We now have rooms with a roof. Although the wall panels are trusses are made offsite, the trusses, decks, gutters and parapet need to be assembled and crafted onsite. Great care was taken by Irish ecohomes to get all the details right, from the falls in the gutter to the slope in the parapet, to the cold bridge insulation around the edge beam. The quality of work was really impressive.
On Monday, all hands were literally on the roof deck to get it down before the bad weather closed in. There was a real sense of focus and team work. We have also been working hand in hand with Vertex roofing who are applying the Bauder membrane roof system. They have been brilliant getting lads onsite to install the first waterproofing layer (VCL) on the decks as soon as they were laid, this protects the timber and integrity of the deck from water. The drier the better for bonding the membrane. Vertex also use high-powered hot air to dry out the deck before it’s primed. A big thank you to the crew lead by Colin and the various Lee’s (Martin Lee, Lee McHugh and Lee onsite). The conditions were not friendly to say the least, the easterly winds were cutting through me, and I was only briefly on the roof. It was a relief yesterday to see all the roof decks installed and waterproofed, I was definitely nervous about this coordination point.
There is always some challenge where weather may work against the job, but you just grit your teeth and hope you can get through to the next stage and then you breathe a sigh of relief, when you get to site and you see the work is done. This is a good feeling. The roof is such a key part of the build, especially in the west of Ireland and 1km from the sea. We are moving in the right direction in building a strong defence to the elements, not only does a roof need to look beautiful, it needs to work exceptionally hard.
