16' boards I would need. Then I recruited my favorite helper to cut joists. We did math to calculate the distance, depth of the bird's mouth, and angle (5/12 pitch).

But you have to have something to hang those on. The biggest problem I found was how to hang the ridge board, and how to build the gable end. Well after some brainpower I came up with a way that I thought was going to work. I started by cutting the siding on the house to get the space needed, and tearing through the existing roof. Then I mounted a chunk of 2x6 to get the ridge supported.

before cutting - check out that siding

boom - cut in the siding & edge roof

really did a number cutting that out

That's a ridge beam!

Get a sense of the final height - also the first joist is against the house

Now the first 4 joists are in place! The ridge beam is now supported and stable

I added more supports for the front joists - gives me nailer space for the front gable end sheeting

also added some blocking

Got the 2nd row of joists up

So now I can start sheeting the gable end and add the lookouts over the top. The rest of the joists should go up pretty quick after that. Man I love framing.