Gigantic Progress!

Just after 7.00 AM, Tom and Jim rolled in their big white truck. At about 7.30 AM, Pat and the rest of the crew showed up, for a total of six abled bodied men. The rains had subsided overnight, and the sky was cold and clear. You could see that these guys meant business. Forecast right now calls for good days at least into next week, so the goal is to get the new roof on the house - preferably today, but Saturday is the spare day.

I was the first one on the roof, pulling off the tarps. After having had a nice and properly prepared surface laid out on Thursday afternoon, it was now a breeze to pull these tarps out of the way. But man was it slick up there. I think it dipped below freezing for at least a few hours and a thin layer of ice had formed on everything up there. Not the least the old torch-down roof.

But this was a day of big progress. Plates were finished early in the morning and by 10.00 AM, the crane showed up and shortly thereafter the truck with the new trusses. Did they look small from up here? Would we even get standing room inside? It wasn't really until they'd been all lifted up on the "roof" and I could lay down inside one and "test", I realized it might be even better than expected. I can even stand with my arms straight up and not touch the ceiling (to be). As you can see from the pictures, so can my dad who's been enjoying (and being instrumental in helping me along the way) the progress and seeing American building techniques up close.

Before proceeding with the trusses, the guys they replaced the big beam spanning the hallway and extended it so the old closet can be totally taken out for a wide and open hallway. Just have to move one switch to make that happen.

Seeing Tom, Pat, Jim, and Steve work away was quite amazing. It did not take long until the first truss was up and one could see the profile from the backyard. The rest of them sort of popped into place during the day, even though Pat considered the pace a tad on the slow side. This is after all a remodel, and unknown issues are popping up all the time.

The best surprise of the day was the girder trusses. Instead of just allowing for a smaller opening above the existing hallway, these trusses now allow us to open EVERYTHING up all the way through. Something to consider when the inside is to be attacked.