Roof Progress (the continuing story)

This saga has been going on for quite some time but the reality is that I have actually only worked on the place for 14 days. Six of those days involved tear down of the front porch and fire escape and one day was spent forming copper gutters. After rebuilding the structural elements and filling the gaping big hole in the roof, it left about 4 days of actual work on the roof. Here is the progress.

Tar paper on one side of the chimney.



Tar paper on both sides of the chimney.



Faux slate on one side of the chimney.



Faux slate on both sides of the chimney.



A close up peak at the composite shingles.



This stuff is made by Tamko and is called Lamerite. It is a composite material that is warranted for 50 years and comes in assorted shapes and sizes. It is easy to cut and can be applied using a nail gun which makes attaching them so much easier than original slate.

They look good too and from the ground, they look like slate!

The bad news is that I suspect that I will run out of daylight and time before I run out of roof to replace. The good news is that I can apply this and the gutters in sections. The flashing around the windows and chimneys is a bear to do and there are two chimneys and 5 windows total. Currently I am one chimney and one window down. I forsee plenty of roof work in my future!

About Copper Gutters.

I have never done copper gutters before. I had no idea what I was getting into when I decided to line the box gutters with copper. I didn't choose copper because I wanted fancy gutters that no one would see. I chose copper simply because I would be able to solder it 30+ feet off the ground while kneeling on an 18 inch gutter ledge using this soldering iron.



Here is a section of the copper gutter. I had to make these (with the help of a friend) from 10' X 3' sheets of 16 ounce copper that cost $160 a sheet. I have 17 sheets. I hope it is enough.



Well I have some spare copper, so I am using it for various channel drains and flashing. This is a channel that I had to construct that lies in a very narrow gap between the chimney and the window. This channel has been one of my major sources of leaks for the last nine years! This copper should more than do the trick. That yellow stuff is "Great Stuff" expanding foam. I am using it as a filler to reduce the amount of tarring that I have to do.



And here is some chimney flashing that I had to make from scratch. This was another major source of leaks. The original metal flashing had rusted out after 120 years.



While I haven't mastered the art of soldering, I am getting better. The flat parts are quick and easy. The slopes are a pain because gravity causes the solder to run and pool in the trough.



The copper is 10X better than the original sheet metal which was quite thin and a whole lot better than the tar covered gutters that still encompass three quarters of the roof!

Song of the Week!

Roof Progress

Progress on the roof is slow. I still have to home educate my daughter and I have had to attend many meetings this month. Both can mess up a construction work schedule. Still, I do what I can. Last Saturday I had around 14 people show up to help move this



to this



We managed to get the bulk of the pile in the front yard cleaned up as well. We also hauled 120 bundles of faux slate to the third floor. We all celebrated afterward with pizza and beer.

The roof went from this



To this



Then it rained for a day and a half! Now I have to finish recreating a frame for the gutter so that I can walk on it and remove the rest of that slate. I can then get tar paper down and then, hopefully, I can put the water buckets away.

What a Difference a Day Makes .....

Day three photo of the fire escape tear down.




Every time a section gets cut out I have to stand back and calculate the order in which i have to cut wood beams so that the entire thing doesn't collapse on me. I got the roof off with some help from a neighbor. Day two and three were solo. Today I got help from the neighbor again and here are some photos of us before the final showdown. These were taken just before the final two cuts were made in case they were to be the last photographs of us alive! This really was a scary project. Doing the roof and gutters does not scare me. Tearing this thing down did and I don't scare easily.



The entire structure had moved about an inch away from the brick wall over night. I wouldn't walk out on that top platform today whereas yesterday I was standing on it cutting wood. My neighbor in position as far away as possible holding a rope to pull down the remaining structure.



Here I am making the final cut.



Here are some more after pictures.





When done with this we threw a bunch of crap out that door onto the pile below. Now I have room for the 119 bundles of shingle that I have to get up three flights of stairs. I am hoping to get the layers of tar out of the gutter and the wooden part of the box gutter re built this week. I have already removed a ten foot section of tar and rubber membrane from the gutter. Some of it was so thick I had to use the sawz-all to cut it out in sections. Each small section weighed about 30 lbs.

What is amusing is that it rained today after we got this thing on the ground and my roof leaks less with this thing down!

How's That Roof Coming along, Mayor?

Slowly! In fact I haven't got started on the roof because I have been busy tearing down the fire escape so that I can rebuild the roof and a 10 foot section of gutter. The fire escape was put on this place way back in 1962 when the third floor was turned into an apartment and the building was zoned commercial. It was made of wood and had corrugated fiberglass nailed to the sides for protection against the elements.

I thought it would take me two days to tear this thing down but it is in worse shape than I thought so I can't work off any of the platforms inside the structure for fear of the floors collapsing. The steps have all started to collapse as well. I have to work off of a ladder for the most part.

The top of this is about 40 feet off the ground and cutting wood with a saw-zall while standing on a ladder this high up is a little scary. Especially if you cut the wrong piece of wood.




Day 1 got the roof off. This took a few hours to do.



Day 2 Got it this far.



Yesterday was day 3 but I don't have pictures yet. I expect it will be down by this evening.

I have only been able to spend a few hours a day working on this due to meetings and numerous phone calls. This is more than the trivial roofing project that the local paper wanted to portray it as. I think they are realizing that because they sent a photographer out to to take pictures of me working.

Die Fledermaus

I always thought it was mice leaving poop in the middle of my floor in the "attic." Every so often I would catch one in a mouse trap. These things come back every year and I witnessed one climbing up the fire escape once so I knew how they were getting in. Well, it isn't mice. We have a resident bat. Here is proof.




This one bat left this much poop in a week!



I haven't been bit by a mosquito in a while ......