The blockhouse is now nearly done

After two days of very hard work in hot weather, the blockhouse is just about done. After putting up the rafters and nailing on the planking I discovered that a small roof like this is normally held on to the building just by its own weight. So I tied it down by using metal strips, fastened to the rafters at one end and to the concrete belt on top of the wall at the other. Hard work with the masonry drill. I then thought that it might be a good idea to seal up the bottom edge of the roof - to discourage plants from coming in - with a concrete infill. This is it:



The tops of the metal strips just show above the concrete. They aren't really heavy duty angles - I'm using up the hangers for the suspended ceiling, as I had to buy two large boxes of them, and I had most of the second box left over. However the concrete is going to help weight down the roof.

The concrete goes all the way along on top of the wall - I did have to fit wooden strips to stop it falling straight out on the ground, and these too will make the roof a bit more solid. They are fixed securely into the rafters. Here's a general view of the concrete infill:



After that I screwed the missing planks into place - all the rest are nailed but I didn't want to hammer right next to the wet concrete. I didn't think it would harm the mix per se, but that there was a risk that I might dislodge the shuttering which is only wedged in place. So here we are:



Apart from shifting the tools and general builders' mess, there is one more job to do, which is to put a bit of roofing felt over it. In a week or two there will be metal sheeting over it, the final layer below the solar panels (which have still not even been ordered .... )