I don't think much can change a house more in one day than when the trusses arrive and are installed. It was certainly a big day on our project!
The trusses will actually come in two loads, several days apart. The steel structure (posts and beams) will arrive in a third load. The first truck carried the biggest trusses. It was an oversize load requiring a pilot car. These trusses were for the bonus rooms up in the attic. The trusses needed to be built in one piece and were very tall (WIDE on the truck). I knew the driver for he had delivered the trusses for our shop nine years ago. He teased me about the wait being so long since I had already talked of the house we were going to build way back then.
The trusses were large and fragile by themselves, but the operator was experienced and very smooth. One by one they were lifted into place and nailed down securely with plenty of braces. It wasn't very ong until the truck was empty and the last truss was in place.
Almost in an instant we could see the spaces we had previously only dreamed and planned for. Now they were real! Here's a shot of the start of one of the bonus rooms in the attic.
As we came into the house everything had radically changed. The space was now defined with a ceiling.
Janis & I were very pleased with how the square box shape of the house was suddenly softened with the roof partially on. The eyebrows in the roof and the tree sculptures will take it a whole lot further in this direction.
We've refined and firmed up our plans for trim and rockwork. The look of the roof eyebrows will be defined sometime tomorrow. Colors are being debated, picked and tested in the next few days. And before the end of the week we'll begin doing some test carving of the textures we'll use when we do our sculpted rock and woodwork. The house will suddenly start looking as we have long imagined very soon. Stay tuned...
-grampa dan