The three support beams meant to hold
the roof up (and the side walls together)
also need to be removable. The beams
are supported by brackets molded onto the steel columns
fastened to the wall
between the windows. Cement thin styrene strips
to the sides of the columns on each side of
the brackets (see illustration, right)
to keep the uncemented support beams
from falling over. If the side walls bow outward, like mine did,
drill small holes in the tops of the
center roof beam and the columns and insert
staple-shaped wires to pull the walls into line.
The corners of the building rise up above the roof level. To
make the roof removable, the inside corner brickwork pieces need to be
cemented to the roof, not the sides. The
corner wall caps can, in turn, be cemented to the tops of the
inside corner brickwork pieces. As much as possible, you want to
do this with the roof in place, because if the inside
pieces aren't snug against the outside,
there will be unsightly gaps and the corner wall caps won't cover
properly.
I found the easiest way to handle the roof when
removing and replacing it is to put one
hand on each end of the 2nd and 3rd skylights, and
work it straight up.