Ridge beam, rafters, software saves the day

We had a little bit of a panic (or at least I did) when I checked over the design this morning in anticipation of putting up rafters - with the last re-design I had less than 6' clearance between the bottom of the eaves and the top of the finished floor. In other words you'd be hitting your head on the eaves when walking on the deck outside the building. Furthermore, shortening the eaves to get a proper clearance meant cutting all the metal roofing, which we had already had custom cut to a specific length. On top of all this I suddenly realized that I'd neglected to order the edging pieces for the steel roof (gables, eaves, ridge). Much woe and cursing and gnashing of teeth.



Fortunately a bit of brainstorming and yet another redesign in the software yielded an acceptable solution: the eaves will now sport horizontal cuts.

Now the steel will fit and the clearance is adequate.
Work today (after the intensive drawing session) consisted of cutting the rafters to length with the proper angles, chopping out "birdsmouth" notches on the rafters, fabricating the ridge beam from two 2x10 x 12' boards, putting up temporary ridge beam support, and installing 3 pairs of rafters.
Just 3 rafter sets and it's starting to look like a proper building now...


Today also we discovered a neighboring property is for sale and had a longish discussion about easements and views and rural economics. We could hear the annual stock car races roaring tinnily in the distance. We chased a herd of open range cows from the property, Snoozer was quite annoyed with them. Hermitages can be complicated.
Lesson of the day: Check headroom early and often in software, and especially before ordering materials. Plan in haste, regret at liesure.