As you may have noticed, it's often the case on this project that things don't go according to plan. Usually it's because something has gone wrong, but today it was the opposite - I was offered a few hours of help by Alan, the local handyman. He showed me how to do the gutters and eaves. I had actually been planning on pouring the balcony concrete today (having completed the balcony rebar yesterday) but with Alan's offer, I did not wish to miss out on the opportunity of an extra pair of hands and the wisdom of a veteran builder. So the concrete pour was put off for a day...
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| June 30th - the eaves and gutters awaiting installation |
We started by putting up a series of plastic eave boards which are nailed onto the actual plywood eaves - these boards are waterproof and unlike wooden eaves do not need painting every year or two. Having an extra set of hands was great because these boards were over 12ft long and very awkward to handle - almost like trying to manoeuvre a 12ft piece of linguine...
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| The plastic, waterproof eave boards installed over the actual plywood eave |
Once the boards were on, Alan showed me how to install the gutters. Most of the work is in determining the high point, and a slope (for the water to run) that looks correct and functions properly. We then used a string line to work everything out and then a chalk line to mark the boards. It turns out that the top of the building is not level - most likely the building had settled over the years, or they had purposely angled the top of the roof. Either way it was quite tricky to figure out the correct pitch for the gutters...that also did not look wonky. Once the line was set, it was quite simple to install the gutter supports, and then clip in the gutters themselves. By the time Alan had to leave, we had fixed the gutters along the front of the building, and I had a good understanding how to the complete the rest.
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| End of the day... |
