First Roof Strapping

        A couple of months of rain have halted progress a little, then last week I went through the pile of parts supplied by the kit-home company, and sorted them out into their relevant categories.

  
    Here is the guttering.

        Here is an assortment of 'customised flashing'. Each bundle has a sticker on it which identifies what it is, how many there are, how long it is, how wide it is, and how many bends are in it. All of these are just called 'customised flashing' so we don't really know where each piece is meant to go. I guess we will figure it out as we go.

        Here is our zincalume roofing sheets. I had tried to count how many there are, but they are so closely piled that it was impossible! I did the calculations for how many we would need to go across the roof, taking into account the minimum overlap required of 10cm, and I got 14 for each side of the roof - with an extra 36 cm. We wouldn't bother cutting that off the last piece, but just do some extra overlapping of some sheets to make it the right width.

        I had the idea to take a macro close-up photo of the pile and then zoom in on the picture to count the roof sheets - and it worked! Twenty-eight sheets, divided by 2 equals fourteen sheets for each side of the roof - which fits my calculations. I must have done them right!

        Today Josh got up on the roof and started doing the strapping. Half done on both sides, just waiting for tensioners to finish it off. Doesn't look like much in the photo, but the strapping is the two faint X shapes on the right hand side of the roof.

        Meanwhile, since Josh didn't require an assistant, I dug a hole. I separated the piles of dirt depending on which layer they came out of, and it was interesting noting the colour differences at the end. In the middle is the topsoil, on the right is the middle layer, and on the left is the clay from the bottom. I can use this clay to help finish the rocket oven which I have started making.

        Tomorrow we plan to do some more strapping, depending on the weather of course. More rain is forecast!!! Later in the week we are hoping to have a local guy come and help us out with the roof sheeting. Wish us luck...