Thinker's Box is Ready for Winter...

     It was Tuesday, 11.08.2011 and I was back at camp.  This time out, I brought along a helper to assist me in the application of the Owens Corning waterguard "G" underlayment.  I introduced him to our usual routine, done what seems dozens of times already...unload the SUV, prepare our sleeping arrangements, check out camp, start a fire, enjoy of few refreshments courtesy of the Yuengling brewery, get some shut eye, get up early, unpack the tools, remove the tarp and then try to get something accomplished (in that order most of the time).  Camp was cold, quiet and filled with blue moonlight yet again.  Sure beats being rainy, muddy and cold!  I built a fire and it kept us warm enough for a couple hours of fish story telling.  At 2am, it was time to hit the rack.  We both passed out with little resistance and were up to face the day's chores by 7am.  Things went well and the roof is much better prepared to face the upcoming weather changes and inclimate weather than how we found it that morning.  In fact, if there are any days in the next couple months that I'm off and it is "nice"...the walls could actually be installed.  We'll see about that!

     The long roof's (not shown) installation went better than that of the steep shorter roof that you do see in the video.  Ironically, the long roof deck was actually harder to install.  It was somewhat of a puzzle on how to install the second and third runs so far from the ladders until I figured out exactly where to place the roof jacks so they wouldn't interfere with the next run and still supply me with a safe footing well over 20' off the ground.

     I would have liked to have a slightly straighter seam to seam edge on the short side, but the ice guard is sticky! When daytime temperatures rose to the mid 50-60 degree range, the adhesive backing really grips well and is a complete pain in the butt to reposition once it makes contact.

     The big thing, and this is how I rationalized the slightly imperfect lines of the short side in my head, was to have good coverage at the eave edge.  The entire decking is covered with a material that ordinarily is used to combat ice dams on the first 3' feet of the roof deck.  We really didn't have to apply it over the entire surface, but I wanted to be extra sure that we had done our best to prevent leaks down the road.  We really didn't have to deck the roof in .60" OSB either, but I figured that in the event we chose to go with conventional roofing materials (shingles) that we'd have that option with the thicker board already in place.

     On the longest and less steep side of the roof, I was able to install perfect parallel runs with 3" overlaps at the seams as specified by the manufacturer.  On the short side, because things get a little skewed on the south end, the sheeting drifts from a 3" overlap at the start to just about 1/2" at the end cut.  The roof is so steep, I'm not really worried about the imperfection as it will not hold water/or snow and poses less risk of leaking.  I would have liked for it to be a little tighter to specified tolerances, but it is what it is and will be hidden by metal roofing for a long-long time.

Please excuse the humor of my video.  This was an extremely tiring day filled with some death defying perches.  In fact, I straddled the roof peak that stands about 22' off the ground and shimmied my way from the south side to the north side stapling the roof decking at the seam along the way.  It was a great view, but had the heart pumping.  I'm glad that part is over!  My energy for the day was expended through climbing and repositioning ladders and the constant adrenaline release associated with being separated from the ground by so much distance.

Dj

Fascia Boards Installed

Jennifer and I made the trip Saturday evening out to camp.  The kids had been dropped off at Grandma's house for the night because neither had expressed an interest to make the journey.  The mall seemed more desirable given that both had some spending money because of good grades.  Speaking of academics...My son hit the honor roll and my daughter impressed us with a 4.142 principle's list once again.  Needless to say, as parents, Jen and I are blessed to have both of them as children and are quite proud of their achievements thus far in their lives!  Ok, less bragging about the children and more about camp...because it was just the two of us, we opted to camp in the SUV on the level ground of the "lower level".  The misses was impressed with how far the "Thinker's Box" has progressed and had remarked that she had simply asked me to build a small place that the ladies could use the facilities in private and this is what she gets instead.  I say, "Don't sweat the small stuff, think big or don't bother thinking!"  She's correct, though...it is quite impressive.

Anyhoo...this trip was about spending time with the little lady (alone), Jen getting in some much needed camp time, star gazing, enjoyment of the quietness of camp and observance of nature and me getting a couple things done in the process.  Evening temperatures Saturday night dropped to 25 or so degrees F.  I encouraged the creation of a fire which warmed our front sides while we gazed up at the night sky.  We turned in around 11 and I was up at 7 to install the fascia boards which wasn't all that difficult to do.  In a few easy paced hours, they were up, the tarp was re-stapled into place and new plastic put on the south facing side of the roof peak.  At that point, sleepy-head awoke, I loaded up the trailer and Mountaineer and we headed into town to grab a bite to eat before returning home.

Look for another trout camp subscription email reminder, don't think that you were mistakenly sent two this week, as I will be posting another update of some additional work shortly.

Here's the video of camp and what was completed this trip.  We're getting closer to a finished structure and I cannot wait until we can use it for storage (LOL!).