On Thursday after work, I stopped at Lowe’s to pickup the materials I’d need to redo the shed roof. Having previously stripped the old cedar shingles off, I planned to attack this small job over the July 4 wknd. I bought 8 sheets of 7/8″ oriented strand board, which was only $5.22 per sheet, cheaper than the thinner 3/8″ boards. I also bought 6 bundles of standard 20 year composition roofing, and one roll of 200sqft roofing felt. I already had the old nails I pulled from the cedar shingles. They were all straight and good to reuse. The material weighed down the truck but it wasn’t beyond its limit. About 500 lbs I guessed.
Friday morning I got up at my normal 5am and had a quick oatmeal breakfast and got on the road to Rattlesnake Ledge. I started at 6:15 in glorious early morning sun and arrived at the top at 7. There were a handful of people coming down already, so I definately wasn’t the first, but while I was there I was the only one there. I spent about 45 minutes resting in the warm sun and cool breeze. It felt REALLY good. Wendy had the day off, but I didn’t need her help at all. She spent the day doing some baking.
I was home by 9 and grabbed a cup of coffee and a couple pieces of toast & jam for a snack. About 10am I was refreshed and it was time to get to work on the shed. The weather was bright and sunny warm, and would get up to about 85 degrees for the day. The shed roof is mostly in shade after 10am but as the sun moves west it gets a little more at times. I cut all my OSB sheets to the desired length I needed and got ’em nailed in place over the old roof slats. I only needed 6 of the 8 sheets so I have two extra now.
Then I stapled down the new roofing felt.
While I was doing that, the 2 neighbor kids came over and I offered them $10 each to use the wheelbarrows and move all the old cedar shingles from next to the shed over to my firepit. It took them about an hour, they did a real good job.
By the time they were done, I was ready for a break. I gave the kids some root beer and had one myself. After that it was time to start laying down the new roofing. By 6pm I had one side done. Time to quit.
Saturday morning was a virtual repeat of Friday. I was up at 5 and hit the trail at Rattlesnake again at 6:15 and was on top at 7. Again I had the place to myself for 45 minutes. Again it felt SOOOO good to rest in the sun and light breeze. The thermometer on my pack said 70. Perfect. As soon as I heard someone else coming, I decided it was time to head down. I would have planned to take a longer better hike somewhere further up in the mountains but not for the fact I had this shed project to do. It gave me the exercise and fresh air that I needed but also the time I needed at home. I was kind of surprised how few people there were up on the ledge both Friday and Saturday, but I guess with such nice weather and a holiday weekend, most people had other plans. And thats fine with me, more quiet time up there.
I was again back home about 9am and today Wendy had to be at work by 10am. I rested until she left, then eased my way up on the shed and had the roof all finished by 2pm.
Then everything had to be put back into the shed and cleaned up. That took awhile as I had to sort thru everything and decide where I wanted it stored. Since I had to relevel the shed, the right front corner was not sitting on its concrete block, was about one full inch above it. But as I loaded things back in with a deferance to heavy stuff on that right front side, it slowly settled down. It also fixed the front door which has been skewed for awhile, not closing easily. Since I still had 2 extra OSB sheets, I needed to store them someplace out of the weather. I hung them on chains on the right side of the shed under the now extended eves. I say extended because I purposely added a couple extra inches to each of the layers that got put down.
Now the day is done and the shed is done. I’m tired and require lots of rest. I will not hike on Sunday. I will sleep in. I do have mowing and trimming and blowing and weedburning to do, but not until after I feel like starting it.
All pics can be viewed at http://picasaweb.google.com/cattrain1989/NewShedRoof#