Trying to explain Wildland Urban Interface in 30 Seconds

http://www.cbs8.com/story/14710050/chopper-tour-reveals-our-most-at-risk-neighborhoods

Roof Sheeting

   There are quite a few steps in this project that are basically question marks.  If I'm really not sure how to get over some hurdle, I try to get everything done up to the point of the roadblock and reduce it to a single question. 
    How do you cut an irregular triangle the right size for a gable that's 28' off the ground?

   The other issue is this radiant barrier stuff.  It's like extra thick bubblewrap with mylar on both sides.  It reflects 96% of the radiant heat and helps make it a very efficient 'green' building.

    So I climbed up with a piece of this radiant barrier, tacked it in place, and trimmed it to shape.  Took it back down and used it as a template for cutting the sheeting.

Just getting the lumber up there was hard.  YOu sort of cradle it in your arms while shimmying up the ladder.  With the wind you have to be careful and be willing to drop a carefully cut piece if need be.

The only part left is the curved rafters for the kick-out over the bedroom and that will be pretty easy compared to the gable.

   The underside, looking up.  You can tell how high the ceiling's gonna be by the ceiling joists.  If you ever work around that radiant barrier stuff wear sunglasses

Interior Framing

Had a particularly productive day yesterday.  The paying job will demand most of my attention for awhile so I really wanted to get as much done as I could.  Started at sunrise then started cleanup at sunset...

   Upstairs bedroom closet.  It's big.  This place will have quite a bit more storage space than the first place.

Got the bathroom rough-framed in.  Lesson learned from before---buy the tub early and frame around it. 

Started to get the ceiling joists in---I really struggled with how high to make the ceiling.  Lower is warmer and cozier--it also makes the overall structure stronger .  Higher makes it feel bigger.  After consulting a trusted source, decided on 107" from the floor.  With the joists in I can picture the room now.  It's a smallish bedroom so too high would have felt like a hallway.  I'm happy with it.

The roof is all framed up now.  Getting the outside fascia in place was hard because they are heavy, require weird cuts, and are way off the ground.  It took a full day just to install ONE of them.  By contrast, all the upstairs interior framing, installing the bathtub, and getting some of the ceiling joists in took the same amount of time.  When there's no real risk of falling you can work a lot faster. 

Framing is by far the most fun and most rewarding stage of building.  Too bad it goes by so darned fast.  I was sort of in an Irish music mood too---maybe because everything's so lush right now thanks to the rains.  Framing, and Irish music.   Slice of heaven.

Rafters

  Yesterday the last of the rafters were installed.  There are two fascia boards that sort of match the rafters that will go in tomorrow--those funny cuts out of the outside rafters are to cradle 'bachelor studs' that support the fascia since they don't rest on the wall.  there's going to be a really funny cut where this fascia meets up with the front one too, which means lifting it up, marking it, taking it down, cutting it, lifting it back up again.