Cap can now live outside.

I spent most of the weekend working on the cap and mulling/researching for the home front. After doing my shopping on Friday, which included running to Home Depot to get the roofing materials, I also shoveled off the slab.  Since the tractor is buried underneath the cap, I had to shovel it by hand.  

Saturday morning I did a little more clearing.  The snow was still quite pretty on Saturday as the sun rose over the hill.  

While I waited for everything to thaw (it was nice but a bit chilly this weekend), I went and finished putting the brackets in.  I have all the L braces installed now, minus one set for the windows which is probably not necessary, but I have completely cleaned Home Depot out of L braces at this point.

Once the ice had melted, I dragged the cap back out and dry fitted the roofing to make sure there were no egregious errors in my materials selection.  I found out that I apparently had forgotten that I brought all my spare parts to KY, since I thought I had a spare half pack of the plastic supports which I couldn't find.  

I tried cutting the flashing (which isn't actually flashing, but I am using it that ways anyways) with the miter saw.  It did it without breaking/shattering, but it wasn't clean.  I think the blade on my miter saw is too coarse, since I cut the rest of it with my circular saw without issue.  

I discovered one flaw in my plan.  I had bought enough linear feet of side flashing to come down over the sides with complete coverage, but it involved cutting one of the pieces in half (the cap is 10' long and they come in 4' sections).  The problem with that is that the last piece, the one cut in half, ends up only being attached in one spot, which means it will vibrate and tear off when driving down the road.  I ordered two more pieces and will fix that when they come in.  

But other than those pieces, I spent most of Sunday everything on the roof is attached.  I unfortunately am about 5 roofing screws short, but I couldn't find any of my spares.  I am guessing I brought them down with the support strips and all that stuff.  I will pick up another box when the flashing pieces come in.

I also started to cut the polycarb for the windows, but quickly realized that I haven't actually finished that part of the design.  I got the front window cut out, but I need to figure out how I am going to flash it before I install it; do I just install it on top of a gasket, should I put aluminum flashing down first, and so on.  I didn't use PT lumber to build it, so I will want to protect the lumber as much as possible.  I also have more spare roofing material if anyone needs it.  I don't think Dad ever put up the last batch I brought down, but there is more here if you want it.  

The roofing is on, so the cap can live outside now, which is good.  I need to order the hinges and stuff, I am rapidly running out of materials, but most of the rest of the parts will need to be ordered online, they aren't parts that Home Depot carries.  

The update for the house is that I am leaning towards a mobile home.  Looking through the mobile home options packet I made, I think I have narrowed it down to three homes: the Northwood A24407

Advantage A34025 (if it is available)

Northwood B24401.  This one is the leader.  I think they had one of these set up last time I visited.  I am a little unsure about the hook but at least on paper it looks like one of the better layouts.  

 

I could only find three other places that would put up a prefabricated shell in NH.  I don't understand why NH is often excluded by these places; I found more than one that delivered to every state around NH but not NH.  One of those three said they wouldn't put up a structure on a slab with utilities in it.  I inquired as to why and if they would flex on that given my plans but haven't gotten an answer.  The other two were just as expensive as La Valley.  Dad also recommended I look into log home kits.  In general they are quite a bit more expensive on the materials end, but I would be assembling the kit myself.  I watched a couple of videos of them being assembled though, and I am not sure that it is something that I could do in a couple of weekends, at least not without renting a lot of equipment.  They assembled one down the road from me, and it took a full crew most of the summer, though that one is bigger than what I would buy.  I might go talk to them if I can find them there.  Given that single floor ones are still the same cost as a mobile home though, I am not leaning that way though.  Most of them aren't just shells as well, so I would have to be careful.