October 10 - Work Continues After Sundown

First Roof Sheeting Over the Firewall -
While the firewall is not yet near completion, the top part of the south half has been double rocked on both sides, allowing for hangers to be attached to the wall, which in turn allows rafters to be put in place, which finally allows for red fire-resistant plywood roof sheeting to be nailed down. But, alas, when the tar paper is rolled out and the shingles are nailed down, you will not be able to tell where the red sheets start and the ordinary, black-lined, glued together wood chip truss covers end. So take a good look now.








On the inside, rafter hangers complete with rafters are hanging on to the double rocked firewall. We are standing with the firewall on our left, looking up to where we formerly could see sky and, on occasion overflying sandhill cranes, and now seeing rafters and plywood. The angle on the firewall is readily displayed by the length of the rafters growing longer as they near the bottom of the photo.
Sheeting the roof is progress. Although, I must admit I did enjoy seeing the birds fly over the empty trusses.
Rocking Continues -
Meanwhile, on the north half of the wall, the workers continue to hang Sheetrock. Now that I am accustomed to capitalizing the S because it is a copyrighted name, I am wondering if we are using really-o, truly-o Sheetrock or just some "me-too" generic, no name brand of drywall sheets. I do not want to promote Sheetrock (without compensation) if we are using brand X.
I sent this inquiry to the boss -
"Are we using Sheetrock or some no name generic drywall sheets?"
The boss replied -
"The invoice says 'SHTROCK' so looks like we saved some money on vowels, anyway"
So now, you are as well informed as the chronicler. Not trusting my typing skills, I will just use drywall.

On the sanctuary side of the wall, Dave and Aare soar into action on a quidditch machine. A piece of drywall is resting on two boards sticking out from the lift basket.

After reaching the desired height, the drywall is nailed in place and  the tape measures fly into action to size up the next piece.


On the hall side of the wall, where there is more hassle with the nearby truss, more fussing is required.
The wall is also filled with insulation, per the specs from the engineers, so the rockers on this side are adding the insulation before hanging the drywall sheets.

Loren, Phil, and Bill ride the lift and raise the drywall piece into place, while Dan and Ed remain earthbound, awaiting the next measurement so they can cut the next piece.

I have previously noted the short useful life span of some construction steps. With the return of the lifts, Ken's rope, pulley and tow strap lie in a rueful heap, their mission complete. It is possible that some future drywall job will require this low tech manner of elevating, but for now the lifts prevail. Pushing a joystick around is deemed superior to pulling on a rope.

Adding Roof Sheeting After Dark -

Brent, Troy and Bob apply roof sheeting on the trusses over the front entryway of the church. With daylight still lingering, this job remains much the same as it has been previously done.

However, now that October is here and sunset is about 6:30, a couple of work hours remain after the sun vanishes. So the headlights are
turned on.

When I was growing up, headlights were only applied to automobiles. Handy little personal illumination devices were used by miners working underground and originally used candles, but with the improvements to batteries and the more recent advent of LED lights, it seems like everybody these days comes equipped with his own headlight. Very handy devices. I may have to buy one just to be included in the conversations on the job site.
Here Brent cuts a length of 2x4 for a nailing backer, using both a battery powered saw and personal headlight. Certainly more convenient than a candle and handsaw.

People wearing headlights wandering around on roofs after dark do present interesting photo opportunities.

So, once presented with the opportunities, I took advantage.

One final shot as I head out for the night. The roofers toiling on high while the rockers work inside. Soon the firewall will be completed and the rest of the roof sheeting will be nailed on. I can hardly wait for something new to write about.