Week 12: Raising the roof

In just 12 weeks we have walls and a roof. I never knew how fast these things could happen, but these guys are busy as bees. We have also been extremely fortunate with the unseasonably warm and beautiful weather, which is all the more amazing seeing as by this time last year we had already had a few winter storms and about 1 1/2 feet of snow on the ground. 

The first step this week was to get the roof trusses up and to close in the areas under the peak with plywood. It took about 2 days for all the trusses to be added.

Once the trusses were up, the roof became a hive of activity with many workers adding strapping to accept the steel cladding. I loved the fact that now that we have walls, the workers actually need to use the “doors” to enter the building.

The steel roofing arrived in sheets that needed to be drilled in preparation for affixing to the strapping. Once the metal was drilled, it got screwed down to the wood quite quickly.

It is amazing how much the roof transforms the structure. It can now be recognized as a building, rather than just a shell. Entering the space creates a completely different emotion in me. The roof gives substance to the entire process to date and is a major step towards completion.

Here you can see how the whole internal area has been defined with the addition of the roof. I can now visualize how the final space will look with the walls clad, lighting hanging, and machinery in place.

So we put up a roof and then cut a hole in it? It’s all for a good cause - this is the exit point for our new spray booth ventilation stack.

And here is our complete, beautiful roof! Hooray!