September 16, 17 - Installing the Look Outs

Look Out!
Ben is up on the lift chewing on our brand new gable end truss with a sawzall. Not only that, but he is gnawing on the very peak where the boards are joined by a metal fastener. Andy is on ground level removing some of the now-not-necessary gable end bracing. All right, Andy, what is Ben doing cutting into the truss? "Making it stronger," is his reply.
In my experience the only thing made stronger by cutting is the lawn, so I laugh, somewhat bewildered.

Andy continues his explanation. The gable end truss is notched to accept a 2x4 that will extend out to provide a nailing surface for the roof sheeting. These 2x4s, called lookouts, are nailed to the adjacent truss so the gable end truss is further strengthened when the new board also serves as a brace piece. Why the name?

 Since they protrude beyond the wall by a good distance, a guy on a lift has to be careful that he not entangle his vehicle or impale his humble body on one of these horizontal spikes. Hence, he must "look out" for them. Well, I did not make this up. Andy said it and he is a carpenter. Someone else on the site also used that label unprompted. So I guess it must be so.




Like so many other things in this construction business, look outs have very short lives. On Saturday morning an end cap had been nailed on and sheeting laid over the top. No more look outs. They were replaced by an ordinary eave.

 Let There Be Light - 

As the sun faded Friday evening and the darkness of evening set in, a new feature was added to the project. Artificial light.
Workers who might have felt compelled to head home when it became too dark to work, now have the opportunity to move inside and work longer. Tom and Troy are on the roof as the last rays of day catch only the clouds in the sky, and not the sheeting on the roof.











Everyone Contributes as He/She Is Able -


 All of the temporary bracing in the trusses has to come down. Young, agile, athletic folks like Charles, scramble among the trusses with grace and ease, removing the bracing that is no longer needed. The 2x4s can be reused but first the nails must be removed.












Here we see Brionna Wuollet removing nails by first pounding on the pointed end, then flipping the board over and pulling the nail out.



Brionna proved to be an excellent worker. She is safety aware and knows that with people working above (like Charles removing bracing), there is always a chance of some falling objects, so wearing a hard hat is a good practice. She demonstrated skill as a good worker and also as an effective teacher.

She was able to teach her grandfather, the erstwhile chronicler, the art of nail extraction. While Brionna was a good teacher, the pupil proved to be a rather poor student and did not stay on task for very long.