5/23-25/00 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I got a late start and didn't arrive until 12:30. It was 60 degrees out and still hardly any mosquitoes. As soon as I moved in and had some lunch, I discovered that someone had been inside the main floor of the building. The crawl space door was still locked and there was no evidence that anyone had been down there. The only thing I could find that was disturbed was that the long ladder, which I had left inside on the main floor, was lowered to the ground, upside down, and was leaning against the front dining room window sill. I looked all around for other evidence inside the building that anything had been touched or taken and didn't find anything. Then I called 911 and reported the intrusion.

Since nothing seemed to have been damaged or stolen, I told them that they didn't need to send a deputy out. They just noted the incident and I told them I would call back if I later discovered that something was damaged or stolen.

After I hung up, I went outside and found a half-full 16 oz. can of Schmidt's beer sitting prominently on the cribbing supporting the scaffold tower in front of the crawl space door. Somehow I missed seeing the can when I went in. Since this can didn't represent any theft or damage, and since I didn't think the Chelan County Sheriffs's Office would dust the can for fingerprints, I decided not to call them and report the can. I just added the can to the collection of two others left from a previous trespassing incident. Maybe some day a pattern will emerge.

With the sleuthing done, I set to work installing fascia boards. I started on the northeast side because I had already peeled the tarps back from those edges to make measurements and I hadn't replaced them.

The first thing, of course was to invent a way to do this installation singlehandedly. The plan was to install all of the gable fascia boards from up on the roof. I made four short slings from light cotton rope not much heavier than a shoelace. Each one had a bowline loop on one end and a tautline hitch loop on the other end. The plan was to use two of these slings to dangle one fascia board roughly in position so that I could screw it in place with one hand and still be able to hang on to a safety rope. I needed four slings at the outset because I wanted to align the two mitered boards that meet at the peak at the same time. I drove a screw into the roof as an anchor for each of these slings. The tautline loop was then draped over the anchor screw and the sling was laid out straight down the roof.

Next, I made a gauge from three pieces of wood that would help me align the fascia boards vertically. I wanted the lower edge of the fascia to be 1/4 inch below the lower surface of the ceiling boards which aren't installed yet. The gauge is roughly in the shape of a 'J' and the idea was that it would reach down under the fascia board and 'feel' for the bottom of the rafter.

Inside the building, where the boards were stored, I prepared two mitered boards by starting all the screws in them. I put in two rows of screws about a foot apart for the whole length. They were driven all the way into the board but not sticking out the other side at all.

Then I carried the boards and the screwdriver up onto the roof and used one sling, with the bowline loop around one of the screws in one board to temporarily hold it lying flat on the roof so it wouldn't slide off. Then I took the other board over the ridge to the other roof and did the same thing with it. Then, after clipping myself to a safety rope, and having both hands free, I attached the two slings to two screws on the top row of screws in one fascia board and lowered the board over the edge. I chose screws that were lower than the location of the anchor screws so that the sling would tend to pull the board toward the peak. I adjusted the tautline hitches so that the board was in about the right position. Then I did the same with the other board on the other side of the ridge.

By adjusting the tautline hitches, I got the two fascia boards aligned so that the mitered edges matched exactly and the vertical alignment was also exact. Then I drove one of the screws in on each end of each board, checking the alignment again with each one. Then I removed the slings and the anchor screws and drove in all the screws fastening the fascia boards to the rafters. It worked slick.

Because of a combination of careful planning and serendipity, I had to do very little cutting of the fascia boards. They came in 16 foot lengths. This meant that the 24 foot roof needed one 16 footer plus an 8 footer, and the 40 foot roof needed two 16 footers plus an 8 footer. That meant I could make one miter cut in the middle of one 16 foot board and get two 8 footers that were both miter cut. Since both of these would be right handed, I needed to cut a second board with a left hand miter cut. These two cuts were all I really needed to do, although since the miter cut gave me boards a little longer than 8 feet, if you measure from the peak, I needed to trim off a couple inches from each bottom board after they were installed. There wasn't a whole lot of scrap.

I got three boards installed on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, I finished installing the fascia on both gable sides of the building. I was very pleased with how it looked and the job took exactly the 1.5 days that I had estimated on my plan.

On Thursday morning I started installing the first metal roofing. Since I need to do the 24 foot roof first, the first metal to go on is the nosing. This is the metal that goes over the edge of the lower eave. It is screwed both into the roof and into the fascia board. I had estimated .5 days for this job, but there were a few complications that slowed me down.

First, I found that I had to trim the ends of the fascia boards. This really should have been counted against the fascia installation job, but instead it slowed me down trying to install the nosing. Since I had taken my crosscut saw in to get it filed, the only hand saw I had was 'Jack' the rip saw. Jack was nice and sharp, but since the teeth are so course, it was hard to get a nice smooth cut. I ended up smoothing the ends with my Stanley Wood Former (or whatever it is called).

The second thing I had to do in preparation was to staple a strip of tar paper over the edge of the roof so the nosing metal wouldn't be in contact with any wood. The roofing guy said that this is necessary to avoid condensation next to the wood. I made these strips from the tar paper that had been torn off the roof by the snow last winter. It was sort of crumpled, which added to the time it took to make the strips, but it worked out OK.

Next, I had to figure out a way to install the nosing under the two ladders that were holding up the scaffolding. Fortunately, the ladders were spaced about 10 feet apart, so I only had to deal with one ladder for each of the first two sections of nosing. I was able to use a short board to lever the ladder away from the roof enough to get the nosing under it so it wasn't much of a problem. The ladder marred the finish on the corner of the nosing, but that spot will be right up next to the underside of the roof panels so it can't be seen and it shouldn't get wet. Since the climate is so dry, I don't think rust will be a problem.

I used two-inch screws on the top and I drove one into each rafter. That way, the screw had enough bite to draw the metal down tight and dimple it enough to sort of countersink the screw head. The screws for the fascia side are exposed and so they are special colored screws fitted with neoprene washers. I was sort of surprised when I grabbed the first one to discover that they were hex head screws and they didn't have a slot or a Philips dent in them. I was sure that I didn't have a hex nut driver for my power screwdriver so I wasn't sure what do to. I did have a nut driver in my tool box so I decided to try to saw the handle of it off so I could put the shank of it in the drill. But, as I suspected, the hacksaw didn't even make a scratch in the tool steel so I gave up on that idea. Since I had so little time left anyway before I had to go home, I decided to use the nut driver and drive the hex screws in by hand. Then next week, I could get a proper nut driver for the drill.

I installed the first 10 foot length that way. The next section had to go under the second ladder right close to where it overlapped the first section and the overlap had to be caulked. Curt Pritchard had given me two tubes of the caulk that he recommended and it is extremely sticky stuff. It doesn't have any silicone in it because Curt detests any form of silicone and refuses to use it. I am inclined to agree with him.

In my attempts to get the nosing section under the ladder and into place, I proceeded to get my left hand completely smeared with this gray caulking. What a mess. Fortunately, the metal is covered with plastic so I didn't mess up the metal too much. I also had a hard time getting the metal to mate properly because the ladder interfered with the alignment. But, after some struggle, I managed to get the second piece in place and cleaned up.

Fortunately, when I started screwing the hex screws into the fascia, it finally dawned on me that if I simply take the Philips bit out of the screwdriver extension, I have a perfect hex nut driver. I felt really stupid for not realizing this earlier but I was glad I realized it after only one section of nosing. Of course, I went back and tightened up the screws in the first section that I had done by hand.

The next complication was that this roof line is not straight. It bows up in the middle as a result of making the B2 PSL too long. Since the nosing is in 10 foot sections, this accommodates the curve pretty well. I just had to pay attention to distribute the curve as evenly as I could. It is a little wavy, but it came out pretty well. You have to stand in just the right place to see the waves.

I didn't finish the job before I had to leave, but at least I am quite a ways up the learning curve and it won't take me too much time to put on the last section and part of a section next week.

Before I left for home, I boarded up the three lower windows on the northeast side. I figured that would have been the easiest way for the intruders to have entered. You can get up to those windows by having one foot on the cliff behind you and the other foot on the logs in the wall, and climb right up. After the windows were boarded up, I left at about 1:45.

5/27/00 I did quite a bit of shopping and spent quite a bit of time with Sutter Homes in Ballard before I finally settled on, and bought a chimney and the parts necessary to install it on the roof. It is all stainless steel and is pricier than I expected. It cost $452.05. I assembled all the pieces at home so it should be fairly easy to install it on the building. I can do it completely from on top of the roof and don't need to get at it from the underside until I actually hook up the stove and the stovepipe. Hopefully I can install the chimney rather quickly and make up some time on my gradually slipping schedule.

5/30-6/1/00 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

It was raining all the way over the pass, but on the east side it was a lot less. By the time I got to Cole's Corner it was sunny and at the property it was cloudy but not raining. It had evidently rained quite a bit very recently, however. Since I hadn't replaced the roof tarps since last week, there was a lot of water in the building. It didn't hurt anything, but I decided not to leave the roof uncovered from now on.

After looking around pretty carefully, I concluded that there had been no intrusion onto the property in the last week.

I started right in and finished installing the nosing on the northwest eave. Since I knew a lot more than I did the previous week, the work went pretty smoothly. Except that I mashed my thumb pretty bad with the staple hammer. The staple went where it was supposed to but the rest of the machine hit my thumb pretty hard.

A group of gray jays showed up for peanuts several times during the three days. At first there were only two: one very bold one who didn't hesitate to land on my hands and go for the peanuts. The other one was shy and couldn't quite get up the nerve to land on me. Instead he, or she, would land near my hand and if it could reach, would grab a peanut and then fly away immediately. Later on, they were joined by half a dozen juveniles, but none of them had the nerve to get close. They just watched.

After finishing the nosing, I went to work installing the chimney. Since I had assembled it at home, the installation was pretty simple. After counting rafters four or five times to make sure I was in the right spot, I drilled a hole in the roof and dropped a plumb bob from a string through the hole. Then I went down into the building to make sure that the hole was directly above where I wanted the stove to be. It was. Then, back up on the roof, I marked and cut the elliptical hole, placed the chimney in it, and screwed it in place. It fit perfectly and is nice and plumb. Then I stapled the tarps back around it so it will be weather tight until I get the roof on.

There was still some time left so I went to work on the lower walkway. I got the 8x8 beams placed and secured and got a start on the decking before I quit for the night.

On Wednesday morning there was a light rain that stopped before noon. I spent the morning finishing the lower walkway. It is nice and sturdy and should make it easy to carry the panels up onto the roof. The sun was out by the time I finished so I went around and took a bunch of pictures. I spent the rest of the day tar papering the small roof, and I was pleased with the result.

On Thursday morning I decided to dismantle the scaffolding on the northwest side. After my experience at installing the fascia and nosing on that eave, I decided that I definitely will need similar scaffolding for the southeast side. Dismantling goes a lot faster than erection (mantling??) so I was able to get it all down and stored in the crawl space before I left. I left at about 1:30.

6/2/00 Spent some time with Curt Pritchard. I gave him a set of pictures I had taken of his crew in action and got a lot of questions answered about how to interface the roof with the chimney and also how to install the panels at the ridge. He also told me that if you use the screwdriver extension to drive hex nuts, it will ream it out and ruin it. He gave me a proper hex nut driver so now I am all set.

6/6-8/00 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I got a late start and arrived at 12:45. There was an intermittent light rain, but it stopped by about 2:30. Fortunately, there were no signs of damage or intrusion. I started out by pulling the tarps up and off the small roof, and then measuring the roof for square. It was within a sixteenth of an inch over 25 feet. I decided that was close enough. Next, I spent some time drawing the ridge parts exactly in actual size in order to determine where to mount the 'C' channel on the small roof.

While I was doing that figuring, Sally Van Deusen stopped by and asked me if I would help her remove a water heater from a cabin she had just bought. I went to help her and I was back in about two hours.

I stapled screen over the ridge vent the full length of the roof. I only stapled it to the small roof side because I didn't want to take the tarps off the big roof yet. I'll staple the other side of the screen down when I paper that side of the roof. Next, I fastened the 'C' channel completely across the ridge on the small roof side.

On Wednesday morning, Ellen called and told me about a bank problem. I spent an hour or two on the phone getting the problem resolved so I didn't get out to work until nearly 10:00. It was overcast with an occasional drizzle - - perfect working conditions for what I had to do. This was the day to install the first roof panel! I made a hanger out of a piece of steel strap and a piece of number 9 wire. I screwed the hanger to the roof and hung the cordless drill and a vise grip on the hanger with short cords. With that in place, I was ready to carry the first panel up.

A 24 foot panel weighs 42 pounds and I had thought of ways to make handles to grip it and a harness to allow me to carry the weight on my shoulders. Instead of taking the time to make any of those things, I decided to carry the first panel bare handed just to see how hard it would be. It turned out to be pretty easy so I didn't go to the trouble making anything fancy to help carry them. The only problem is that it is about a 60 foot elevation gain from where the panels are stored to the ridge of the roof - - the equivalent of a six story building. Half way up, on the upper walkway, I could set the panel down on edge and lean it against my leg and take a break. When my heart rate and breathing were back down to normal, I picked up the panel and continued to the top of the roof.

I took a lot of time getting that panel in place. I used the vise grip which was attached to the hanger to hold the panel and keep it from sliding off the roof. The cord was tied with a tautline hitch, so I could adjust the position of the panel vertically with it. I lined it up exactly with the marks I had made when I squared the roof, and I even fudged the bottom over that sixteenth of an inch to get it as square as possible. When it was in place, I screwed it in place with nine clips.

With that first panel in place, I installed the rake metal along that eave by screwing it into the fascia. I pre-punched all the screw holes in the rake metal before I carried it up. That way it was easy to start the screws and drive them in. I had a hard time getting the sections of the rake to mate without smearing the caulking all over. The first joint was really a mess, which I cleaned up, but I made a little less mess on the second joint. I also discovered that I shouldn't have run the 'C' channel clear out to the end of the ridge. I had to cut a section out of the end of it to accommodate the rake metal. I felt pretty proud when that first panel and the rake were on.

Next, I fastened a 100 foot tape even with the screws on the top clip and stretched it horizontally across the entire roof. Then I started a screw and then extracted it every 16 inches all the way across. I also made a mark with a Mean Streak marker so I could find those screw holes later. Then I did the same thing at the bottom of the roof for the second clip from the bottom. This was my plan for getting the panels to come out exactly at the other end of the roof. Typically, roofers end up ripping the last panel and bending up the entire edge at the end, but I am determined not to have to do that. The holes came out exactly right, so if I am able to use those holes for the clips, I should come out exactly right with that last panel. We'll see.

All of that took a lot of time, but the next panels went a lot faster. On the second panel, I had a hard time getting the panel forced under the 'C' channel. I finally found that the way to do it is to have my knees on the ridge with my feet down the other roof. Then I could grab the panel with both hands and pull it up toward me and into the 'C' channel. I could really pull hard because my body was on the other side of the roof.

Since I had both hands on the panel, I couldn't raise the top of the 'C' channel, but that didn't matter. As the panel came up, the rib came in contact with the top of the 'C' channel and the momentum of the panel bent the 'C' channel back a little. This put enough force on the 'C' channel so that I could bend it up and it would stay. Then I pulled the panel back a little more, bending the 'C' a little again, and I could bend it up a little more. It only took a couple of these maneuvers to get the rib to go under the top of the 'C' channel. Then with one more pull on the panel, it went all the way to the back of the 'C' channel. Then I used a short board to press on the rib over the first clip to get the rib to snap down into place. If I remember right, with each of these maneuvers, I would take up the slack in the cord attached to the vise grip to make sure that the panel wouldn't slide back down. All of that was work that took time.

Once the panel was held in place, I took the short board and popped the rib down over the clips over the entire length of the panel. Then I screwed down the first clip using the pre-drilled hole and it fit perfectly. Next I did the same thing at the bottom where I had made the hole and it, too, fit perfectly. Then I screwed down all the remaining clips.

After the second or third panel, I quit using the vise grip thing altogether and just snapped it and screwed it in place with no trouble or fiddling around. I got a total of seven panels installed before the end of the day. I timed some of them and the fastest time I noted was 25 minutes for one panel. My feet and legs were pretty tired and sore by the end of the day, so I don't know if I could keep that rate up for a full day. I doubt it. That means that I significantly underestimated the time it would take to install the panels. I think my target date of June 29 is in hopeless jeopardy. So what's new?

I had a headache all night and on Thursday morning I still felt headachy and sick. I was also very stiff and sore. I went out to work anyway, and once I got limbered up, I felt pretty good. The Indian Paintbrushes and Wild Roses are in bloom and they brighten up the landscape. I got four more panels installed, for a total of eleven out of thirty one on that side. It started to get a little windy around noon, so I figured I'd better stop and button things up to go home. I left at about 1:30.

6/9/00 Stopped in to CP Sheet metals to drop off the rest of the pictures I took, return the rest of the ridge screen that I didn't use, and to pay them. I also got some more caulking and some more advice from Curt on how to do things. He gave me some good advice on how to avoid making such a mess with the caulking on the rake metal.

6/13-15/00 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

On the way up, shortly after I crossed over the pass, I was slowed down by a WWII tank driving down the road. It turned off and went into the Department of Transportation facility so it didn't slow me down much. Even though I know that the tank is used in winter to clear avalanche hazards, it is still a bit of a surprise to encounter one on the road.

The weather was cool and cloudy when I arrived at 10:30. I started right in and got two more panels on the roof before lunch. While I was fastening the second one down, Larry, Roberta, Ted Turner, and his wife stopped by for a look at the progress and a chat. I had lunch after they left. After lunch, I got nine more panels installed.

I was visited by a family of gray jays and I fed them a bunch of peanuts. There was only one adult among them and I think it is the mother of the rest of them. The mother is fairly timid although she does land on my hand and take the peanuts from me. A couple of the youngsters did also, but they weren't quite sure how to handle the peanuts. Still others demonstrated and begged their mother and didn't get the idea that they were supposed to get their own food.

On Wednesday morning, the weather was again perfect for working on the roof. It was cloudy and 60 degrees. When I was screwing down the end of the first panel for the day, I noticed a lump on the end of the rib a couple panels over. I let my safety rope out a little so I could get down closer to see what it was. These panels are so nice and true, they don't have lumps on them. When I got close, I could see that the lump was a little frog about an inch long. He was sitting on the top of the very end of the standing rib with his chin hanging out over space 20 feet above the ground.

When I put the next panel down, I noticed that he had moved over one panel and was watching me work. He followed me that way moving over one panel each time I put on a new one all the way to the end. Even though I did quite a bit of loud pounding on the panels, he didn't seem to mind. It was nice having his company up there.

The alignment of the panels worked out perfectly. All the way across, each of the starter screws in the top and bottom clips went right into the holes I had previously made. The last panel ended exactly at the edge of the roof so I didn't have to rip that last panel and the rake metal fit snugly up against the short rib. Perfect! I was very pleased and happy.

I timed most of the round trips carrying and installing panels, and my best time was about 15 minutes. I didn't break for lunch until I got the last panel on at about 1:15. I wanted to get them on before the sun came out and it got really hot. I was sweating like a pig the way it was and if it got any hotter it would have been really miserable. As it turned out, the sun didn't come out but the wind picked up pretty strong. I was glad I got the roof on when I did. It was very gratifying to stand there and look at the roof after it was all on.

After lunch I put the rake on the gable eave. Even though I wrote up specific instructions that I got from Curt Pritchard, and even though I reviewed the instructions before I started, I still did it wrong. I cut a triangular section off the wrong edge of the rake. It still worked OK, but I think it would work even better if I did it right. Maybe I'll get it right when I do the rake on the big roof.

By the time I finished the rake, the wind was blowing pretty hard. It was bending the big trees over so far that I thought some of them might break, but I didn't hear any crack or fall. The power went out and I was pretty sure that it was because of the wind. Fortunately I didn't need power to do what I was doing.

Before I quit for the day, I dismantled the cribbing structure that I had built as a foundation for the scaffold tower for the northwest side. It was screwed together so it was easy to take apart. I fed the jay family some more peanuts before I went in for the night. The power was back on by the time I went in.

On Thursday morning I started erecting the scaffolding on the southeast side. After my experience putting the fascia and nosing on the northwest side, I was convinced that I didn't want to do that job on the southeast without scaffolding so I bit the bullet. I used the short pressure treated 6x8s to make the footings and I erected a two tier tower at the south corner. I used two more frames with sort of makeshift bracing to support the planks going up the hill. I got the scaffolding about three quarters completed before I packed up and left for home. I left at about 1:30.

6/16/00 Talked to Mike at CP Sheet Metals and he gave me some good advice on installing the ridge. He also gave me some good ideas about how to deal with the lower end of the rake metal.

6/20-22/00 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 10:15. It was a beautiful summer day. Since I was planning on having visitors around noon, I decided to take the opportunity to prune the trees and bushes lining the driveway. They were getting pretty bushy and you couldn't drive in without having them scrape the pickup. I had pretty much finished the pruning job when Larry Copenhaver stopped by for a chat and a look at the progress. While we were talking, I got a call from Bob Burton and Tom Hammond. They were at the Squirrel Tree and we agreed to meet at the 59er Diner for lunch. I said goodbye to Larry and drove to the 59er Diner.

After lunch, Tom and Bob came back to the property and we had a nice long visit and tour and took a few pictures. Bob gave me a book titled "The Physics of Consciousness" which I am very eager to read. I ended up reading about a third of it before I left on Thursday. We chatted in the trailer and had a great time until about 4:00 when they had to leave.

After they left, I finished setting up and bracing the scaffold for the southeast side. I also got one 16 foot fascia board installed on that side.

On Wednesday morning, I felt a little sick and had diarrhea. I don't know what the problem was. I went back to work on the fascia and finished it including trimming the gable fascia off and staining the newly cut wood.

Next, I decided to install 1x2s in the voids above the fascia on the southeast side. That side will have the heaviest snow load and I figured if I filled the void above the fascia and where the OSB didn't reach to the edge, it would help prevent the nosing metal from collapsing. I screwed one course of 1x2s vertically above the fascia and one course above that flatwise in order to extend the OSB. I felt that this might help and there was no time like the present to do it.

Next, I stapled a narrow strip of felt paper across the entire southwest edge and finally, I installed the nosing metal across the entire edge. Since this roof didn't have the bow in it like the other roof did, the nosing came out a lot straighter and nicer looking. I was pleased with it, but I was still feeling a little sick.

On Thursday morning I felt a lot better. I removed the lower tarps and visqueen from the big roof and pulled out nails and staples that were left in the roof from the tar paper that was torn off by the snow. Then I swept off all the needles and debris that had collected under the tarps. All that took a lot more time than I had figured on. I wanted to get a substantial amount of the tar paper on the roof before I left, but I only had time to get the first course on. I packed up after lunch and left for home about 1:30.

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