Raising the SIPs, Part 7: The Final Chapter

So, we finally placed the last of the SIPs- and let me tell you, they were doozies. The challenge was getting large, heavy panels (without skylights this time) onto the steeply inclined 12:12 pitch portion of the roof. Fortunately, I've got a big family, and so we were able to round up 10 willing and able bodied individuals to help us out. We never could have done it without their help. 

We used the same interior surface cleat system that we did with the 3:12 pitch roof panels, and it worked well- we didn't end up resting the panels on the internal cleats they way we thought we would, but they were completely necessary to provide handholds for the inside-lifting team. 

Apart from the added challenge of the steep slope and height of the panel placement, these guys followed the same pattern as all the rest of our panels. They were lifted roughly into place in about 30 minutes, and then we spent pretty much the rest of the day finagling them into exactly the right alignment and securing them in place.

 The last panel (where all of our previous mistakes came to a head) ended up being about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch out of square, but considering that we had never done this before, we were pretty pleased that all our mistakes tallied up to only 3/4 of an inch. We ended up just filling the 3/4" gap with a lot of construction adhesive. It's on a face that buts up against the cheek wall, so it's going to get plenty of flashing when the roof is placed. Bottom line: a) we're not too worried about it, and b) it's a heck of a lot better than amateurs like us could have gotten using traditional framing methods. 

I forgot to set up a camera to capture the event either with time-lapse or video, but fortunately my dad had the presence of mind to take a bunch of pictures that pretty much give you a time-lapse like experience of the event. Below you can see them in video form, and if you want to take a closer look, a larger version of each image is posted below. 

Floor Team hands first panel off to Exterior Platform Team

Exterior Platform Team (assisted to by members of Floor Team) begins hand off of first panel to the woefully understaffed Interior Team (me & John). Far-left: Uncle Chuck coming to join the Interior Team.

The Exterior Platform Team continues the hand off to the Interior Team. Far left: Uncle Chuck and Jeff rush to the aid of the Interior Team.

The now 4-person strong Interior Team is able to accept hand off of the panel from Exterior Platform Team. Far right: Chuck and Sam watch without lifting anything. 

View of Interior Team during hand off. Member of Exterior Platform Team visible through the window

Interior Team fine tunes initial placement

Fine Tuning continues...

First Panel in place!

Checking the position of the ridge line

More checking the ridge line

Even more checking of the ridge line (I told you that most of the time involved in our SIP construction was dedicated to making tiny little adjustments)

Let's just check that ridge line one more time....

Ok, really, last time checking the ridge line. John checks his phone. 

Time to slap one that continuous double bead of construction adhesive and place the second panel (Note: construction adhesive applied on the first side before panel was placed, we just didn't photograph that part)

Floor Team lifts second panel

Floor Team bringing second panel to awaiting Exterior Platform Team

Floor Team begins hand off of second panel to Exterior Platform Team

Hand off continues. Note, again Interior Team consists of just me & John- by far the smallest members of the crew. You'd think we''d have learned from last time and had another person or two up there, but nope. 

Floor Team completes hand off of second panel to Exterior Platform Team

Exterior Platform Team begins hand off of second panel to Interior Team

Exterior Platform Team is in trouble when Interior Team can't really lift their fair share of the second panel during hand off. Floor Team quickly steps in to assist Exterior Platform Team, For a moment, it looks like we're going to drop the second panel.

Floor Team merges with Exterior Platform Team to narrowly avoid disaster

Situation stabilized with additional members of Exterior Platform Team now able to force second panel back into place, however the initial problem remains that Interior Team still consists of just me & John

Pete finally seeing the root cause of our difficulties which the rest of us somehow missed) moves to join the Interior Team

The Interior Team finally able to provide the upward thrust necessary to allow the Exterior Platform Team to push to push the panel towards the center line of the house. 

And finally, the last sip panel is pupped roughly into place

The interior team confirms that the panel is resting on its bottom internal cleat (just like we planned), and the heavy lifting is officially over. 

One last group photo, and we were able to let our lifting crew go get some lunch. 

While we let most of the lifting crew go after this last picture was taken, our day was far from over. Thankfully, Uncle Chuck (a professional builder) stuck around to help us figure out exactly how to get these last two panels into the best positions. It took us several hours adjusting the panels fractions of inches one way and then another before we got them into the right spots. Then we had to screw them into place. It was a full day of difficult work, but I'm really glad that all the SIPs are up now.