Finished ceiling

The crew finished putting up the ceiling and roof trusses yesterday. It's starting to feel like a real house. We now have to wait for a nice dry day and a full crew to install the roof insulation, sheathing, and house wrap. The house site is at least protected from the next snow storm.

In the meantime it's now really cozy under the ceiling. It feels a little more like a barn than a house with the winter weather and dampness. You do get an idea of the loftiness of the space. The second picture is actually taken from under the cathedral area in the living room looking towards the second floor.

More progress on roof

Here are a few pictures as of January 15. The first affords a lovely view of the vapor barrier and the roof trusses on the south side of the building. Not the prettiest part of the construction process, but crucial from a structural point of view if you want to keep humid air out and the roof up. The roof trusses were custom built in Abercorn and are made of 2''x2'' studs with 1'' thick x 11'' wide plywood in between them. The rock wool batts go in between.

The second picture is much nicer showing the tongue and groove planks on the finished half of the ceiling. You can also see the wall trusses all ready to go under the plastic.

Hint of a roof

By lunchtime today, the builders had gotten about 1/3 of a way up the south side of the roof, which you can see in this picture if you look carefully. The tongue and groove ceiling planks were by and large straight, despite their 16-ft length, and fit together well. There were some slightly warped planks, which Joey and Gord cut into 8' halves.

Although the hemlock was very dry, there was minimal splitting when they nailed them down to the rafters. The planks are actually reddish in hue, contrasting with the timbers which appear to be more yellow/green, depending on the light. I didn't get a final picture because it was too dark, but if you click on the image you might get an idea of what the ceiling will look like.

Digging out

The builders were back today, so Lisa and I started digging out after a month of a quiet worksite. Here I am digging out the bedroom. It was cold today (-9 C) and a little windy on the roof, but the guys showed up and started laying down the ceiling planks.

We had a lot of snow over the Christmas break.
It was quite a dig.

Ceiling finish

This is the ceiling for the house. It is sanded, kiln dried hemlock, 3/4" x 6" x 16' tongue and groove. It is very dry. Willy wanted it that way to make sure the wood doesn't shrink. The finishing is the first thing applied to the rafters, and actually serves structurally to hold the rafters together in a single roof structure.

You cannot find dry, sawed hemlock here, so the day after the raising, Lisa and I went to Scierie Clermond Hamel in the Beauce to pick it up. We rented a 20 foot van to save on delivery charges. It was a bit of an adventure, with the roads freezing up before we got home. The next day we had to get it up the icy hill to our house. It was stressful, but the van avoided the ditch.

The roof should be finished (knock wood) next week. materials will be applied in this order:

• hemlock finish (3/4'')
• vapor barrier
• roof trusses (11'')
• Roxul wool insulation
• plywood sheathing
• house wrap
• SuperVic metal roofing

Preassembling rafters ...

... and we're ready for the crane! One last whack at the rafters. Note the collar tie running between the rafters to create a nice strong triangle. The collar ties will frame the upstairs loft, bringing the ceiling down a little and making it a more cozy, intimate space. We had a two day break for a winter storm since the other preassembly. The crane is ordered for next Monday! It will be the big day.

Order for roofing

References: VicWest Roofing, SuperVic (Data sheet, Installation Guide), Galvalume

Main roof

We ordered metal roofing for our house because it's guaranteed for 50 years. While shingle roofs will fly like kites with the first strong breeze comes through, and leak after 15 years, the metal will stay put.

VicWest is metal roofing made in Victoriaville. Ordering galvanized steel as opposed to a painted roof saves considerable money that we put into a thicker guage of metal (26 as opposed to 28; low numbers mean thicker steel, for some reason). The local code requires to use a galvanized metal called galvalume, which is steel with a zinc and aluminum coating. Only agricultural buildings are allowed to use regular galvanized steel roofs. I will have to bring this up at the next town meeting before some poor guy has to rip off his roof.

Ordered it form Cowansville RONA, a really great place. I've never been disappointed with the service there.


- VicWest Super Vic
--19' l x 30'' w; gauge 26
--30 sheets x $63.27/sheet = $1898

- Ridge cap (Fr: faitiere)
--10'2'' length x 15'' w; gauge 24
--8 sheets x $24.11/sheet = $192.88

-Eave trim S-122 (Fr: bordure de toit)
-- 10' length; 90 degree angle; 7/8'' on fascia; 2 7/8'' on overhang; gauge 28
-- 8 pieces x $11.89/piece = $95.12

-Foam closure, above profile, under ridge cap (Fr. lisiere fermeture)
-- 4'2'' length
-- 18 pieces x $2.38/piece= $42.84

- Foam closure, below profile, above eave trim
-- 4'2'' l
-- 18 pieces x $1.88 = $33.84- Screws
- 1 1/2 ''
- 1200 x $0.05 = $60.00

Roof Dimensions

Time to order the roofing. The roof dimensions are shown in the image at right.

• Length: 37'
• Width: 19'
• Depth: 13 1/4''
• Horizontal overhang (gables and eaves): 18''
• Support height: 11' 6''
• Fascia: Raked, 13 1/4''
  
• Soffits: Raked, 13 1/4''

We are going with SuperVic metal roofing from VicWest ordered from Rona in Cowansville, (manufactured in Victoriaville, Qc.) with a Galvalume finishing, a metallic finish similar to zinc galvanized steel, but with some extra aluminum in it. It has a slightly less shiny look.

For some reason, the local Frelighsburg code allows a Galvalume finish, and not a regular galvanized finish (that's only allowed on "agricultural" buildings). It's the same price, so it's not a big deal, but on principle I will bring this up at the next town meeting as a somewhat obscure code item.

References: VicWest Roofing, SuperVic (Data sheet, Installation Guide), Galvalume