#231 An Unexpected Problem in the Roof

The steel supports for the solar panels need to be a bit warmer to be painted Morning!

Another job finished. I could put them up straighter for mid-winter. They can go up a bit more and then the snow will just fall off without brooming. But I'll keep them a bit lower now because it's uh... in October, November there's quite a few storms usually And it's also now ideal to this sun angle. So December, January I'll put them steep up. It's quite a serious rodents problem.

It's the first time I put cameras inside to see what it is exactly, and how much. I think at some point I counted around 15 or so I thought they were Dormice because they're everywhere in the roofs here, and I see them quite regularly and they prepare for winter, hibernation. They're in all of the roofs also in the the outdoor kitchen But then I saw them in the night and they don't have the bushy tails so I think they're black rats, or some other mice. They're quite big 10-15 centimeters, the grown-ups. So they're not mice, I think, they're they must be rats And they live in the roof where they're protected. And the thing is they don't prepare for hibernation. If they are rats, they will continue to grow and they spread pretty quickly.

as it turns out. Because dormice there are usually like 2,3 or 4 in the roof. And the roofs that are renovated they have the metal mesh so they are protected also I noticed eggs were being eaten. I thought they were the chickens but probably those are the rats as well, so I need to do something about it Which is a bit complicated because traps are also harmful for the chickens. I'm gonna unscrew the board here and see see if it can see something. yup Okay, they're all kind of in one place on this side.

It looks like, I have to do something about it. Guess I'm gonna get some traps of some sort Before they spread more and there's a lot of droppings everywhere. It could be a problem even for the eggs. I'm not sure if the chickens ingest it Thanks. Yeah. Did all the work? Not uh really, but... oh that's a scratch... I forgot this one. Oh that was part of the... That was part of the thing, but Yeah I got good news in so far as Kit, from what it looks like has time for me to pick up the things for next week. Next week so he'll bring it on Wednesday or Thursday The rain's coming tomorrow, I think Yeah, and and actually even now Monday afternoon looks better already again.

But Tuesday will be rain. Wednesday it should it should ease up. Yeah, that's probably... And then if Thursday is a good day. And he has time because he just came back from Val d'Osta with the cows. And they have the fiera in Villa or in Bobbio. Okay. On the weekend now But he said ... Oh not in Luserna? There is something happening... I think it's in November, I think. Yeah, yeah, no, that would be the later one, but he said please. Gorgeous autumn weather.

Um all right, how much... Nine rafters are on. Didn't do as much because I only worked two and a half days this week. A lot of other things going on Um so yeah next is uh next week I guess yeah I'm always kind of worrying before winter will be like if I get the roof on I thought I'd be be ready around November or so but it's gonna be much later now because um well I was working on the doors that took time I've been doing more stone work now before actually doing rafter work so in the past weeks, That added some more time as well and it's just a bigger roof. So there's more material, just more work to be done. And the thing is like every year I kind of worry about if I get things ready before winter but it all depends on the weather and last year I was doing the roof.

in winter so it it really doesn't matter. With this roof I'm gonna need more help with the stones because they're less easy to carry than the ones on that are on the workshop over there So yeah, we'll see how things go. When the snow comes, it it doesn't matter so much. I'll be continuing in winter anyway. But yeah, solar panels are done, so that's nice. And um I wanted to explain about the roof because here it has an overhang and on the other side I remember there were some questions last week. And here there's no overhang. People were thinking I cut off the beams too short. But these are supposed to be buried into the wall as well as the last raster which will sit... just right here and then stone will be built up until here so here that's boards, instulation, battens... patterns will stick out The battens will stick out just a bit, 15 cm or so, and then stones will overlap a bit so the wall will stay dry, you know, so it will be exactly the same as the first roof So an overhang there which is the same as the workshop and here it's all stonework and then battens stick out, just so