Since finishing the tires it has seemed every job has had a definite beginning and end.  I didn’t think anything would seem as never-ending as those tires.

However, decking the roof comes in a respectable second.  It has been 15 days now and we just finished the majority of it.  All the U’s are decked and we have moved onto the 500 square feet of kick up at the front of the roof.  I don’t care if I ever see another piece of 2×6 T&G. 

We’ve been working the kids harder; each of them has been contributing labour to this job.  Katie has been transporting trim ends to our Christmas Eve burn pile, Stephen has been doing his share of screwing in pieces and everybody has been measuring wood and using the saw.  For the most part Chris and I have been doing the staining.  In between working on decking I have been treating the wood framing at the front of the house with borlate and preparing to do the finish staining in preperation for windows.  For a girl who suddenly became afraid of heights in my 20s, I have been standing on planking 12 feet in the air fairly successfully.  I just keep repeating, “don’t look down, don’t look down.”  I did make Chris hang out on the ends to do the final bit of staining…just a bit too wobbly for me.

When we have time we walk off the roof and down into the earthship.  The underside of the roof decking looks wonderful!  It has two coats of gloss stain and the contrast between the SPF (spruce, pine and alpine fir) wood and the darker stained large log rafters is quite nice. These two components are the very first FINISHED parts of the house.  We do nothing more to them; they are done!  I should note here, that the temperature difference between the roof and the U’s of the building is easily 15 degrees.  Those tires bermed into the earth are doing what they are supposed to.  I am expecting great things when this house is completely finished!

Once the decking is complete we will keep working on the roof until it is completed. 

Here are some photos from the last week.