BUILDING A SOLAR HOUSE IN FRANCE - WEEK 11 - Roofing

Comment:

Another job I had to do was to uncover the places where holes can be drilled through the concrete slab for pipes and other services. I had placed blocks of polystyrene there before the slab was poured, where holes would miss reinforcing or precast beams.

Just before lunch rafters had been fixed on the south roof slope. I went off to collect sample of larch boarding from Mr Merle in La Coquille.

By 4 pm most of the rafters had been fixed and were being trimmed at the ends of the tie beams (entraits).

In the afternoon it began to cloud over, but good weather is forecast for tomorrow. I hope Mr Mazieres can get the ecran de toiture and battens on before it rains again.

On Tuesdy afternoon the roof tiles arrived. Mr Mazieres and his men could not come and I was working on site marking out floor joist positions and trying to decide whether fixing the joists was a job I could do to save money. But the joists are so heavy that I decided to leave to him and his men.

The floor joists under the mezzanine are oak, and will be dropped into the slots cut in the beams on the left. They are on the floor in the centre, being walked all over. I hope that it does not rain before the roof is covered, because oak shows black water marks that are hard to clean off.

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Oct 25, 2007 - 12:37 PM

Mr Mazieres and gang came back on Thursday and completed the rafters and fitted fascias.

In the afternoon they had framed the rooflight. The crane lifted the posts and purlin, and held it all steady until the rafter were in place. This is in fact a passive solar collector with vertical glazing which will also house the chimney of the wood stove, and a ventilator in summer. There was much discussion about the precise position of the wood stove to get the elaborate flashing into position directly above it.

View from South of the frame of the roof light, which also gives light to the mezzanine.

By midday on Friday the North slope of the roof had been covered with roof sheeting (ecran de toiture) which is waterproof but microperforated to allow the roof to breathe.

The last half of the roof being covered on Friday afternoon.

Album last updated on Nov 01, 2007 - 01:31 PM