Modifying my roof to keep it on the house - another excuse..

Ah yes, the joys of corporate life. Don't miss a thing about it. I have my board meetings over a beer and new client risk assessments (running to eight pages in my last company) normally consist of "Ah, go on then".

Simple life.

Hi, just tell him you do "dynamic risk assessments" it shows you're adaptable and good at problem solving.

Colin

I think this more or less constitutes next week so I'd better have a pop at making things clear…




The angle bits coming from the foot of the rafters bolt onto the channel section where they meet it. They bolt onto a tang welded to the side.

There are a couple of ways working out exactly where the tangs should be.
1, Take lots of measurements and transfer them onto the channel.
2, Take all the stuff into the loft and lay it out. Mark where the angle touches the channel.

I reckoned that if I measured it I was quite possibly going to muck it up somewhere along the way. Where as if I lay it out in the loft I was onto a dead cert and I'd find out which of the tank bearers were in the way. So that's a plan then.




Didn't take long to find something in the way. It's the end of the original water pipe.
Quick bit of grinder action and the short ends are bolted loosely to the foot of each rafter.




The cold water tank was drained and moved again… That turned out to be a challenge because my little pump that I use to clear out the last dregs of water sucked up a bit of crud and jammed. Took ages to get it working again.

As I was saying… Tank out and channel in.




Lordy Lordy! I cut it the right length!




Laid out the angle pieces from the rafters and had a couple of issues.




The one on the right just slides along the side of the tank bearer. It needed a bit of relief at the end where the tang will weld to the channel.
And a couple of bits over I had to move a bearer over a little. No biggie though.

That gives me some accurate marks…




… Where I should weld the tangs on.




That photo still has the slag on and hasn't been cleaned up.

One other little problem crops up.




You see the top of the old wooden loft ladder? And you see that piece of white chipboard? Well when it's all shut up the ladder lies flat on the floor about where the white board is.
Except in future it won't. I'm about to put a large chunk of steel across right in the way. The whole ladder and loft door it's screwed to needs to go up about 8cm.

Like this.




Bit of a gap. I think I have a tube of filler in the garage.

I should comment on the decor. The hall and landing is the one part of the house we haven't touched yet. The wall paper is so horrid it's actually trying to take its self off the wall.

I've been making excuses for not decorating it for years. The latest being that I wanted to get all the steel for the roof up the stairs first.

Guess who is just about to run out of excuses.

James

I'd be tempted to leave it like this...for that rat look landing.

It has come to my attention that my thread is a little behind and that I've actually done more than I've admitted to. This is unusual for me as I generally do so little work that I've written the next bit long before I get round to doing it.

A couple of posts back I put up a drawing that suggested I'd installed the bits behind the loft door. However, as can be seen below…




…they were still in the garage.

Part of the problem was that the big bit crashed into a water pipe that was inconveniently positioned.




So it got moved to a new home. I think that's the third or fourth time that pipe has been replumbed on this job. teaboy  will be proud of me.




Once the big bit was finalised and the welding finished it got painted and bolted in.
I haven't tensioned it all yet but I did spot a minor problem in that a couple of parts were too long and fouling my tensioning rig.




Nothing that the angle grinder couldn't put right though.
So that's the left side of the house all in and ready to be pulled tight.




Just need a load of steel in this side.




And another big channel section to go across the foot of the chimney.




Don't you just love the way the chimney steps off to the left. It looks so, er, well, frankly it looks so wrong. Still, it's not fallen through the hall ceiling yet so it can't be that wrong.

James

Chimney is usually the strongest part of the house....

You've probably explained it and i've forgotten.... but why did you not 'frame' round the chimney with the steel channel so the strength of the chimney would help to anchor the 'framework'?

Hi, a few years ago it was popular to remove the fireplace and chimney breast in the living room. As it supports the rest of the stack it was safer to remove it all the way to the top for 'structural reasons' rather than support it on the joists because it gave more room in the bedroom as well.

Colin

A monumentous occation is almost upon us.

Enough of that. Lets start with a digression. Well it's my thread so why not.
When it rains in the evening, even lightly, we've heard these occasional SPLAT sounds. It's as if a massive drop of water is landing on the decking but it's irregular, sometimes just one, sometimes several in a row. And there is nowhere for a drop big enough to fall from. It's been a dilemma at our house.

The other night we found this chap…




…and two of his friends trying to break into the patio doors. Every time they hop into the glass there is a wet SPLAT noise. Clearly evolution hasn't given frogs an understanding of glass yet.

So what now? Ah yes, last week.




It's other bit to go across the other side of the chimney.

Measure twice… No. Sod that, I'll put a tape mark on the measure. That way I can't get it wrong.




Weld the tags on the side and there we are, ready for paint.




Now I've been thinking. Always a bad move but stay with me.
When I use the battery drill to bash holes through the steal in the loft it takes forever. It's hard work. Yet with the same bit in the pillar drill in the garage it goes through in seconds. Why would this be?

Well the pillar drill turns slowly and the pressure on the bit is much greater. That way it cuts but doesn't overheat and go blunt.
I can't get the same pressure on the hand drill so I tend to run it faster creating more heat.

I had an idea… More complex 3D drawings were made and a great deal of time was spent making and refining the perfect tool for the job.




Nah, I grabbed some bits of stick and threaded rod and knocked it together.
You hook the green stick over the rail and push it away...





…increasing the bit pressure. It cuts much better. And faster. I do wish I'd shaped the top of the handle though. And when the bit jammed it nearly had my fingers!

It is, obviously, at this point that the battery in the drill went flat so I went to get the spare only to find it was cold in the charger. Odd. The charger usually keeps them warm. And there are no lights on it. Oh my, it's dead! Where am I going to get a replacement Dewalt charger in a hurry?

But I fix things for a living… Better take a look inside I suppose. So it turns out that the internal fuse had blown. It was a T2A which I didn't have. A quick measure with a meter suggested that all the rest of it was OK. Input filter looked ok. Diodes - all ok. No massive short across the chopper transistor.
Maybe it just blew 'cos it could? So I put a wire across the fuse. If there was a serious problem it'll just blow the 3 amp fuse in the plug top so no big problem.

Ta da! It works! I'll get a proper fuse and fit it. But at least I can carry on tomorrow.

So sadly I haven't done too much today. I'll just have to leave you with a photo of my nuts.




What did you think I meant???