Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Lifting the Roof On!

We're back from our short but successful camping trip; the little camper van worked well.  But before I tell you about that, let me share the news - we're moving!  Yes, the Furry Gnome and Mrs. Gnome are moving, trading summers of property maintenance and gardening, and a certain degree of winter isolation, for more travel and a life in town.  But the most interesting thing so far has been the roof of the new home we'll eventually be moving into, so look at these!

This is the roof of our house, built at ground level, sitting on the foundation - both a little faster, and much safer to build I was told.  Have you ever seen that!?

They lifted it off and set it aside, so here it is waiting on the lot next door, while they build the walls.

I was looking forward to seeing this amazing moment when they'd lift the roof back on, so I hurried up one day to be there.

But I didn't reckon on how early or quickly builders work.  I just can't imagine how neatly and easily they did this.

They had the roof hooked up, moved and unhooked all in about half an hour, at 7 in the morning.

And here it is, the roof in place.  Thanks to one of the builders for these four photos.

They were just packing up the crane when I showed up, an hour too late.  But I'm still fascinated with this way of building a house!  As for our move, we're not moving far, just up the road to Meaford.  The big change is from a large country lot (and occasional winter blizzards - there's a snow cloud that sits directly over our house from December until March), to a tiny urban lot.  More time for travel, hiking, exploring and photography!




15 comments:

  1. Have heard about doing it that way, but have never seen it. Since the roofing still has to go on, it's hard to see that it saves too much time or increases safety much -- plus there's the expense of the crane. Too bad you missed the raising.

    Enjoy your new abode.

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  2. Well that's a big surprise, moving to Meaford. I can understand your motivation though. With winters being what they are they become harder each year as one ages and having a property in the country with all the snow blowing and shoveling involved it makes a whole lot of sense moving to town. I'd never heard of that way in doing a roof but it sounds perfectly logical.

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  3. No, I had never seen or heard of this...amazing.

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  4. I have never heard of such a thing but I can see it would be very practical. I at first thought you had an underground home like they build here. The back of the house roof is on ground level. I think your move is exciting. We did survive our move and I don't regret anything about that. I hung a picture today so we are more moved in each day.

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  5. Good thinking, we are hoping to do the same, as 3 acres seems too big. And I do hope that Mrs F.G. has a super huge craft room, with lots of cupboards and shelves for her goodies. And now, lots more time for RV trips and photography in other areas.Congrats on your decision and your move.

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  6. What is your roof built of? We have traditional hand made clay roof tiles which of course would have been put on one at a time when the house was built in 1934. Not very well insulated back then. Your roof looks very sensible and will surely protect you from whatever the weather throws at you.

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  7. Glad the camper worked well for you. And a smaller urban place will free you up and allow you more travelling and enjoying life.

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  8. Hello, sounds wonderful. Less maintenance and more fun, enjoy! Congrats on your new home! Happy Thursday, have a happy day!

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  9. Wow! That's really interesting. And I'm glad you're not leaving the valley. I've grown very fond of it. :-)

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  10. Oh my goodness---what an interesting idea---I didn't know one could do that. As for the last sentence of your blog----I am all for that: "More time for travel, hiking, exploring and photography!:. go for it!!!
    MB

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  11. Oh how exciting for you to be moving.
    We are moving in opposite directions. You to town, us to 21 acres.
    How interesting building the roof on the foundation. Have never seen that before.

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  12. A new home! How exciting! That's a really unusual way to put a roof on the house.

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  13. We have similar shaped rooves here but they are usually made of roofing tiles. The one going on your house looks quite wide but I'm sure it's not as exciting as moving into a new house. Hope you're going to share photos when you're settled in.

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