Category: roof (Page 3 of 7)

The tie beams are the large horizontal beams that form the base of the truss (the bottom of the triangle).  We have three to get into position.  Each probably weighs around 500 kgs, so they take some moving.

The first one is lifted into position above the kitchen using the telehandler.  No such luck with the other two.  We have to use a mechanical winch to lift these into position. 

In all three cases, the final positioning is done using brute force (and a sledgehammer).

This is the large tie beam (the horizontal beam on the bottom of the truss) for the kitchen. This one we managed to get in position using the telehandler. Unfortunately, the telehandler would not reach for the ones in the lounge.

A mechanical winch is used to lift the tie beam for the lounge truss into position. Once at the right height, the beam can be wheeled into position. Winches similar to these are used for removing engines from cars.

The beam is now at the right height and is ready to be manhandled into position. The weather isn’t helping.

The first thing to do is take apart and number the parts for the trusses.  They have been built off site and have started to arrive on Friday.  We were hoping to start on the assembly of this earlier in the week, but we were defeated by the weather.

All of the oak has been treated with Osmo UV Protection Oil to prevent the weather damaging or marking the wood.  This also added to the time required.

The oak trusses have been built off site in an industrial unit. Today they arrived on site.

As well as the three large tie beams, there are a number of other oak pieces that make up the trusses. All of these bits were made in an industrial unit and then numbered and taken apart. We will reassemble on site in their final position.

The roof to the new extension is being built-in a near-by industrial unit.  The three large oak trusses are hand-made and assembled at ground level.  The timber is then numbered, disassembled and brought to site.

All of the joints are made the old-fashioned way – tenons and oak pegs – to fit in with the existing cottage. 

The current plan is that these will be on site and in place in the next 2-3 weeks (weather permitting!).

These are the two oak trusses for the lounge. They are being built in an industrial unit near-by before being numbered, taken apart and shipped to site.

The third oak truss has been disassembled and is being sanded. You can see here the tenon and peg joint on the end of one of the purlins (under the wire brush next to the sanding discs).

Close up of the joints in one of the trusses. This truss has been taken apart and has been sand. There is only one screw in each of the trusses.

One of the new tenon joints on the end of one of the purlins.

The timber arrived at the end of last week for the three large roof trusses in the new extension.  These will be constructed in a local industrial unit.  The timbers will then be individually numbered and the whole thing taken apart and brought onto site.  This means that it will take a fraction of the time to construct the roof on site.  Which in turn means that it is less likely to get exposed to the weather (important at this time of the year).

The roof trusses are constructed from green oak.  This wood is heavy to lift and easily marks if it gets wet. 

It will require lifting equipment to manoeuvre the large pieces of timber into position.  The tie beams in particular are very heavy due to the size of the timber. Another reason for constructing the roof trusses off site initially.

Very large sections of green oak will be used to construct the three large roof trusses.

More timber for the roof trusses.

These are the horizontal beams (refered to as “tie beams”) for the three roof trusses.