Saturday 23 March 2013

A post about a beam

This week I finally decided to add rafters and a ridge beam to the loft space.


This is how the sloping roof interior was left after the initial paint job. Since then, I've built a water tank and put together a collection of old toys, and there's a hidden box of letters yet to come. Now that the loft has become more interesting, I realize the background should be more detailed too.

So I took a number of flat wooden strips 7 mm [1/4 in] wide, (the same as I used for the floor joists) and dirtied them down with dilute grey watercolour paint. I did the same with a length of square section wood for the ridge beam. 




I cut the flat strips into lots of short pieces and stuck them with PVA onto the dark painted areas in pairs at regular intervals, cleaning off the excess glue as I went.



Here's a view inside the apex at this stage, already far more realistic (compare it with Not much room at the top, 19 December 2012).



Working on the half of the roof that will be permanently attached to the rear wall, I fitted the ridge beam into the space allowed at the top ends of the rafters, then I filled in the hinges with shorter pieces cut to size. The loft floor will cover the lower ends and neaten the paint line. The gable ends were left clear so that the hinged section will open and close OK. 

And now I shall reward myself by making up the box of secret letters! 

charliechas



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