The first problem I noticed (and I'd forgotten about this) was that the rafters which make up the front-most part of the gable-ends at the front and left of the shed were not meeting the ridge at the same point. So the left-hand rafter was behind the right-hand one. That meant if I trimmed back to the rafters it would leave a mess. To resolve this I attached a strip of OSB to the offending rafters, which brought them forward just enough. Remember that these will be covered with 'nice' wood so you won't see what's behind.
Amazingly enough I'd also forgotten to put one of the boards on the back of the roof, about half a sheet on the far right (as you look from the front), so that went on as well.
Stand back and take a good look. That's the roof finished, minus felt/shingles - the boarding-up is done...ish. What I need now is access to the top part of the roof, since I can't get there by poking my head up inside. I need scaffolding, and being a complete lunatic I've decided to build it myself out of wood! No, don't even ask me why I'm not renting scaffolding (cost) or buying it (cost). Do you think that medieval builders had metal scaffolding?! If it's good enough for York Minster it's good enough for me! So that's why you can see a board leaning against the shed - it's to test the height, which looks okay if you consider that at that height I need a guard rail at the back in case I slide back down. Everyone seems to think that building my own scaffolding is a one-way ticket to hospital, but the timber is strong, I intend to attach it to the shed with metal straps, and it will be safe as safe can be... which is only re-assuring if you're not the one going up there! I'll still use the roof hook/ladder to get up there but it will be resting on my scaffold platform as well as hooked onto the roof so that should be a lot safer than the ladder alone.
Did I mention the damp-proof course problem? Look wayyy back to the first day of construction when the boards underneath the shed were wrapped in dpc sheet. Now also remember that when the roof was open I was clever enough to drill a small hole in the floor to let the rain water out. Put the two together and you get a waterproof wrapper around my timber, full of water! The very thing meant to stop water rising up was holding water around the wood in a rot-as-quick-as-possible kind of way. Solution: poke a hole in it in the gap between the concrete pillars (the dpc is meant to stop damp coming up through the concrete) to let the water run out. Complications!
Watch out for the scaffolding being built, although it's going up behind the shed first - it's where I need it most because of the large roof area, but that might mean that the pictures may not be great until I move round the side. Nick's medieval siege tower is about to take shape!
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