BeanAnimal's 42" build - Pittsburgh PA

[BeanAnimal]

Yep! Picked up the slate yesterday from Joseph Jenkins in Grove City, Pa. I have never worked with slate shingles either. Joseph wrote “The Sate Roof Bible”, an amazing book about slate shingles, their history and a definitive guide for installation and every other aspect of the product.

I picked up a square of used slates, I liked them better than the new stuff that I looked at. I purchased tools and enough copper to make me cry. Hopefully I can get it started tomorrow.

[GreenViews]

Looking great. I was delayed a bit with other projects, but kept curing, so yet to put on most of my pcrete and assemble my roof. Kept curing though and now ready to have first pizza night . I'm also planning on slate tiles! Mine are salvage from a re-roof I did years ago. Will be chipped up and all, but I like the look. I miss my mosaic slate floor we installed in our last house from very old classroom chalk boards. It was one of a kind. I don't have experience with slate roof though. I was thinking doing 1 foot center steel studs to reduce flexing, then 1/2" cement boards underneath. Are you using new slate roofing?

[Chach]

Yeah using the tarp was good in the beginning but when you have the enclosure framed it gets to be more of a PIA to tarp. I was so happy when I put the roof on. It felt so good to just use the oven without having to unwrap it and when I was done to rewrap it. You will get there soon.

Ricky

[BeanAnimal]

I opted for 4" Halo "canless" gimbals - They are color adjustable , 700 lumens, 90 CRI and dimmable. I wanted square trims, but they don't make a square gimbal, let alone color selectable. I opted for the 40 degree beam instead of the wide. I think with (4) of them I can direct the light evenly onto the landing area and wash the front wall in light. Will rig up a test this evening...

Meanwhile - it is time to install the soffits in prep for the stonework. I have decided to use beaded 6" pine T&G to match the porch ceiling (done 2 summers ago). Let's hope that the minwax stain matches - I am guessing it won't even be close 2 years and even lower VOC later.

Tangent - Stain is now "paint" for the most part - there is no such thing as deck stain anymore, it is all topical non penetrating "paint" (even the semi-transparent and transparent varieties) that looks nothing like stain. Even the OEMs that used to ship real stain to non VOC states are NOW shipping PAINT under the VOC skus too. It is all ugly and none of it lasts more than a season before it peels or disappears. So much for eco friendly - "paint" the deck every year instead of staining it every 5. Wood stain is following the same suit.

I built the chimney on the ground. It will drop into mounting points already built into the roof framing. This allows me to continue work and easily cover the structure until I get the slate for the roof. It also allowed me to make it square with parallel sides on the ground instead of struggling to keep things square on the roof.


Nice and square/parallel.



I set two (front and back) cross supports that the chimney structure will rest on. These also double as rafter ties for the front two rafters.


There are several mounting points on the cross bar and the chimney will also be screwed to the rafters. It should be very rigid once everything is attached.

I am going to wait until slate day to install it. Cover the whole structure with a tarp is getting cumbersome.

[BeanAnimal]

Just remember the most important part of the system is the ground. I too started liking the in use covers since I leave my pool cleaner plugged in all the time it's nice to plug it in and close the lid. I have been using Taymac expandable covers. When you use them you pull them out and when not in use they lay very flat and less intrusive. I think you will like them for your project. What trade are you in?

I own an IT consulting firm, but am skilled electrical, plumbing, HVAC, finished and rough carpentry, mechanical, etc. I have spent the better part of my life building, designing , repairing and remodeling just about everything under the sun from houses and commercial spaces, to discrete electronics, furniture and cabinets, to the daily driver and 8 second drag cars. I like working with my hands and actually enjoy not only learning to do things, but learning to do them correctly. Satisfaction a a job well done and done correctly is priceless. They eye opener is when you realize the vast majority of contractors and tradesmen either don’t actually know how to do things correctly, or just don’t care to take the time. Actual Skilled journeyman are becoming a lost treasure.

All of that said, there plenty of skills that I am lacking... especially masonry, plaster, concrete finishing, machine tool work and many others. Would really like to build a forge and do some blacksmithing and casting

[Chach]

Thanks for the detailed response! Your advice is spot on and Information that needs to shared more often in DIY project threads. I would go a step further and tell folks to not to even consider DIY electrical unless they actually know exactly what the hell they are doing. I cringe at a lot of the stuff I see on forums, and in person. Killing yourself is one thing, putting other folks in danger is another.

When we purchased the house, (wow 15+ years ago), a 30x30 ranch with finished basement, I pulled the 6 circuit 60A service and 1958 cloth insulated BX cable out and rewired everything. As with the theme here... a bit more than needed. 200A - 32 space panel, 12 space sub for kitchen, 12 space sub for the shed/workshop, 12/2 everywhere, mostly hospital grade Hubble or Leviton. Just about everything has its own circuit... 3 of them for outside lighting and utility. In before the insane afci rules, but have added them where appropriate now that they work better.

The oven area already has a circuit that will be switched and branched into the stand (1.5” pvc) and converted to MC in a JB just inside of the wood storage area. It tend to use a GFCI per box outdoors, as I don’t like downstreams, stickers or a trip to the basement to reset the breaker when I do something silly like cut the cord with the trimmer or drop the grinder in the brick bath . Honestly, I am embarrassed to say how often I cut a cord with a saw or the hedge trimmer, or shovel, etc. I will tell you that I buy Hubble weatherproof male and female ends by the box and have a lot of short SOJW cords instead of a few long ones. Just don’t take a DIY cord or repaired cord on a job site, the OSHA guy will mumble and twitch as he writes a violation.
.
I used to hate bubble covers and liked the damp location metal springy covers. Lately I am a big fan of the new generation of bubbles, so will sprinkle a few near the oven.

Just remember the most important part of the system is the ground. I too started liking the in use covers since I leave my pool cleaner plugged in all the time it's nice to plug it in and close the lid. I have been using Taymac expandable covers. When you use them you pull them out and when not in use they lay very flat and less intrusive. I think you will like them for your project. What trade are you in?

[rwiegand]

UtahBeehiver thanks for the link.

rwiegand the slate looks great. Did you buy a slate cutter and slate hammer?

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No, I didn't have that many cuts to make. I just cut the slates on the wet saw and then chipped the edges with a rock hammer so they looked like the ripped edges. I broke a couple in the process, but the cost of that was way less than buying the tools. After the first few I didn't break them. I don't think anyone who was not a pro slater could pick out the ones I cut; I'm not sure I could pick them out now. I didn't put them all at one edge, but mixed them in. Using mixed widths of slate makes for a more informal look anyway; harder to see imperfections.

[BeanAnimal]

Thanks for the detailed response! Your advice is spot on and Information that needs to shared more often in DIY project threads. I would go a step further and tell folks to not to even consider DIY electrical unless they actually know exactly what the hell they are doing. I cringe at a lot of the stuff I see on forums, and in person. Killing yourself is one thing, putting other folks in danger is another.

When we purchased the house, (wow 15+ years ago), a 30x30 ranch with finished basement, I pulled the 6 circuit 60A service and 1958 cloth insulated BX cable out and rewired everything. As with the theme here... a bit more than needed. 200A - 32 space panel, 12 space sub for kitchen, 12 space sub for the shed/workshop, 12/2 everywhere, mostly hospital grade Hubble or Leviton. Just about everything has its own circuit... 3 of them for outside lighting and utility. In before the insane afci rules, but have added them where appropriate now that they work better.

The oven area already has a circuit that will be switched and branched into the stand (1.5” pvc) and converted to MC in a JB just inside of the wood storage area. It tend to use a GFCI per box outdoors, as I don’t like downstreams, stickers or a trip to the basement to reset the breaker when I do something silly like cut the cord with the trimmer or drop the grinder in the brick bath . Honestly, I am embarrassed to say how often I cut a cord with a saw or the hedge trimmer, or shovel, etc. I will tell you that I buy Hubble weatherproof male and female ends by the box and have a lot of short SOJW cords instead of a few long ones. Just don’t take a DIY cord or repaired cord on a job site, the OSHA guy will mumble and twitch as he writes a violation.
.
I used to hate bubble covers and liked the damp location metal springy covers. Lately I am a big fan of the new generation of bubbles, so will sprinkle a few near the oven.

[Chach]

To be sure - I was not speaking of any oven builds. I have neighbors who have can lights in their soffits around the fronts of their home, crisp white (blue) spaced on 6’ centers. Really ugly in my opinion... looks like a house shaped UFO starting to take off and I can’t make out if they are running lights or some sort of propulsion technology with blue exhaust plumes.

I planned small dimmable gimbal led trims on the warm side of white, maybe square with bead board t&g soffits. But hope to rely on a spot or two in the timber frame in hopes of moving the point source further from the oven. I hate bugs.

No I think you were talking about my build LOL Everyone has their own likes and dislikes....Seriously you asked a question and gave you my experience with it so far and why I chose them...Either way you go it will function great and look good because light is better than no light at all. Just make sure whatever you go with you install the electric per code and I would make sure you put the lights on a ground fault circuit (GFCI) along with any receptacles if you add any. Easiest way to do that is get a GFCI circuit breaker and then you can use regukar devices outside and still be protected but without the bulky GFCI receptacles. If you choose to go with the GFCI receptackes make sure you purchase WR rated GFCI which stand for Weather Resistant asthere are two kinds now manufactured. Non WR for inside and now most codes require WR for outdoor applications. I was actually thinking of painting the trims the same color as the soffit to minimize the white ring look but I didn't want to start getting silly and crazy and having paint fade and or flake off so just left them for now.


Ricky

[BeanAnimal]

UtahBeehiver thanks for the link.

rwiegand the slate looks great. Did you buy a slate cutter and slate hammer?

As much as a love tools, the older I get, the less enthused I am about buying specialty tools. I hate buying junk, so usually opt for quality, even for rare use items. I put a mini split in my 12x14 insulated shed yesterday, after waiting 2 weeks for 3 different friends to get to it. Free HVAC help falls behind paying customers in the summer heat! Anyway, I now own various Yellow jacket HVAC adapters, a 2 stage vacuum pump, a digital micron gauge and a new set of gauges (yeah the valves on the harbor freight gauges leaked under vacuum). So $500 worth of specialty tools that I may use 3 times in the next 5-10 years. I still saved money (let alone waiting on the backlog) but am not thrilled about more rare use tool storage.

[BeanAnimal]

The slate is not so bad, the copper flashing will kill you. The copper nails for the slate are expensive enough that you'll find yourself crawling around in the bushes looking for the one you dropped.

Looks really nice though.

I priced a standing seam copper roof... not going to happen, even DIY. I just can’t justify the cost, regardless of how much I like the look.

[BeanAnimal]

I find them very useful...as far as bug attractors any light will attract the unwanted flying bugs. I have yet to encounter any crazy amount of bugs due to the lights. I also used these lights because I didnt want something that the kids could break easiky by playing in the yard. I used the extra thin recessed led lights no can housing needed. especially with space limitations.

Ricky

To be sure - I was not speaking of any oven builds. I have neighbors who have can lights in their soffits around the fronts of their home, crisp white (blue) spaced on 6’ centers. Really ugly in my opinion... looks like a house shaped UFO starting to take off and I can’t make out if they are running lights or some sort of propulsion technology with blue exhaust plumes.

I planned small dimmable gimbal led trims on the warm side of white, maybe square with bead board t&g soffits. But hope to rely on a spot or two in the timber frame in hopes of moving the point source further from the oven. I hate bugs.

[UtahBeehiver]

Yep, when I took all the scrap copper, from my oven covering, to the metal salvage I got 50$ just the the scrap pieces.

[rwiegand]

Copper drip edge for the slate roof anyone?

The slate is not so bad, the copper flashing will kill you. The copper nails for the slate are expensive enough that you'll find yourself crawling around in the bushes looking for the one you dropped.

Looks really nice though.

[Chach]

Other updates:

I had planned on a few soffit lights in the front - but looking at photos of can lights in soffits (no offense to those who have them), bleh! Wow are they ugly in use.

So to those of you that have them - do you find them useful or just bug attractors?

I find them very useful...as far as bug attractors any light will attract the unwanted flying bugs. I have yet to encounter any crazy amount of bugs due to the lights. I also used these lights because I didnt want something that the kids could break easiky by playing in the yard. I used the extra thin recessed led lights no can housing needed. especially with space limitations.

Ricky