All week the weather forecast had predicted rain, but today it actually caught up to us. Jane's builder friends are heading home tomorrow, so we really wanted to get the roof sheathing and tar paper on today so that the house would be "blacked in" and weather tight before they left.
We set out this morning in full Gortex to see how far along we could get. We decided to unpeel the tarp from the house in 8 foot segments so we could get some of the sheathing up. We installed sheets of OSB onto two thirds of the top course of the roof and covered them in tar paper, since we realized it would be easier to cover now than it will be once the lower course is sheathed. But we weren't able to complete the whole top run because our roofing framer hadn't yet finished the outrigging support for one of the gambrel ends. Unfortunately he wasn't able to come out until the afternoon and by then the rain had picked up. We continued working through the afternoon, trying to keep things covered as much as possible. Meanwhile we continued with the plumbing and electrical. My friend Christian came to help out and he and I cut the framing for the walls at the gambrel ends, using cut requests from the roofer. It was interesting using the miter saw at several different angles and seeing the framing come together, but it was frustrating that there wasn't more we could do. With the tarp catching the wind every time we moved it the house felt like a sailboat. And with the rain pouring down I started having visions of the tiny house as an ark, floating away in the flood.
We hung around for a while since we anticipated having to work quickly to get the sheathing and tar paper up during a break in the rain. But a break never came. It continued to pour and the wind picked up so that we were afraid sheathing the roof would be too dangerous because of slipping hazards and wind gusts. Every gap in the tiny house's rain coat sent sheets of water into the house. Eventually we decided we'd be better off just getting the house as closed up as possible.
I suppose the bright side is that I was able to get a couple items checked off my to do list, enjoy a nice hot dinner, and visit with friends since I couldn't work on the house. However, it was a disappointing stopping point for a week's worth of hard work. If we had realized what a downpour we were going to get we probably would have just reenforced our tarps first thing in the morning and planned to return to the project during a break in the weather.