Ola everyone!

My long awaited triangle roof casts are finally ready and I started to plan the whole construction of the roof. Because the building is a tower I want to add a pyramidal hip roof, which looks like this:



I found some construction plans on various sites, so I'm pretty familiar with how to make it in scale, but I'm curious about something else. What to use for the inside of the roof? I ask because the casts are made from plaster and it will be visible from behind the rafters (inside view). I was thinking of adding some straw to make the roof more waterproof and to hide the plaster, do you think it will work? Here's a photo I found on the web:



They seem to be using short straw to cover the inner roof (and using planks on the inside to keep the straw in place), but I was planing to use something longer, a bit similar to the material used on thatched roofs. It could then be held close to the roof by some horizontal planks on the inner side of the roof. It's hard to describe it with words so here's a photo:



It is the view of the inner of the roof, showing the jack rafters which are vertical planks and beetween them you can see straw which is being held inplace by some horizontal planks (pinki rectangles). Those planks are the stuff I was talking about. Is such construction realistic or used? It seams to look good and should also work well, what do you think? If something is wrong what would you suggest to cover the plaster from the inside? Thanks a lot for any help:)

I'm off to bed now

Cheers,
dsc.

here are my thoughts on the roof.

The roof jack rafters are going to need to run perpendicular to the to edge of the side wall. This will create an angled joint where it connects with the main "X" roof supports. I hope tht makes sense. Looking down from above the 4 main corner joists jack rafters will look like an X .

I took a close look at the live photo (right side near the 45 degree angled yellowish board) and it looks like there is some type of thin lathe material on the underside (inside) of the roof jack rafters that holds the straw. The straw is acting as a warming insulation tucked in the hollow roof/ceiling.
Having demo'ed a house there is usually some type of interior thin stripping that runs perpendiculat to the roof joists (roof jack rafters). These thin strips cover the interior so you won't see straw. Now, that a Post WWII building, so take it loosely. An older building may have such open construction.

Gday Tommyboy
Well not being a builder, this is how I interpret the info presented...
The 'pink horizontal straw holding planks' aren't that, but are actually horizontal beams that probably are 'checked' or cut out to fit the vertical beams across the top, instead of short separate horizontal pieces between each vertical beam. (I could be wrong) They look to be supporting the straw, but I think it is just incidental... The straw would be a crude insulation, and I think to solve your problem you could show the straw from the underside, maybe help up tight with wire lengths? The trouble with comparing it to more modern techniques is that there is no ceiling below the roof pitch, which any insulation would be placed upon. And even in your ref. pic above it looks to be a barn or similar and therefore does not require the use of a ceiling as it would impede storage maybe...
Gawd, hope this helps!
Cheers mate
Brad

Hi Tom. I would consider the practicality of all this detail and what will actually be visible. It could be difficult to build up this detail and still get the fit .... the outside fit being more important IMO.
I would agree with Scott, and go with the lathes holding in the straw, so therefore the straw would not be visible. These lathes could be scribed into the backside of the castings, and some thin plastic or balsa joists added afterwards. Painted up, this could look pretty neat, and should be enough detail if the dental mirror is used

Greetings Tom
I am no expert on roofing, but the impression get is that there was nothing under the roof only rafters etc.

A quick search of Google on "thatched roof" should give you some more details.

Cheers
David

Ola

Thanks for the response everyone:)

Well I've decided to use wooden planks to cover the inside of the roof (thin strips of balsa), so the straw reconstruction problem goes away:) although it would have been interesting to actually create thin straw.

Anyway I've been working some more on the construction of the roof, but it goes horribly slowly because: a) it's damn hot here in Poland and b) I have to cover a lot of air bubble holes in the roof casts, which is boring and time consuming. Today I have finished a small "frame" for the lower part of the roof (something to support the roof at the bottom and to glue the casts on to), which looks like this:



I also made a completly useless frame for the roof, which turned out to be a bit too big and had some angles wrong, so it stayed as a mock up roof:



And I also made some thin strips to cover the lower ends of the casts, so that the tiles have something to lay on:



It's not much, but if you have any criticism, just shoot, this is a great moment to make any adjustments or changes:)

Cheers,
dsc.

No criticism here! I really like what you are doing, it looks great.

And don't complain to me about the heat...have you ever been to Nashville in July!!!???? :-)

( I know I opened a can of worms with that comment.)

Ola

I'm back with an update, but first some replies:

Bill: Thanks for your words mate:) Nope I've never been to the US, but it's already too hot here, so I would rather go someplace cold, like Alaska or so:) but then again it would be too cold... damn it, it's so hard to make people happy:)

CamoKid: Thanks for the helpful info, good to know some more about roofs:) If you see something which is really really wrong please reply, I don't want to mess anything up on this tower:)

And now the new stuff. So I've managed to work on the roof casts and sanded everything I need to make them fit together. I took some plasticine to hold the panels in place and made a dry fit. At first there where a lot of huge gaps between the casts so I removed the wooden frame from underneath the panels and it worked well. Here's how it looked like:



and a "below the panel" shot:



Well it's not a huge update, but it's a rather big step, cause finally the roof is up:) the only thing left is the ridge tiles and the inner roof. Should be finished soon:)

Take care,
dsc.

I am moving into a new home where the first thing you see is the stairs that go upstairs when you walk in the front door. I absolutely HATE the way these stairs look and I believe its because I'm not too fond of the wood railing. Any ideas on how to change this without doing alot of remodeling or construction work? Something simple would be appreciated. I don't mind the carpet but really can't stand the wood. HELP!
roofing contractors