After weeks of wet weather the sun has finally arrived and it is time to get the roof finished. We have therefore taken off the battens along the bottom of the north side of the house, which are holding the polytunnel plastic down and in place. The plastic has been doing a good job of keeping the rain off the walls etc. We are cutting the rafters shorter and all the same length with a vertical cut. We are also cutting the bottom corner of each rafter horizontally to make it tidy and to allow more light to reach the windows and the front door. Every second rafter is having some OSB board screwed and glued onto one side of it up to where it sits on the wall. This is to ensure the roof is strong because we have left the rafters longer than is usual on a house.
This is Patrick from France, a retired organic farmer who was with us for two weeks and has been a great help. Patrick has been doing most of the cutting of the rafters. You can see the OSB boards on every second cut rafter.
Cutting with the circular saw.
Nino fixing wood on the cut edges of the rafter to strengthen them and to give something to screw the fascia boards and soffit’s to.
Cutting the small bits of wood
The OSB boards where cut here ready for being attached to the rafters.
Tablehurst Straw House 