Prep for Roof Sheathing

There's lots of roof framing that needs to happen before the roof is sheathed. 

On the rake:

First a lookout ladder is built across from the common or gable trusses.  The lookouts sit on the dropped end gable truss which has been designed to be lower than all the other trusses.  A barge rafter or flying rafter is then attached to the ends of the lookouts.  This creates an overhang which protects the walls from weather and enhances the appearance of the roof.  Fascia (and in our case extra fascia or molding) will be attached to the barge rafter to trim out the rake.

On the tails:

A sub-fascia is simply nailed to the truss or rafter ends.  Fascia is attached to that to finish the roof lines.

West gable overframing:

The extra truss that I built is installed on top of the main roof trusses using field adjustable connectors.  The final lines of this gable will be overframed on the main roof sheathing by adding 2X4s where the two roof lines meet.  The 2X4s will then be used as nailers for the gable sheathing.

A number of days are spent plumbing the roof trusses and installing permanent bracing.  The truss company specs call for bottom chord bracing every 6 feet, and for a run of web bracing along the sides.  I add additional lines of bracing in the mid-webs too.  The bracing is simply 1X4s nailed to the interior of the trusses.  The trusses are bent, cupped, curved and vary horizontally, so plumbing is best done by measuring off from a known vertical point and forcing each portion of each truss to the correct location before nailing.  I spent 2 to 3 full days working on the bracing.

Next week: getting the house covered . . .