Well… the building inspector was on the job – so we took advantage of a gorgeous sunny day among the miserable ones and got back to our chook run
We decided that some extra bracing in here so the shade cloth had more support wasn’t a bad thing
We pre cut the shade cloth for the remaining panels (like my ruler?)
But the main aim of the day was the roof
We had just enough of the long beams to put up over the entire structure
Jeff hard at work (I was the official ladder relocating person)
We were a bit unsure about how to do this! All a bit awkward. Luckily Jeff has a long reach so he could get up on the extension ladder and reach across to screw in the panels.
We got more efficient as we sorted out what we were doing.
We started then decided the slope on the roof wasn’t enough so we unscrewed the top side and added another layer of timber – we hoped rain wouldn’t end up pooling on top.
It has since rained and the water slid off exactly as we wanted it too and no runback leaking out where the overlap is… so… yay!
While I was up the ladder at one point, I had some cherry plum branches poking into my ear and it occurred to me that we might want to do a bit of lopping. While branches were unlikely to fall on the new roof… I’d seen possums doing death defying leaps to and from them to the old roof…
Last thing our roof needs is a fat possum dive bombing the top! (We are going to also add some more bracing for the roof so the polycarb sheets have some more rigidity)
Extend extension ladder a lot and up I go
That went well. I didn’t fall down (yay) and didn’t drop any branches on Jeff’s head (double yay)
Weather turned ugly again but today had a short window of nice (Bit windy but manageable)
So we grabbed the pre cut shade cloth and got that part of the job done and now its really looking like something!
We have plans to tidy up the edges with the tin, flashing and timber facing at the top.
We’ll have to do a bit of mucking about on this side to cut those beams back flush – we didn’t think it would matter but now with what we want to do… it will! Ahhh well.
I am not too worried about the extra roof overhang… if the water is coming off further from the structure, I am happy with that
Can’t wait to get the new tin!
Jeff wanted to replace this clear polycarbonate on the coop but… seems it washes of well so I’ll add that to my ‘to do’ list
The coop itself will clean up nicely too by the look of it (adds to list) so probably no need for a repaint here
All in all we are pretty chuffed with progress… the end is in sight and we aren’t even officially in winter yet!
Its already making a difference in the run area – of course not much rain is getting in there now so the girls feed is not filling with water and the ground isn’t mucky like usual at this time of year!
Time to relax? In the evenings anyway!
Cheers!
(Seriously… I don’t think Pip could look happier and more relaxed if he tried!!)
