Trusses and Gustez

Please excuse my poor grammar in the title, but "gustez" rhymed with "trusses" so I just couldn't resist. Regardless, the word of the day this last Friday was "GUSTS!" I don't think we could have chosen a worse day to put the trusses on our house; a day when wind gusts reached a speed of 39 mph (which is extra bad when your house is at the top of a wash area and wind gets directed upwards). At one point we almost called it quits because the trusses looked (and felt) as if they were going to be swept away, but then it calmed down enough to work through it. At the end, it picked back up so much that it caught hold of the last truss being suspended by the crane that it almost tipped the crane over! No kidding! The crane operator (who looked a lot like Paul Teutel Sr. from "American Chopper") was pretty shaken up by it.

Attaching and stabilizing the trusses with a rope while the crane lifted them into place was my job, which was sort of like flying a giant kite. I didn't envy our hired crew, though, who were at the top setting the trusses in place. Their job was pretty scary, climbing around the not-so-stable trusses trying to stabilize them.

So, aside from a few close calls (like what I mentioned above, as well as almost hitting the neighbors house with a suspended truss), and a few small battle wounds, we're through with a part that could have ended up much worse! So, we're counting our blessings that we ended up with no damaged property, and more importantly that nobody was hurt. Admittedly, the roof is much taller than we imagined it would be (the 8-12 slope is steeper than the 5-12 slope that is normal for the area -- and of course, it's always different in person than it seems on the plans), which will make finishing the roof a difficult task. But it will have its advantages, like extra storage space, and possibly a nice little attic play room for the boys.

There's quite a lot of finish work to be done on the roof before we can start to shear it (put the OSB board on), but that's okay since that's another job I'm not looking forward to! One thing that amazes me is how adding the roof to your house changes the perception of space. It actually seems roomier in the house now than it did without a roof. Go figure.