So, the morning after the night before. It's still there. Still no rain.
Everything went pretty well for the most part. You get surprisingly comfortable climbing wonky ladders and crawling all over your roof when you have to do it for a few days. I had a lie in yesterday and didn't get out of bed till 7 helped by the fact that my kid also decided that sleep was good.
While my wimmin slept I woke up and got ready to go and move the truck to get more insulation. Lo and behold as I walked out to where the track was, it wasn't. Mike had already been up and was driving across the field with my next batch of insulation. All £48 worth. Great. All materials on site to crack on.
I'd already cut all but the last 2 bits (which are narrower than normal) to width the night before so I could carve up my first one for the door end, check my measurements and then make 2 more to the same pattern, and 3 more bits to go over the top. With those all in place I then did the easy one at the end, just a straight run to two different widths. The first side was done by 9:40 and we were seeing 23c already.
One half complete
Time to fire up the saw again and make some mess.
I know most only use a hand saw for the insulation but honestly I'd do it again with the table saw. 20 pieces all cut to perfect width in a minute or two with less mess and no marking out. This is obviously easier when the boards come in half widths in the first place.
I started hacking bits away to get the other side done and it all went in without major issue. As always you work it out slowly and it only gets faster as you start banging it up. It really helped noting the cuts from the first boards to just mark out the same for the next 3 or 4 for around the joists. I could do minimal trips around the garden to the saw and up and down the ladder.
The far side was complete by about 2:15. The temperature was about TooHot degrees.
We'd had some friends arrive for a distanced BBQ and with them came grown up conversation and cold beer, so I wasn't going to miss out after 3 months. Really the only thing I've missed since lockdown started was this kind of afternoon with friends.
Despite that I needed to get my foam in so I hoofed it up onto the ridge once more with the foam lance. Wifey and friend Lee proved adept at launching cans of foam up to me on the ridge and I worked my way along the top doing the gap and as far down the rafter edges as I could comfortably reach. Then it was time to scamper across the rafters to do the rest of it, then the other side. But it was done by about 3:30 and I could sit, eat have a much needed beer and enjoy a natter while the foam cured.
They did the foxtrot come 6 and so I could get back up and trim any odd bits that had bubbled up out of nowhere and clean up a little of the more overzealous foam. Then I set out my membrane on the floor and marked out 5x 7.5m lengths, enough to do the whole roof with excess.
That's where I started getting hot under the collar. The merest gnats fart had the stuff billowing all over the place, and I'd only folded the membrane up to get it up onto the ridge and work down like SheptonPhil did for his. Never again. With the ridge piece on I could come back down for my second length. This proved more difficult as I was rapidly running out of rafter to hold onto or stand on. The third and final length for the far side was completed mostly from the ladder. That side looks rubbish compared to the side in the photo, but it doesn't need to look pretty.
The side you've seen was done marginally better and slightly differently. I rolled up my membrane as tight as I could and after clambering onto the roof went to the farthest end from the ladder and worked backwards. I wasn't quite getting in my own way as often, but boy was I glad I didn't have a steeper pitch to try standing on. With that one down it was fairly easy to do the last bit down at the eaves once again all from the ladder.
The lesson here is don't listen to Phil. :lol: Start at the bottom and work up using battens. Oddly, exactly as you're supposed to do it.
I wish I'd worked out something for my batten spacings before getting to this point so I could have put some up without them being temporary. But time was also in the way as the potential for rain was high enough that I didn't want my hard work ruined.
So that's that. I'd never do it that way again, but apart from the membrane part it all went ok given the ridiculous temperatures.
All in all the insulation cost for the roof came to £92. Not bad for 34m2 of 120mm insulation. A new record perhaps?
Sheptonphil":2fojl1t2 said:
I achieved nothing today, I walked out, looked at it and turned round and went back n.
To achieve that in 30C+ is a superb effort, at least you can take tomorrow off knowing all will be pretty well protected. You kinda want it to rain now you’ve done the work.
You useless bum! ha. Yes deffo a day off today. A day off in which I get to sort admin out, clear up, generally not relax.