Scribers

Today we got started on doing the scribers for the first time.  Talk about a mission, kind of like doing the soffit moulds for the gable ends I guess (or atleast the cuts are a little the same).

The timber used for the scriber is 40x10mm and has a rounded finished edge for decoration.  It is temporarily attached hard up against the weatherboards & the flashing of the window opening using panel pins, so that it overhangs the flashing of the opening by about 20-30mm and below the window frame by about 100mm.  

From this point, a set square is used to measure from the face of the window frame to the scriber along the length, and is then adjusted so that it sits at the widest measurement taken (to make it parallel to the window frame).

Once this has been done, marks each point where the overlapped weatherboards sit along this scriber is marked out, along with the pitch of the weatherboard as well.  A quick way to do this, is to use a block that is the same thickness as the weatherboard & hold it hard up against the weatherboard & then transfer this to the scriber by marking it out (as pictured to the left).  This is done along the whole length of the scriber, so that it will later sit flush against the wall.

The next step is to cut these marked out sections.  When doing this it is important to undercut and leave the line on the piece of timber so we have something to work towards so it sits straight.  The back section (that is unseen) on the cut is angled lower than the front so that it will sit flush against the weatherboard.  

It is important to execute the cut correctly, as the front surface will be a finished surface and needs to be neat and tidy.

Once all of the sections have been checked out, a chisel &/or planer is used to smooth the face of the cut and make sure that it is angled ok & shave off any excess that needs to be taken away.  Once done, it can then be held against the wall to see if it sits flush, (and if it doesn't, these points are indicated so that the surface can be planed down more until it does).

Because of the thickness of the timber, it should be able to fit comfortably under the flashing without needing a bit of the finished edge to be checked out, however the angle that the flashing sits out needs to be cut.  An easy way to mark this, is to have the timber sit hard against the flashing in the position it will be fixed, & then hit it hard with the hammer.  This will indent the flashing mark onto the timber so that it can be cut off to this mark.

Once satisfied that it sits nicely on the wall, it can be fixed into position.  This is done by using 75mm rosehead angular grooved galvanised nails which are fixed on every second weatherboard that it runs along (in the same line as the weatherboard fixings are (45mm from bottom of weatherboard).