Concealed joist ties (Simpson CJTs) hide the whole connection inside the beam: cut a kerf for the knife plate with a beam saw, rout the flange recess so the hardware sits fully buried, then drill and drive the dowels through from both sides.
The plumb cut at the top of a rafter matches the roof pitch angle; the heel (seat) cut at the bottom is its complement — 90 minus the plumb angle. On a valley against an existing roof, the heel cut also picks up a bevel equal to that roof's pitch.
A wall jack walking up a 14-foot 2x4 can raise a 24-foot wall single-handed — set the jack mid-bay so it can't pivot on a stud, use clear straight lifting poles, add a safety block, and plumb the wall off a laser once it's 90 percent up.
A chalk line's hook holds the string about an inch off the edge it's hooked on, which is fine for a parallel line and wrong for an angled one. Drape the string back over the hook body and set the hook itself on your mark, so the line pivots exactly where you want it.
Trim set back into the siding leaves no gap for a cat's paw. Drill a shallow hole, run a concrete anchor in, and it jacks the trim proud enough to get a bar behind — then caulk the hole.
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