Back to Fairmont

A much better week. We lost only one day (actually two half days) to bad weather and Mark, who has returned, and I worked all day on Friday not getting back to the accommodation until the evening. We have now put all the dormer beams in place and three of the dormers now have valleys. It is really good to have Mark back as he does the work of two men and makes a good team with Dexter. Both are pretty tough and strong and work well together. This normally means I can team up with someone else to make a second team and this speeds things up quite nicely. We just need to make sure we have enough tools for two teams in order to avoid waisting time waiting for items the other team are using.

Winter is definitely not over, despite the official arrival of Spring.  It snowed on most days last week and on Wednesday we had the heaviest fall of the entire winter, eight inches. It took Matt and me nearly all morning to clear it from all the surfaces but we got some good work done in the afternoon, working out all the angles for the dormer valleys and cutting the first one, which took two attempts before we got it good enough to place on Thursday morning. By close of play Friday three of the dormers had valleys.

The valleys for the main roof and in particular the prow are going to be a very different story. The dormer valleys were heavy enough but the others are going to be really difficult to place and fix and I am not sure we will be able to do it safely without a crane. Owen is coming out next week to advise on their positioning and to decide how we are going to get them in place.

The return of winter

The last dormer beam to go in - the extension still has to be shaped and finished.

The first valleyes to go in.

What they look like from below.  All my work.

The two dormers in the bonus room above the garage - just a short rafter to put in on each side and it will be ready for its SIPs.

On the down side, I have injured my back. We cut the first dormer beam long to ensure we had enough to stretch the distance and decided to attach it to the cross section before putting it in place. This meant it was heavy and took four of us to lift and manoeuvre into place. To start with we lifted and rested the long end on some scaffolding and, as I was at the join, I held the heavy end up on my back while the others changed positions for the second lift. While they were doing this the beams slipped a little and as I was at an awkward angle this movement wrenched my back. Having broken my back twice, I am normally very careful with it and so I was very angry with myself for allowing this to happen. I really don't know what I have done to it. I am hoping it is only muscular. Naturally, I have rested it, socked it in hot baths and even gone up to the hot springs at Fairmont, where I gave it some ice and heat treatment. The initial pain has subsided but I am still very stiff, particularly after sitting or lying down. I hope a few days of light duties will see it back to normal.