Happy Thanksgiving to all our readers. We certainly have many things to be thankful for here at 83 Durant. For one thing, our roof doesn't leak! The roofer came on Monday, right in time for Lucy's nap. The leak, as you'll recall, went into her room, and the missing slates (the source of the leak) were above her room. Thus, there was NO! NAP! FOR LUCY! She made that quite clear to Grandma, who was babysitting. Yikes.
But all is well. Twelve slates were replaced, and now we're once again watertight (or so we hope).
Jake is cooking up a storm and Lucy and Grandma are having a grand time playing in the tent. Enjoy your feasts!
Showing posts with label roof. Show all posts
Showing posts with label roof. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Roof Update
Our roof guy called and let us know that there are a few missing and/or broken slates up towards the roof ridge that are probably causing our leakage. So we'll be setting up our roof appointment very soon. But probably not soon enough to avoid Friday's 80% chance of rain. Argh. What to do about that? Towels in the attic? An elaborate system of plastic sheeting? A whole-house umbrella? Suggestions welcome.
Also, in other news, Lucy had her Birthday yesterday and will have her daycare party tomorrow. So far she has really enjoyed being the Birthday Girl.
Also, in other news, Lucy had her Birthday yesterday and will have her daycare party tomorrow. So far she has really enjoyed being the Birthday Girl.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Roof Results: Inconclusive
Jake went up the attic hatch, but sadly, has not been able to determine the source of the leakage into Lucy's room. We have a call into our roof guy, and we await further information. Or rain. So far, clear skies ahead until Friday. Updates as events warrant.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Roof Woes
There is a leak in the roof. We must investigate tomorrow. While we were away this weekend, it leaked into Lucy's room. This makes me very sad, because Lucy's room was the one we fixed up (insulated ourselves) and had drywalled just two years ago (yes, she's almost 2!).
Argh.
Further updates as we figure out what's up.
Argh.
Further updates as we figure out what's up.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
The Flowering of 83 Durant
There was once an ugly brown vine thing hanging over our fence. We thought about ripping it out, as it just looked like dead vine. But a neighbor said that it had lovely white flowers on it, so we left it to see what it would do. And there it is, with really spectacular white flowers blooming on it! They're covering the (otherwise rather ugly) fence, which is great. My aunt said that it's a clematis, and a well-established one.
After the forsythia bloomed all yellow and lovely, the color moved on to this next bush. We don't know what it is, but we like it:
We also noticed three green bushes with tiny white flowers on them. We wondered what they were, until a few days ago we noticed some interesting details. Check out the photo:
We think they're blueberries!! That would be awesome. (Feel free to comment if you think they're something else -- go ahead, crush our dreams of blueberries in our yard.)
Today I did a little bit of front yard clean-up and pruning while I waited for our roofer to stop by with an estimate for fixing our messed up gutter. He was across the street, giving an estimate to the agent of the people who want to buy the brown house directly across from us (where Dmitri and Junior and the duck live, sadly). He came over, as did the lady, and the lady said: "Our home inspector was here on Friday and pointed out some problems with the roof. Then he pointed to this roof (pointing to our house) and said THAT'S what a roof should look like." It was most gratifying to hear this.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Roof 2.0: the Saga Continues
Today the guys worked on the front door overhang roof. Once they got started, they realized it was a bigger job than they thought. The old (and non-functioning) wooden gutters AND the fascia boards were completely rotted through, so they had to rip them off completely.
What you see here is what the door overhang looked like AFTER we had it painted last October. While it looks pretty nice here, in truth, they painted and used a TON of caulk over some very rotted work. This is lame, and makes us even more annoyed with the painters we hired. At the very top, the nicely cut part that looks like moulding is actually a wooden gutter; you can even see a tiny tube on each side (back near the wall of the house) that was supposed to drain the water.
Sadly, all the nice trim (gutter) had to come off entirely. The guys said they had no idea how they could have made these wooden gutters back then -- all with handtools no less. Here's one of the wooden gutters after they pulled it off the house:
Wooden gutters look really great (when they're not rotten), but without proper care, they rot out completely.
After removing the gutters, they replaced the rotten fascia, put up a roof cover, and then added copper trim. Here it is now:
It looks pretty nice, and the copper trim matches what's around the flat roof and the ridge top on the slate roof. It still needs some paint a few touch-ups to make it look just right. We're sad that it doesn't have the nice trim, but the copper does look pretty good. There's also a rain diverter on top so that the water goes over the sides, not right in front of the door.
Here's the work-in-progress on the side of the house. There was once a wooden gutter here, and you can see that they've put on a new 8'X2' nailer board.
At the point where the flat roof meets the rest of the house, you can see this nifty little hole: exactly the sort of hole that would allow certain flying varmints easy access to the main part of the house while they came in from the protective cover of the rotten wooden gutter:
And here's the repair, as well as a nice shot of the copper!
Here's the work in progress on the front part of the flat roof, where it appears over the kitchen door. This is actually the one place where the wooden gutter was salvagable.
And here you can see it with the copper on, as well as a small fix to the wooden gutter -- the addition of a downspout. It turns out that the house and/or gutter has settled, and this end of the gutter is actually lower than the downspout a the other end, so water was just sitting here (hence, the rotting).
We also found out that on the back of the house, there were once two windows of the same size, whereas now we have one window (into the bathroom) that is smaller. I had wondered if there was a window there at all, so now we know.
Here's the look of the new shingles. They're not quite finished, but very close. They have been pre-primed, and we're going to paint them ourselves since this area is accessible. You can also see the copper trim around the window.
And check out the chimney flashing upgrade! It looks awesome!
And here's the damaged wooden gutter before:
And after the addition of a downspout so it will actually drain:
The guys will be back tomorrow for a few small tasks and cleanup; we're nearly done!
What you see here is what the door overhang looked like AFTER we had it painted last October. While it looks pretty nice here, in truth, they painted and used a TON of caulk over some very rotted work. This is lame, and makes us even more annoyed with the painters we hired. At the very top, the nicely cut part that looks like moulding is actually a wooden gutter; you can even see a tiny tube on each side (back near the wall of the house) that was supposed to drain the water.
Sadly, all the nice trim (gutter) had to come off entirely. The guys said they had no idea how they could have made these wooden gutters back then -- all with handtools no less. Here's one of the wooden gutters after they pulled it off the house:
Wooden gutters look really great (when they're not rotten), but without proper care, they rot out completely.
After removing the gutters, they replaced the rotten fascia, put up a roof cover, and then added copper trim. Here it is now:
It looks pretty nice, and the copper trim matches what's around the flat roof and the ridge top on the slate roof. It still needs some paint a few touch-ups to make it look just right. We're sad that it doesn't have the nice trim, but the copper does look pretty good. There's also a rain diverter on top so that the water goes over the sides, not right in front of the door.
Here's the work-in-progress on the side of the house. There was once a wooden gutter here, and you can see that they've put on a new 8'X2' nailer board.
At the point where the flat roof meets the rest of the house, you can see this nifty little hole: exactly the sort of hole that would allow certain flying varmints easy access to the main part of the house while they came in from the protective cover of the rotten wooden gutter:
And here's the repair, as well as a nice shot of the copper!
Here's the work in progress on the front part of the flat roof, where it appears over the kitchen door. This is actually the one place where the wooden gutter was salvagable.
And here you can see it with the copper on, as well as a small fix to the wooden gutter -- the addition of a downspout. It turns out that the house and/or gutter has settled, and this end of the gutter is actually lower than the downspout a the other end, so water was just sitting here (hence, the rotting).
We also found out that on the back of the house, there were once two windows of the same size, whereas now we have one window (into the bathroom) that is smaller. I had wondered if there was a window there at all, so now we know.
Here's the look of the new shingles. They're not quite finished, but very close. They have been pre-primed, and we're going to paint them ourselves since this area is accessible. You can also see the copper trim around the window.
And check out the chimney flashing upgrade! It looks awesome!
And here's the damaged wooden gutter before:
And after the addition of a downspout so it will actually drain:
The guys will be back tomorrow for a few small tasks and cleanup; we're nearly done!
Monday, March 19, 2007
Flat Roof Update
Today I had a helpful guy from Scott Roofing Services come check out our flat roof on the back and our little roof over the front door. The problems:
--> The tiny roof over the front door has wooden gutters with no place for the water to go, so the water/ice is bursting through the wooden moulding, causing some damage. We're not sure how to fix this, although someone has suggested we put a rubber roof over the whole thing, gutters and all
--> The flat roof on the back shows some leakage around the edges -- basically, the fascia boards underneath it (around the back porch) are rotting in sereral places. These rotted spots provide prime entry points for, oh, say, a flying squirrel or two. Or four.
--> There's a spot in the dining room (below the flat roof) where there was clearly once a leak. While it is no longer active, we don't know how much or what kind of repair job was done on it.
--> As per our infrared pictures, the point where the flat roof joins the rest of the house has an air leak -- it needs to be insulated and sealed to prevent things like frozen pipes in the upstairs bathroom.
Of course, there's too much snow around to get a good look at everything, but he did have some good news: the main problem with the flat roof on the back is probably only with the metal flashing around the edge. This should be much less expensive than a whole new roof. He'll have to come back after the snow melts, but for now, we're pleased to be on top of this project.
In other news, 83 Durant has set a new record: we had 40 people in the house on St. Patrick's Day. It was great. The avalanche of food was matched only by the avalanche of snow that fell from our slate roof -- amazing!
--> The tiny roof over the front door has wooden gutters with no place for the water to go, so the water/ice is bursting through the wooden moulding, causing some damage. We're not sure how to fix this, although someone has suggested we put a rubber roof over the whole thing, gutters and all
--> The flat roof on the back shows some leakage around the edges -- basically, the fascia boards underneath it (around the back porch) are rotting in sereral places. These rotted spots provide prime entry points for, oh, say, a flying squirrel or two. Or four.
--> There's a spot in the dining room (below the flat roof) where there was clearly once a leak. While it is no longer active, we don't know how much or what kind of repair job was done on it.
--> As per our infrared pictures, the point where the flat roof joins the rest of the house has an air leak -- it needs to be insulated and sealed to prevent things like frozen pipes in the upstairs bathroom.
Of course, there's too much snow around to get a good look at everything, but he did have some good news: the main problem with the flat roof on the back is probably only with the metal flashing around the edge. This should be much less expensive than a whole new roof. He'll have to come back after the snow melts, but for now, we're pleased to be on top of this project.
In other news, 83 Durant has set a new record: we had 40 people in the house on St. Patrick's Day. It was great. The avalanche of food was matched only by the avalanche of snow that fell from our slate roof -- amazing!
Monday, March 5, 2007
Slate Roof
The very nice guys from Twelfth Century Slate Roofing arrived today to make some repairs for us. It's a bit noisy here at 83 Durant. They are working on the chimney first, fixing up the counter-flashing (that goes around the flashing that the mason already installed). They're also replacing some missing and broken slates, as well as putting on a lovely new copper ridge. It's an exciting day!
Here are some after shots:
We learned that our downspout & gutter guy messed up. The gutters are too high for a slate roof, and the downspouts were put on backwards (which is why the water runs down the OUTSIDE of the gutters). This is annoying. But they said the chimney looked good. They also gave some advice on the flat roof on the back and the small overhang over the front door. We're going to get some estimates for rubber roofing for those areas, but it's not a huge rush.
That's all for now!
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Further Projects Imminent
Today we sent off the contract for some work on our roof. We're using The Twelfth Century Slate Roofing Company. They will be doing the following work:
-->Base flash (with copper) the main chimney (the one we just had rebuilt)
-->Replace twenty missing and broken slates (VT/NY purple)
-->Remove the aluminum ridge cap (it's corroding and pulling off) and replace with a copper ridge cap
If all is well with the weather, he will start on Monday! Amazing!
We're also hoping to have him put a hole in our roof. That sounds bad, but we need a hole so that the vent pipe that currently ends in the attic will actually go outside (where it should be). We're thinking that we might be able to attach the vent pipe ourselves; we just need him to peel off the slate and take care of the flashing around it on the outside of the roof. It seems like we just need to attach a length of pipe; we'll investigate further to see if this warrants a plumber.
But today, while looking around for info on the vent pipe issue, I found this piece of information from our friends at This Old House:
Another option, if codes in your area allow, is to cut off the secondary vents in the attic at least 6 inches above the ceiling insulation and cap each one with an air-admittance vent. This is a device with a diaphragm that allows air to enter the stack when water goes down the drain but doesn't allow sewer gases to escape into the house. Theoretically, you could eliminate roof penetrations entirely with these vents, but at the moment, the codes say that every plumbing system must have at least one stack that extends outdoors.
So we do have a sewer vent that vents outdoors (off the downstairs bathroom & out through the flat roof). Perhaps we don't need to cut that hole. Further investigation is warranted.
Here is some interesting information about these air admittance valves:
Air admittance valves (AAVs) are pressure-activated, one-way mechanical vents, used in a plumbing system to eliminate the need for conventional pipe venting and roof penetrations. A discharge of wastewater causes the AAV to open, releasing the vacuum and allowing air to enter plumbing vent pipe for proper drainage. Otherwise, the valve remains closed, preventing the escape of sewer gas and maintaining the trap seal. Using AAVs can significantly reduce the amount of venting materials needed in a plumbing system, increase plumbing labor efficiency, allow greater flexibility in the layout of plumbing fixtures, and reduce long-term maintenance problems associated with conventional vent stack roofing penetrations.
Wow! I think we just solved our problem. Thank you, Internet, for saving us a boatload of money and hassle!
Here's some more information on issues & solutions to plumbing vents:
This one has a nice diagram.
This discussion thread features the "controversy" over AAV's.
-->Base flash (with copper) the main chimney (the one we just had rebuilt)
-->Replace twenty missing and broken slates (VT/NY purple)
-->Remove the aluminum ridge cap (it's corroding and pulling off) and replace with a copper ridge cap
If all is well with the weather, he will start on Monday! Amazing!
We're also hoping to have him put a hole in our roof. That sounds bad, but we need a hole so that the vent pipe that currently ends in the attic will actually go outside (where it should be). We're thinking that we might be able to attach the vent pipe ourselves; we just need him to peel off the slate and take care of the flashing around it on the outside of the roof. It seems like we just need to attach a length of pipe; we'll investigate further to see if this warrants a plumber.
But today, while looking around for info on the vent pipe issue, I found this piece of information from our friends at This Old House:
Another option, if codes in your area allow, is to cut off the secondary vents in the attic at least 6 inches above the ceiling insulation and cap each one with an air-admittance vent. This is a device with a diaphragm that allows air to enter the stack when water goes down the drain but doesn't allow sewer gases to escape into the house. Theoretically, you could eliminate roof penetrations entirely with these vents, but at the moment, the codes say that every plumbing system must have at least one stack that extends outdoors.
So we do have a sewer vent that vents outdoors (off the downstairs bathroom & out through the flat roof). Perhaps we don't need to cut that hole. Further investigation is warranted.
Here is some interesting information about these air admittance valves:
Air admittance valves (AAVs) are pressure-activated, one-way mechanical vents, used in a plumbing system to eliminate the need for conventional pipe venting and roof penetrations. A discharge of wastewater causes the AAV to open, releasing the vacuum and allowing air to enter plumbing vent pipe for proper drainage. Otherwise, the valve remains closed, preventing the escape of sewer gas and maintaining the trap seal. Using AAVs can significantly reduce the amount of venting materials needed in a plumbing system, increase plumbing labor efficiency, allow greater flexibility in the layout of plumbing fixtures, and reduce long-term maintenance problems associated with conventional vent stack roofing penetrations.
Wow! I think we just solved our problem. Thank you, Internet, for saving us a boatload of money and hassle!
Here's some more information on issues & solutions to plumbing vents:
This one has a nice diagram.
This discussion thread features the "controversy" over AAV's.
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Some things broken; some things fixed
I don't think I mentioned this previously on the blog, but the dishwasher broke on Friday. Its tiny "clean" light blinked and blinked and blinked, but believe me, those dishes were not clean. A-1 Maintenance Master to the rescue. A very nice man came today and checked it out. Dis-assembled the whole thing, got down to where the motor lives, and discovered:
A NAIL.
I am not kidding. I can't figure out how a nail got down in there, but there it was, making the motor (and thus the washer) inoperable.
The machine is back together and humming away now.
In other news, we have a leak in the roof and/or chimney. We discovered this because Jake was up in the attic to deal with the critter situation. Without the critter situation, we wouldn't know about the leak. Thanks, critters! Your work here is done. Now please leave. I wonder if the critters read the blog. That would explain why they don't fall for the traps. They know we're after them.
The slate roof guy tells us that it's a chimney problem, so we need a mason. We're working on finding one. I am a little exhausted by 83 Durant at the moment. Oh, and by the way, for those who already read the previous chimney post (WHHHHHAT #3) it's not even that chimney. All this time, I've been worried about the back chimney (what's with the hole? where does the water go?) when the front chimney was the real problem. [FYI, The front chimney vents the furnace; the back chimney vents the stove.] I still find chimneys mysterious and perhaps a bit ominous.
A NAIL.
I am not kidding. I can't figure out how a nail got down in there, but there it was, making the motor (and thus the washer) inoperable.
The machine is back together and humming away now.
In other news, we have a leak in the roof and/or chimney. We discovered this because Jake was up in the attic to deal with the critter situation. Without the critter situation, we wouldn't know about the leak. Thanks, critters! Your work here is done. Now please leave. I wonder if the critters read the blog. That would explain why they don't fall for the traps. They know we're after them.
The slate roof guy tells us that it's a chimney problem, so we need a mason. We're working on finding one. I am a little exhausted by 83 Durant at the moment. Oh, and by the way, for those who already read the previous chimney post (WHHHHHAT #3) it's not even that chimney. All this time, I've been worried about the back chimney (what's with the hole? where does the water go?) when the front chimney was the real problem. [FYI, The front chimney vents the furnace; the back chimney vents the stove.] I still find chimneys mysterious and perhaps a bit ominous.
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