Roof On

The roof is complete except for the shingles (about 32 squares) which will go on in next couple of days. We settled on 40 yr, architectural, asphalt shingles (boreal green) after pricing a 24 gauge metal roof. 3k vs 28k. Metal looks good, however unless you've got an unlimited budget, it's a no brainer. Since this is our retirement home, I don't expect we'll have to worry about redoing the roof. Good luck kids. The soffits are a continuation of the T&G and the fascia is pine. Our builder did an awesome finishing job and with the decorative bracing at the peak, it's pretty impressive. Most log companies will give you a number of choices for the deco bracing and from our perspective it was a cheap option which really accents the log appearance. Go for it.

One of the most important decisions you'll have to make with reference to the roof is insulation. In our case we have 3 different roof structures, beam and purlin in the living room, flat trusses in the bedroom and scissor trusses in the kitchen/dining room. Your choice of roof structure will dictate your choice of insulation due to the different pitchs and building codes. In most of Canada an R40 roof is a minimum. For the B&P we had 3 choices: a) spray foam, which as I mentioned elsewhere is way over priced, b) 8 inches of SM (four layers of 2" high density foam, R5/inch) or c) two layers of 3 1/2" Ener Foil. We opted for Ener Foil: pros: 4 x 8 sheets, less installation labour, foil both sides, a higher R value (R6/inch), cheaper than SM; cons: haven't found any yet. Since the BP roof is pretty close to a 12/12 pitch, the R value is over R50, that's pretty impressive. Rmax insulation, only available in the US, is 3" and is also a great value. This stuff is put on over the T&G pine, and yes a vapour barrier should be installed between the pine and Ener Foil. Two x fours @ 24" centers are fastened to the top of the insulation using 12" screws which go through to the perlins. The 2 x 4's serve a number of purposes: create an airflow space between the sofffits and ridge vent, provide a space to run wiring (ceiling fans) and a nailing surface for roof sheathing. The whole structure is simple to build, extremely well insulated and very attractive, inside and out, when completed.

The current plan for the other roof structures will be blown in cellulose (18" thick) in the bedroom and pink fibreglass in the scissors. I think, the jury's still out on this one. Stay tuned.

Electrical: We're in the middle of running all the wiring right now. It's a piece of cake, with the right planning. More on this later.

Tip of the week: Cover your entire roof with water shield, not just the first 3 or 4 feet in from the roof edge. You'll never have a leak, even if shingles get blown off in a wind storm. Thanks Larry.