Hey Everyone,
I’d like to send out a big thanks for all your helpful suggestions with my recent construction project which included a bastard hip roof and fiber cement siding. Here’s what I found most helpful in the construction of this building:
* Roof Cutter’s Bible- thin, handy with lots of helpful information. I read it many times until I got it right.
*The Construction Master Pro calculator- this thing rocks! I like the way that I can check myself quickly and with minimal fuss. Obviously if you enter incorrect initial data, it won’t help you, but it sure made my life easier.
*An angle guide for cutting over 50 degree cheek cuts. This was described in an older issue of JLC (2002?) and consists of an angled platform that gets clamped to the rafter. You run the saw plumb and make steep cuts with ease (I think my angle was 67 degrees). I also used a variety of site built guides set up for the plumb cuts (I remember ~30 deg, 26 deg. and 45 deg). I made these by nailing a 1×4 piece of trim to a 8-10″ wide piece of plywood or OSB at the calculated angle. I let the trim run long, and after the first cut, the trim marked the EXACT location of all subsequent cuts whenever I lined up the gauge with the measured cut mark. This was much easier than attempting to wrestle a rafter against my chop saw fence.
*Roofing nailers. I looked at all the accolades about the Max and bought the 445R, but I just could not get it to nail properly (nails bent or not fully driven). I finally returned to my hardware store and compared it with the Hitachi and found that the Hitachi worked much better for me. I don’t know why the Max didn’t deliver. I didn’t use the bounce function (I’m not a roofer) so there was always plenty of air availible. I used the Hitachi for the siding as well with 1 3/4″ nails. Even at 120 psi, I could have used some more power going into the studs, but it was nevertheless a real time saver over hand nailing.
*Kreg jig for trim. I used it to make virtually invisible splice joints to make trim boards 20+ feet in length. The key is to cut both boards at once, with one to the left of the fence and the other to the right to make a perfectly straight joint(one side will need to be supported by another 3/4″ board when you make the cut). I used a 5 degree bevel. I found that it worked well to nail most of one board, then to attach the second and nail that and then the third, etc. It was the bees knees for corners and window frames as well. I could cut the corner and window frame, screw it together and nail it up in half the time it would take to nail pieces individually.
*For the fiber cement siding, I used a Tenyru fiber cement blade ($30) and it cut the fiber cement like it was trim. Dust was minimal, ripping was a breeze. Really a pleasure to use. I made one of the above mentioned cutting guides and covered the intake with a nuisance respirator that I duct taped onto the saw body. I was discouraged at the end to note that cement dust had worked through the filter. These filters are good for…what?
Thanks all, for your many helpful suggestions! I have attached a photo of the finished product (well almost, it was dark when I finished everything)
Adam
Replies
Another happy graduate!
Congrats.
blue