We were in "foam" mode again and were adding layers and layers of foam to the workshop roof. This is one job where we actually looked forward to it being the "last time" (in fact I think we may have been muttering "one last $#*#*% time"). It is a fairly tedious and tiring job. Along these same lines, we are both hoping that building this roof would be "the last time"! (However, there is the wood shed and then maybe a tractor shelter....). At any rate, we were both grateful for the weather that allowed us to get it all done.
As much as the summer stretched out, there were still signs everywhere that fall had in fact arrived. The leaves were turning colour and some of the trees, somewhat stressed by the dry conditions, began dropping their leaves.
The red squirrels were busy, gathering up food, and lining their nests with things to keep them warm for the winter. One of them discovered a stash of felt packing material in our outside shed and we watched as it dragged pieces of it through the woods and up a tree. This was no small feat - especially when it got caught in the branches! The rather blurry photo below of the little guy/gal in action was taken through the screen of an upstairs window in the cabin.
Apparently, the felt was not the only nest making material that was used. One day I noticed that one of my inspirational message "flags" was missing from where I had hung a string of four between two trees. It looked almost as if someone had sawed it off with a knife - the remnants of it still hanging on the cord. The missing flag read: "LOVE An inspired form of giving, love breathes life into the heart and brings grace to the soul". Who would steal my "love" flag?
But then, in another location, I noticed an entire of string of Tibetan prayer flags had also disappeared. One day they were there:
And the next day - nothing there but the knots that had been tied at both ends of the cord.
Then we noticed that the original set of flags were being moved along the cord that held them in place, and each had a new series of chewed holes in them. Yes, the (now blissful) red squirrels were the guilty thieves!
One has to wonder "why now?" The flags have been up for years and none have disappeared but each day the remaining flags are a bit more tattered and one of these days I'm sure that all of these will also be gone. Oh well - it is a festive and inspirational nest that they are building and I hope that they enjoy them as much as I have.
Getting back to the house...Once the foam installation and strapping were finished on the south roof of the workshop, we took a few minutes for a quick "Hurrah" - and then moved to the north side. Rob was beginning to take stock of how long it was taking, and thinking that despite the current good weather, it was possible that we were going to run out of time this year. It was already October 5th, and he still needed to do the north side foam and strapping, add eave extensions and gable ends, get plywood up on both sides, then the metal roofing, and then the solar panels! Oh, and there were also some changes being made to the indented area at the back, as well as moving the doorway to the longer wall (we don't like to discuss the reason for moving the door - something about the voltage drop and maximum length of battery cables and one connection being on one side of the door and the other connection being on the other side of the door - which means the cable has to go over top of the door - apparently it's one of those planning things. And who would have thought that you need 18 feet of cable for a 3 foot wide door!
But moving on... as you can see from the blue, blue skies, the good weather continued, and thus so did the work!
October 12 and the north side was almost done!
The next area to be done was the "corner overhang" . Originally Rob had planned on adding this at a later date, but realized that it was easier to do it now and integrate it into the rest of the roof rather than having a separate lower section of roof. The roof was framed with a temporary support for now but will have a simple timber structure inserted at a later date.
Despite the long work days, Rob was often still game for a walk together at the end of the day. One warm evening, a thick fog rolled in and we went for a long walk as the sun slowly went down. The light was lovely; the warmth in the air quite unbelievable for mid-October. When we spotted the cows in the fog, I took a few photos and the images looked like paintings - I was more than pleased with the results!
In previous years, we would get more than our share of rainy days and this would enable Rob to stop construction, and allow time to research the next project, pick up building materials, or in some cases get orders placed for items that weren't available locally. (It would also give him a chance to recuperate a bit from all the physical demands of building!) This fall though, rainy days were few and far between so he would try to work on the job site during the day and do his research and ordering in the evenings. We were still hopeful that we might get the solar panels on, so there were lots (and lots) of details to work out and parts to order.
Rob moved to working on the east and west sides of the shop, building the rake overhangs (and moving the scaffolding way too many times).
Next we got the plywood up on the south side!
Coincidentally, it was this same time last year when we were finishing the metal roofing on the new house. At that time Rob had said he couldn't have worked any longer because of the cold and the dangerous conditions so we had serious doubts about actually finishing the roof on the workshop, but we were going to try. We were beginning to get real frost at night, making it impossible to work until the frost melted and the roof was dry and of course the days were getting shorter and shorter, with daylight savings about to kick in as well.
I had finished splitting the firewood by early October (yippee!)
I was now doing my best to get ready for winter - start stacking all that wood (not my favourite job), cleaning up outside and pulling our winter coats and boots out of storage and finding space for them in the cabin. And then on October 27 the snow arrived.
This wasn't the usual few warning flakes that we would normally get, it was a good solid snowfall, and it lingered for a couple of days. We were a bit disheartened, but the weather forecast promised more sunny weather, so we hoped the snow would all melt and we could continue working. It was strange to see the trees still bearing their autumn leaves, with snow all around.
By Halloween the snow had melted, and our friend Bob arrived to help with the plywood on the north side.
The roof liner went on, the "warm" temperatures came back, and Rob and Bob got to work on the metal roof. We had pretty much decided to just get the metal on the south roof and then (if possible) get the solar panels up . The north side would probably have to wait until spring. It was a fine plan that was much easier to say than do!
Some days this job went faster than others but it was a complex procedure. The flashing had to be cut and fitted together and then each piece of roofing had to be cut and folded and crimped at the end so that it would lock on to the flashing. We also decided to install the brackets for the rails that would hold the solar panels since it was easier to do this as we went along. I would have to say that things were rather intense at this point.... and for the next couple of weeks!
But they did it.
So, south roof finished - time to start installing the rails. By now the work days were beginning at around 11 a.m. because there was too much ice on the roof before then which made it totally unsafe. By mid-afternoon though, it would be warm and sunny and the crew would be back to wearing light hoodies or T-shirts!
I was pretty excited when I thought that the first solar panel was up - but it turned out to just be a test run to make sure things were going to work out. This was our first time doing solar panel installation, so there was a lot to learn, and a lot to think about.
We continued installing the rails, and were all excited to think that we might actually get the solar panels on this year after all!
After checking that each panel was working properly, and documenting the serial numbers and performance data for each one, we began installing them. This time we didn't stop long to admire the first one - we just kept going!
With not much space between the panel and the roof, it was difficult to reach in and make the connections.
Each panel is held in place with an edge clip that has a built in grounding connection (it is actually difficult to reliably connect a ground wire to aluminium).
Even with knee pads on - this job is hard on the old knees. (did I just say "old knees" - whoops !)
While installing the second column of panels, work ground to a halt. The wire connections were hanging below the panels and some were touching the roof. Rob had originally thought that they could be lifted a bit more, but as it was there was a danger that over the years the insulation on the wires might get damaged. After an evening researching the problem Rob came up with a plan to attach conduit supports to the rails and then use stainless steel wire wraps to hold the wires. We had to do a lot of calling and driving around to gather up the supplies from various building companies and electrical supply companies, but we managed to get what we needed and a couple of days later, we were back at it. Everything worked fine.
We really have to thank our friend Bob for all his hard work and perseverance. I'm sure it took a while for him and Rob to get used to working together, but they did a fine job and we were an excellent team! When the bit kept falling out of the torque wrench and disappearing off the edge of the roof, Bob suggested putting some roofing sealant in to help hold it better and I suggested some coloured tape to make it easier to find when it did fall off! It takes a community .... or a couple of extra bright minds...or whatever !
I tried to keep them both fed with hot nutritious soups for lunch, and tea breaks in the afternoon. But when I showed up with hot tea as they were putting in the last column of panels, neither of them was willing to take a break for tea time. Luckily we have a great tea thermos to keep things hot! And I couldn't blame them for wanting to get it done.
As the light of the day slowly faded, it was finished. No champagne, just a big sigh of relief, a sip of tea, an enormous thank you to Mother Nature, and we were done.
But a few days later, while working on the North roof, 20+ cm of snow arrived - and so that's probably it for the roof for this year! Not much power generation from those panels either.
