DAY 7

Summer has arrived at last!!  Got up early to make the most of the day.  All week the sealing of the edges of the plywood had been playing on my mind - so first thing I went to Wickes (no joy) and then Homebase where I picked up a tin of International 3 in 1 - Primer, Sealer and Undercoat.  Painted all the edges of the sheeting.  Next, out with the blue paint again and gave one side its first coat - then the other side its second.  I figure one coat should be enough for the interior.

With all the sheeting painted - I screwed the 2*2 wood I'd cut to size last weekend into place.  This meant I could fit the structure together for the first time and validate my measurements and cutting etc.  Started off very well - and I was feeling rather smug.

But then I put one of the roof sections in place...  it didn't fit.  After some colourful language on my part I realised that I'd measured the side walls to be plush with the upright part of the apex sheet.  I had also decided to leave an overhang on the roof.  The result of those decisions meant I should have angled to top of the wall.  I toyed with several other options such as raising the apex sections to compensate.  In the end I decided I had to cut an angle on the top of the walls.  Luckily my Bosch jigsaw has a mitre setting where you can angle to cut so I cut a 45 degree slice off the top of each wall.  This of course meant I had to paint the exposed ends again.

Now I could start assembling it on top of the platform.  The first few sections were easy enough.  But I was struggling getting the screws into the plywood.  Eventually I had to pre-drill the holes - after wrecking the heads on about 10 screws and wrecking a screwdriver bit.  

Getting the final roof section in place was a fine balancing act.  Jo had taken the kids to a birthday party (yes, another birthday party!) so I had to do it on my own.  Managed to do it by using a long piece of 2*2 to rest one end on whilst I screwed to other in place.  Then it was done!  House in place.  Bobby and Daisy were over the moon when they got back from the party and saw it.

That was enough for one day - almost 9 hours work...  I am sun burnt, sore and shattered!  Nothing but admiration for anyone who does manual work like this for a living, 5 days a week.  Tomorrow, I'll get the railings up and maybe felt the roof.