This was by far the most physically demanding weekend and psychologically too I suppose since progress wasn't so visible. At the end of the weekend we had laid the roof plywood and tar paper for half the roof, laid all of the porch decking that we had (ran out) and got the porch headers (or whatever they're called...) in place so that we can hang the porch trusses next week.
I spent all my time on the roof work. We had three guys on that. Two up on the roof and one down below. The guys up top balanced precariously on trusses (or 2"x4" cleats) while hoisting up plywood and tar paper rolls. They then placed the plywood and nailed it down which in itself was a task because the plywood didn't have truss markings so making sure you didn't miss was a chore (amusing too because those nail guns can shoot a 16 penny nail through the plywood really easily). After a row of plywood was down the guys up top rolled out tar paper and tacked it down with dozens of "cap nails" (little one inch nails with a one inch diameter plastic cap). Meanwhile the guy below was cutting plywood (not that hard... just needed a tape measure, chalkline, and circular saw). The hard part of his job was hefting the 4'x8' sheet of plywood up on the roof and once the progress made it's way up to the top he had to heft it onto the first cleat, climb the ladder and heft it to the next cleat, climb the roof to the next cleat where it could finally be passed to the guys now at the top of the roof.
Saturday evening we had all of the guys back to our house and I made steaks for everyone. At the end of the evening I collapsed into bed sore in what seemed every muscle in my body; but a good sore.
When you get inspired enough to build your own cabin here's a tip... When you're working on the roof, bring knee pads.
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