by Close only counts with hand grenades, so I put out a call for help to my go to jack of all trades guy Tom. He already had plans that day, so I went back to a blast from my past, my former neighbor Bill. I didn’t expect him to drop everything and rush over to my house, but that’s exactly what he did. When I called him I was in route to Home Depot to pick up the wood Lowe’s failed to deliver and the 10′ 2x4s. He beat me home, but fortunately I had mistakenly left the back door unlocked so he was able to grab the plans from the basement. I didn’t think he’d work so fast and I failed to say don’t use those uncut 8′ 2x4s, but by the time I got home he used all of them. Sadly, I still don’t know how to measure for a bird’s mouth cut.
Bill decided to alter the plans by adding two additional rafters, one on each side of the door opening. I’m still not sure why the door needed more support, but I figured what’s the harm and I had two extra pieces from the 10’ers that were already cut in half. He also added some bracing cut from the waste left by his using the 8’ers. The last pieces involved with the rafters were the Voerhang (overhang) plates, which are attached to the outside of the outer rafter. They needed a 23 degree angle cut also and Bill did this as well, but he cut to match to the angles of the rafters and he had me nail the flush to the rafters. I was pretty confident that was incorrect as it didn’t match the picture in the plans. Beggars can’t be choosers, so I let it go as he was also willing to help me put the OSB roof sheating. I definitely would have struggled doing that by myself, especially the large center piece.
After Bill left I studied the plan to figure out exactly how the overhang plates should have been installed. They should have been nailed perpendicular vs. flush. The 23 degree angle should have been cut across the face of the board vs. the side. My miter saw could make that cut. Unfortunately he used my last two boards and all the stores were already closed due to Covid-19, so his correction had to wait until the next day. Without this correction the side panels would not have attached flush.
Rains 
were forecast for Thursday, so I decided to move two of the T1-11 4’x8′ side panels to the basement, so I could cut and paint them. One of the best things I learned by going to the Camp Washington Wood Shop was how to use a straight edge to guide a circular saw cut. These panels were too big to run through my job site sized table saw, plus the side piece cuts were at angles, 23 degrees, according to the plans. I didn’t need to find the degree as the plans showed the low side measurement at 20 1/4″ drop.
I made my measurement and used my clamps to hold the string from my chalk line at the top, while I pulled the string to my mark to strike the line. I’m not sure what this tool is called, but I used it to find the distance from my saw blade to end of saw plate. I laid the end of that tool on my chalk line and placed my straight edge next to the end of the sliding ruler and clamped it to the board. I repeated this action on the opposite end and then checked various points in the middle.
The only bad judgement I made is that I stacked both sides together and tried to cut both boards at the same time; I figured they weren’t that thick. About a third of the way through the saw got bound up and kicked back at me (scared me a bit). Not deterred, I left the boards clamped together and altered the depth of the blade to only cut through the top. Once done I lowered the blade to cut the second. This action meant only setting my guide once, virtually ensuring both would be cut the same. With the cuts made I pulled out the paint, which I got from Lowe’s. I bought HGTV’s Weathershild by Sherwin Williams. It’s paint and primer in one, so one coat. I have so drunken the HGTV coolaid. Take a guess what color?
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