Today - Continued work repairing and rebuilding the left side wall/roof framing and paneling and the roof vent framing.
Lil' Queeny has 1 by (3/4") framing - laid flat. Tow-Mater has 1 by framing - laid flat. Lil' Queeny had 1/2" plywood raised bands on the tops of all four sides of the vent frames. Tow-Mater used 1 by's for the same thing. That raises the spots 1/2-3/4" higher than the surrounding roof. Water run off.
I had replaced Tow-Mater's one rotted vent opening framing member, and its associated raised board with a 2x2 (1.5", to equal the same as two stacked 1 by's). But I was using the surrounding roof metal and a plan for a beefed up square flange around the interior, to strengthen it's fairly weak install. Still, it wasn't a good design.
Now, with one side of the vent structure (the forward roof rib/rafter/stringer) having part of it cut out, right at the middle of the square hole in the roof (the vent opening) I wanted more strength here than I had, or than what came originally.
So instead of four separate 1 bys, one at each opening edge, I chose a square doughnut design, made out of arguably stronger 3/4" plywood. That would bridge and strengthen the WHOLE opening in one fell swoop! That's what I did on Lil' Queeny, and that's what I would do here. I wandered on over to my scrap lumber.
Wow, it's getting sparce. Not a lot of stuff left. Oh wait, here's a big enough piece! But just one. No mistakes! Don't want to have to buy another full 4x8 sheet. Don't have time today. Have to get the roof built far enough to zip it back up partially before rain hits. And it's threatening again! Can't be wasting time on the road or in the store.
Okay just work fast. But be careful. Concentrate. Don't try this at home.
It's a 14" opening, I want 2" band, set the saw at 16", cut a quick square. Move the blade in two inches, cut the inside of the doughnut (careful now), then cut to the corners with jig saw.
Nice! That's what I'm talking about baby!
But wait, that didn't work. Oh! Nooooooo! You saw this coming! Why didn't you SAY something?
14" opening, plus 2" band, on two sides, equals 18" not 16". My last full piece of scrap! Okay just breath. What to do. If I had just bought that stretch plywood like with my jeans. I could MAKE it fit. Think like a doctor. Make an incision, add in extra fat from somewhere else. Suture and surgical glue. Yeah, That's it. And then don't lift anything for a week. Check!
It's the corners that need the support anyway. Now don't lose focus, gotta keep moving, rain's moving in.
Here's some of the parts, including the new butt jointed stringer repair board.
I've been using wood glue for two nice wood surfaces of wood, but the Gorilla glue on the structural bond areas.
With 2" blocks cut and glued and clamped into place on three of four sides, we got this.
But I needed a bit different size to accommodate the stringer joint.
Now I'll leave that clamped while it dries good. The others were clamped good with staples. This one spot got staples AND the clamp.
Then I contracted with DSIL to make a decorative steel square doughnut flange for the inside as a buttress and a cover over the damaged ceiling panel. We'll get that up later.
Now, get that new ceiling panel in place temporarily, so I can cut the new shape of the upper edge of the rotted top plate.
See the board that looks like it got beat up by a staple gun?
That's the top edge of the top plate. It has the lap joint. 3/4" edge cut halfway through (3/8"). So the edge you're looking at is 3/8" thick. The stringers rest on the unseen 3/8" edge. And how far down is it cut? 7/8". That's 3/4" for the flat 1 by, and 1/8" for the paneling below it; where I now have that ceiling panel stuck temporarily.
Then I adjusted the oscillating tool blade at various angles and cut from inside outward to shave off the top of the damaged lap joint. Using the TOP surface of the panel to give me my cut height. You just work around obstacles, like ribs and organs, just like a doctor.
So now the lap joint is only 1/8" tall, just enough for the paneling. And that leaves a nice flat surface to add a 1 by roof framing member, and then glue and staple it down to give us a nice new solid corner for the metal to form over. No - we'll never get that panel out again.
But first we have to build it. It was back over to the scrap pile, after deciding I wanted ONE piece of 1 by, probably a 1x4 or 1x3. Something with more beef than a 1x2, you know? No time to over think it, gotta watch that sky. Nightfall's coming, don't want to get stuck outside with wild animals on the prowl and all.
I determined I need a 50" length.
Oh Nooooooo! My 1 by scrap is sparce TOO?! I don't have any spare time to go buy a piece. What have I got? Oh looky there, a cedar post. That'll work.
Now normally I'd use pine or fir. But desperate times call for desperate methods. And all I really need here is something that glues (and staples) down solid, gives a good edge for structure and form, and accepts a screw thread without splitting, this will work. I hope. If not, I can always pump in some liquid nails.
Now the reason I wanted a 50" length was so I could increase structural integrity along the edge where I just removed the damaged lap joint section.
And then with blade height, I cut the board back for the shape of my rib ends. You might note I am shaping two of those rib ends to cut out the questionable ends where trim screws mount.
I fine-tuned it with the oscillating tool up on the roof. But before we fit and fasten that into place, let's get the panel in permanent.
First, cut the edge backers (what we call nailers in the bidness).
And get them glued and stapled.
All along here.
Then the panel board.
No pic, you'll just have to believe me.
Once up, I fit, then fastened (Gorilla glue and staples) the edge board. Between ribs, these spaces were originally filled with scrap 1 by and plywood. Most reached all the way to each rib, some didn't. Now we had one solid length with interlocking fit. And cedar is pretty brittle, until the glue dries, then it's a pretty good structure, for where the stresses are in this anyway. And did I mention it's less prone to rot? Not that we'll ever have water in HERE again. ;)
See how brittle? The near end will have to be tweaked when I tie in the forward roof swoop portion, but now I could fasten down a good portion of this edge.
I was kinda beat. Long day. It had started out by pulling staples from the roof and wall metal. Then came examination of just what we had. Then removal of the rotted pieces, then a plan, then the ceiling cut out, then the vent rebuild, the roof edge rebuild, the filling with boards and glue and staples - oh my! You know, the last three days reports.
No thought at all given to the roof swoop with that damaged plywood piece, no work at all on the curb side.
Now set it all aside over-night and hope for the best. I like working inside better. This working around the weather is stressful I tell you, stressful!
