Just finished sheathing[around 150 sheets] a 10/12 roof Monday & Tuesday. Any of you get aching feet? I can’t remember my feet/ankles hurting so bad and I had comfy tennis shoes on.
I cheated and got a toe-board about 3/4s way up, just something to rest on.Lead man stuck his head over the ridge and says “any room for me?” And we had a smoke-break.
Do you nail/staple as ya’ll go or tack-n-go like we do?
I DIDN’T DO IT…THE BUCK DOES NOT STOP HERE.
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High top boots with two pairs of socks
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FramerT, do you like to work comforably? If your comfortable, do you work faster? Does working comfortably reduce fatique...especially at the end of the day?
Sheathing a 10/12 can be comfortable, or it can be miserable.
I choose comfortable.
My feet still hurt nowadays, but I'm sure it's because I'm 203# instead of 165#.
I find that I feel much more comfortable in fully supported work shoes/boots...like Piffin uses. I'm currently wearing two pairs of socks too....the extra cushion helps my back. Foot inserts would be better and I might look into getting some made.
The real comfort item I use on roofs is kickers....I lay a sheet, and I lay a kicker. Most often, I start with a t-style kicker on the bottom, which is an OSHA requirement. We always put them on 6/12 and up. The 3/5" height is very usefull for storing the future kickers and all kinds of stuff that is needed up there...nails, staples, water, clips etc.
After the intitial kicker, I prefer to use 1x3 bridging stock for kickers...for several reasons. Since I staple everything as I lay it (this is a leftover habit that I have from using a small pancake compressor), I always have my stapler with me. I can staple the 1x3 very quickly. I then laminate a second piece, slightly staggering it up higher. This creates a small recess that securely grabs my stapler hook. It also securely holds scrap plywood.
I've found that if I don't have to fight to keep my footing, I can walk faster with far less fatigue. At the end of a long hard day, I know I'm laying more...faster....simply because I haven't wore myself out trying to stay up on the roof.
A couple of more points. I do all my cutting right in place...I never use a cut man because it's twice as slow. I'm very anal about not letting any scrap drop. I save almost everything until the bitter end. Its not unusual for me to use several scrap plys for my last rows of kickers. I also reuse a lot of kickers. When I'm done on a side of the house, it's not unusual for me to re-use the 2x4 kickers that I've laid at the bottoms. I also use a lot of the old kickers on misc roof framing at layone and valleys etc.
IF you analyxze how many kickers it actually takes to make a nice comfortable roof, it's really not that many. Typically, one-two bundle sof bridging stock will get me a long way. The big bonus?...Its safer.
blue
Warning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, all of it is considered bottom of the barrel by Gabe. I am not to be counted amongst the worst of the worst. If you want real framing information...don't listen to me..just ask Gabe!
Blue, I'm lost about the cutman being twice as slow. Do you have your ply stack out on the roof? You cut on the roof and you put sawdust on the roof...slip.
I used to staple as we went but stepping on air-hoses,weighted down with nailbag full of staples,gun falling etc. But in all seriousness, it was one of those 'if he doesn't run toe-boards,I won't either'deals.I'm 'around' 44yrs and 140lbs and used to skate across these things.I DIDN'T DO IT...THE BUCK DOES NOT STOP HERE.
Framer...its precisely twice as fast to work alone and cut everything in place. How do I know? I set up an experiment and proved it for myself.
Heres the experiment:
I had a decent carpenter (Bernie) working for me...he could lay plywood just about the same speed as me. We had a gabled attached 3 car garage to do...it was the same size both sides. I took a man with me and I cut...he layed. I'm pretty good about organizing a two man team and I was never handing a cut piece up, without knowing what my next cut would be.
Bernie beat us to the top working alone...cutting everything in place.
Bernie staged his own ply, pulled it up,layed it, cut it and nailed it off...everything was the same..only Bernie beat the two of us!
I did that experiment twenty years ago and I can count on one hand the times I've used a cut man since.
To understand it, you have to just do it. think about it...while you pull out your tape to measure the piece needed, I'm laying the piece in the hole. While you are marking and snapping a line...I'm already half cut. Before you get the line snapped an put away, I'm done cutting....alone!
Sawdust doesn't bother a guy standing on a kicker...neither do cords and hoses. I don't run around on any roof...I'm extremely careful...watching every step....thoughtfully placing cords and hoses....blowing sawdust away when its a factor.
blueWarning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, all of it is considered bottom of the barrel by Gabe. I am not to be counted amongst the worst of the worst. If you want real framing information...don't listen to me..just ask Gabe!
Blue,
I'm faster than you, know why? Because I don't cut any sheets, I just let them overlap. It gives the roof character :-) I also don't nail. I figure that the h-clips hold the sheets together and that the staples the roofer uses will hold it all :-)
I'm just kidding. I may not agree with you 100% of the time, but I appreciate your desire to "trim the fat" and not waste time on the job.
I'll bet though that we can sheathe a roof faster than you :-) know why? http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL293/2163851/5177572/74533622.jpg
http://pic9.picturetrail.com/VOL293/2163851/5177572/74533616.jpg
Forlkift platform with all the material, nails, clips, extra material, toe boards, tools and really cool guys working:-)
A framer from Indiana posted at JLC a pic of a 24' platform they use with thier forklift. We had a 16' and a 10' made and it is unreal how nice that is. One man can sheathe by himself what would take 1 or 2 laborers a day if they had to pack their own material. It is so nice. I have some other pics if you want to take a look.
Yes...I want to take a look at more pics.
And I'll take that bet. There's a coupla reasons...#1, were going to send up those partial gables already sheathed and overhanged. #2...and most important...we don't use our hammers for back scratchers (I see you up there giving yourself a back massage!)...we actually pound wood and nails with them!
Seriously though Tim...do you know for a fact that your platform is OSHA approved. I'm sure they have limits on width but I haven't investidgated it yet. I've just started using a Sky Trak this season and am just know started my infantile training on sensible uses and applications. Frank and I were discussing the platform idea and I'm interested in figuring out which route we should take. I doubt that a 16' would pass muster, but that is exactly what Frank suggested. The sideways leverage that is created by walking out to the edge of a wide platform would be considerable.
blueWarning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, all of it is considered bottom of the barrel by Gabe. I am not to be counted amongst the worst of the worst. If you want real framing information...don't listen to me..just ask Gabe!
By the way Tim...I forgot to mention that in my younger days, I ALWAYS lap cut all the roof plywood. In those days, we didn't use clips at all and lapping just made sense. Nowadays, the clips makes it difficult to lap it and get it into the clip so that practice has fell by the wayside. Now, when a sheet runs long, I just eyeball the cut down the center of the rafter/truss. If were using a quality osb, the vertical lines help a lot to guide a parallell cut. If not, years of luck help too.
blueWarning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, all of it is considered bottom of the barrel by Gabe. I am not to be counted amongst the worst of the worst. If you want real framing information...don't listen to me..just ask Gabe!
How do you sheathe a 10-12 roof without toeboards (or chicken strips as we call them :-) cuz I'm chicken)? When we get past 8-12 we nail toe boards about every 8' up the roof (just a 2x4 corner). If it's the second story, we'll use toeboards on an 8-12. It's just too expensive when someone falls
Tiz, you are rapidly becoming my idol :-)