Building "off-grid"

- Roofing Plywood -
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August 2006:  With the eave rafters in place, I'm finally able to get to the roofing plywood (15/32 OSB).  I had a week off work, so I decided to give the job a try by myself, but soon found it was NOT a one-man job.  Believe it or not, lumber has come down in price, so the (100) sheets of plywood and (9) 2x12x12 planks came to about $1200.  I had the plywood delivered by boom truck, so they were able to load it up into the structure, thinking it would be easier to lift up and between the rafters (big mistake). The 2x12's sash boards were set on the driveway, and I put them up first.  Doing the sheeting from the main floor was fine for the first row on either side, but after that, slipping them between the rafters would have been a huge pain.  About the time I realized I couldn't do the job myself, my concrete/blockwork contractor stopped by to do a quote for a different job (in-floor heating on the main floor).  He asked if I needed some help with the sheeting, since he had a few days until his next concrete job.  3 guys at $15/hour each was too good to pass up (or was it?).

Day one was a little clunky, never finding a rythym or getting a procedure down.  We should have finished at least side one, but only completed about 80% in an 8 hour day. The problems were immediately obvious:  First, they weren't roofing contractors - just laborers, which would have been fine if they would have listened and done what was requested. Second, he had hired his brother-in-law to help, and apparently this guy knew everything about everything and wasn't going to listen to anyone about anything.

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Day two was about the same progress, leaving maybe 3 or 4 hours work for day 3.  If it weren't for the bickering and inefficient process, we would easily have finished that second day.

Day three started with Mr. Know-it-all smarting off just enough to get the whole crew fired.  He'd been picking at it the whole time, and 8:30 AM is just too early to start in - even with just a half day left to go.  To make a long story short, I painted myself into a corner and had to finish those last couple rows myself, which is neither easy nor safe. Anyway, the job is done, except for trimming it up.

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