|
On Monday I added another large section of board, this time to the right-hand side of the shed. However, my measuring proved to be a little less accurate than I would have liked, and there was another reason it was 'out' - the boards next to it must be at a very slight angle (no more than a degree or two but noticeable over 12+ feet of roof), so that has finally caught up with me. The piece I fitted either went in so that the straight edge was fine, or the angled, valley piece was fine, but not both. So I chose the valley, and was left with a gap between two boards, wide at the top, thin at the bottom. No more than a centimetre, but very noticeable. I decided to leave it there for the day and have a think! On Tuesday (20 July) I decided that rather than fill in the gap with thin slivers of wood, it was best to cut a bigger section out and put in a more substantial piece of wood - much more likely to be strong and stay in place. So I measured 4 inches across from the other boards and marked out where I wanted to cut. After much squeezing into small gaps in the rapidly closing roof space, I managed to jigsaw it out, plus using the handsaw so that I didn't cut through the noggins. Adding the new piece was easy - it was just a piece cut to fit, and fit it did. Last thing of the day: the final large panel, and the final one to go on the top of the roof. Also probably the most dangerous because the wind decided to blow directly towards the flat side of the board just while I was up there! Anyway, it's on and although it hangs over a lot (I was hedging my bets in case I needed to cut it to adjust it) it will be trimmed to fit soon, and is looking good. Now when it rains EVERYTHING pours down into two gaps, one on either side of the shed, which is worse than it being spread everywhere, so I need to get the rest of it done ASAP!
Gisburne's Patented Super-reach Nailer Tool
Super-brainwave time! I was up on the roof (there's a song in that somewhere, good job I'm not building a dock near a bay), and despite my long arms just couldn't reach the top of the roof to nail along the ridge. "What I need is a super-reach nailer tool type of thing," I said to myself (in a crazed, semi-zombie like state which usually follows accidentally turning over and watching Trisha on daytime TV).It needed to be something I could grip the nail with, adjust until in place (like wot my fingers would do), and then pull away once I'd half-hammered it in, leaving the nail head showing to finish off the job. So I thought, and having thunk, I came up with... A long stick with a split in the end! Wedge the nail in the split, point it at where you want it to go, reach over with the hammer (which is also longer than your arm reach otherwise this wouldn't work) and bash it in. Pull away and the job is done! You may laugh, but this is one of the best ideas I've ever had! I used it all day and it never let me down, and I managed to reach much further than I ever had before. A shame I didn't think of this earlier! Try it, it's honestly the best thing ever, and even if you don't need to reach at all, it still stops you hitting your finger with the hammer when you're off target. Top tackle!
|
|
Back Next
|
|
