Day 1643: What's a dog's favourite trade?

What's a dog's favourite trade? .. Roof-ing. Bad dad joke of the day today.

The skies were blue and the weather had warmed up a bit so time to get ready for the roofing. 

As the roof was insulated now, I just needed to put on a layer of 9mm WBP (outdoor) plywood and then put the shingles on top. 

I lifted the panels on first, put them in place and cut off the excess by hand. This was the easiest way and most exact way vs trying to cut to shape on the ground. The panels were heavy so would recommend having a helper if you try this yourselves. The biggest problem with a sloped roof is that the panels also tend to follow gravity and slide right off. 

The shingles were laid out on the ground. Given the colour could differ slightly between packs, it's always best to mix them up when installing. 

Also used were the slightly longer 9mm roofing nails to make sure the shingles got a decent hold in the plywood and some roof and gutter tar (bitumen) to hold everything in place. Nasty stuff to work with that sticks to everything (like tar). But needed to make sure the shingles were held tightly and watertight.  

Day 1629: No power tools on Easter

Apparently there is a verse somewhere in the Bible that forbids power tools on Easter Sunday (or at least according to Carolyn).

So today I had to down tools and postpone all the great projects I had for the day. Instead I decided to do some gardening ..

With the contents of the old shed strewn across the lawn under tarp .. the grass had taken real beating this year. Today I decided to get it back into shape. I did some radical weeding and pruning and cut the grass. Then I planted some seeds and watered them. Nothing like watching grass grow! All done very quietly so not to disturb the Easter bunny or our neighbours or break any commandments etc.

And with all that quiet ... Could I hear the birds, the crickets, the wind blowing through the trees?

No, all I could hear was a powersaw across the road and an impact gun 2 doors down. Obviously these people weren't observing Easter .. or didn't get the memo. Who knows?!

Looking forward to creating 2 days worth of noise tomorrow!

Day 1617 - My first video (and first log cabin too)

I've been a big consumer of YouTube videos on my DIY journey so finally time to give something back. Needless to say, making videos is much harder and time consuming than DIY .. I'll stick to my 'other' job I think. 

This video shows our one-day installation of the Tuin Elizabeth cabin. Stay tuned to future posts as I show the installation of the flooring, roofing and painting (very exciting). 

Some great inspiration for both the log cabin installation and the video format came from - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4UDFzeOPhEkPJMuIqoVqTA. Worth checking out if you're attempting to do something similar as he clearly is much more ambitious with his project and proficient in YouTubing than myself. 

Anyway, hope you enjoy the video. It's my first so while I probably won't be making another cabin any time soon, I will definitely keep the videos coming!