I got that streak of nice weather I’d been hoping for, and I managed to finish the roof! Yay! The Ondura panels turned out to be pretty easy to install. The only annoying part was that I had to cut up a panel to make narrow strips because I’d made the rafters too long, and ended up with a few inches short at the ridge. Fortunately, those panels are pretty easy to cut; I’d imagine tin roofing would be a little harder to slice up. The biggest challenge, actually, was figuring out how to get up onto the ridge to lay down the ridge caps once I’d put down all the panels. I was hoping I’d be able to just climb up the gables, but that turned out to be a bit scary (not so much the climbing, but going from the gables to the ridge, with nothing to grab but loose roofing panels), so I ended up improvising some footholds by bolting on some small scrap 1x4s through the roofing panels down to the purlins. I was a little weary of poking more holes through the roofing, but I can just fill them in with caulk later, so I don’t think it’ll be a big issue.

So, the roof’s all covered up, but I’m trying to decide what else to do while I have relatively easy access to the roof. One thing I’m concerned about is that gap between the corrugated panels and the ridge caps. On the one hand, it provides ventilation, allowing warm air trapped between the roofing panels and insulation boards to escape. On the other hand, moisture may get blown in there by the wind if there’s a storm, and though the moisture shouldn’t penetrate far, it still might be an issue. I’m also trying to decide if I want to put down mounting brackets for my solar panels while I’m up there. The problem is, I haven’t quite decided whether I want to mount my solar panels up there in the first place. The roof does get decent exposure since it rises above the shadows cast by many of the trees, but the panels would be fixed, so I won’t be able to get as much power as I would if the panels were on trackers. But then, my solar panels are currently out in a clearing far away from the hut, and mounting the panels up on the roof will give me power in the hut, which would be nice…

Anyway, for now, I’m simply happy to get the roof done. Sure, it took 2 months, but then, I did manage to do the entire roof all by myself, so that’s something to feel good about. Now I just need to get the rest of the hut wrapped up before it gets too cold.