Torching down in the valley

The valley is sort of a compromise. It only slopes 1/12 and is also an area where there is a lot of water congregating during rains, before draining down over the front door. But, w/o lifting the roof over living room/kitchen as well (no budget, nor weather this year...), this was the only solution. It was clear we needed some type of "hot mop" or torch down to ensure that we have a 100% waterproof membrane in this area.

On the other hand, the valley has done just fine with just our installation of Polyglass last year, so my concerns are probably just a tad unwarranted.

Felix put in a layer of asphalt paper to ensure that we do not burn down the house (or rather, damage the underlayment, he does not care for the house...) and then showed great skills in "torching" the top layer. Even managed to find a color that nicely matches the green metal roof.



Nice view from up here


HOT!


No missing any areas


Master of fire!


One has to be careful to not burn too much...




Warm even on a November day!








A nice "flaot out" is needed to ensure that the layers really seals together

North side almost done

Monday again and Felix and crew started working on the north facing side. Since I did remove the chimney over the weekend, it was also time to cut a hole through the overhang just above where the (coming) B-vent is to exit the basement wall. Fairly quickly done, and Felix was prepared with a 4-inch flashing to install already now.

The bad thing of the day is that they realized they ran out of material. Someone had fouled up the order and missed one entire side of the tall and steep roof section. In other words, no more material to continue working on the south facing side until we get more in a week or so. Will our sunny weather hold up?
















Still early morning


Safety lines at work


Since it is the north side, it takes a while before the morning dew burns off


Gorgeous fall colors!

Remove top of the chimney

Getting to the 2nd (the smaller) chimney, it was time to decide what to do with it. It was to come down eventually, but removing it would not a smart move since the new spot for the water heater has not been cleared, nor has the gas line yet been extended. And, I really did not feel like making a mess down in the living room and kitchen at this time.

With Felix and crew eager to put down plywood and underlayment, decision had to be taken. I sort of decided to keep it for now, but with the old flashing gone, one could actually "wiggle" the chimney a few inches back and forth, so it was clear it was broken somewhere down in the house. Possibly always been like that, or it might have happened during the 2001 earthquake. In any case, since we were now working on the roof, it was easy for me to remove the section sticking up over the roof, put new plywood down and finish the roof. I could tackle the section inside the house later.

It didn't take long to cut and remove the upper portion of the chimney, and gently toss the bricks down in the front yard. When done, it allowed Felix to install a short rafter, put down plywood, and finish the underlayment on the East side.

I just now had to convince the wife that we'd be w/o hot water for a day or so, or until I had a new B-vent pulled out through the basement and up along the exterior wall outside the kitchen. Two trips to Lowe's and it was done, and hot-water was again flowing on Sunday evening. Actually, with a 50-gallon heater, there was likely still enough hot water for a few showers, even w/o having the heater connected to the gas line. Contrary to popular belief, an older well insulated hot-water heater inside a house is not that bad. The current trend towards (very) expensive (and complex) "end-less" hot-water heaters is somewhat of a fab. We have never run out of hot water, and I think few actually does. And, what are the true savings if you instead use the "end-less" hot water feature and take much longer showers? Just more hot water down the drain and a larger gas bill.

The new B-vent does not look pretty, but it works and it'll stay until hot water heater moves back to the more logical spot where it was in the early days (then an electric heater) in the 60ies. And when we are getting to that area of the roof, I'll make the roof penetration and put in the flashing for a new B-vent. Then the major thing (roof work) is done, and I can focus on just relocating the heater (90% inside work).

Re-roofing has finally started

After far too long of a wait, Dick's crew showed up today to start tearing off the torch-down membrane and prepping the roof deck for our new standing seam metal roof.

Decided to go with a (very) local roofer and I hope it was the right choice, but he has been very poor in just being able to communicate a start day. Is a simple phone call that hard? But, I like him, I know where he lives (walking distance) and I really prefer doing business with neighboring companies - whenever possible. In this case, the price was in the ball park, so it should not be much to argue over.

In any case, today was a good day to start since the sun is shining and it is reasonably warm. Just hope that this will hold up...

After tearing off the old (but still amazingly good) torch down, and realizing that there are quite a few sheets of plywood to be replaced, see what one can find:


Why is it that Americans can not properly install insulation batts? OK, the house was built in the 60ies, but it is not THAT hard to cut them to fit properly. I saw evidence of same shoddy practicies all over when lifting old plywood sheets. In this case, really nog big deal since I will tear down the drywall, put in a dedictaed air/ventilation channel, and insulate the roof from underneath, the way it should have been done day 1!


Seems like wasps has been eating away on the insulation over the years...


Even some nice nests...


Does this really require a comment?


A few sheets that are to be replaced (or rather holes that are being overlaid with new sheets).


Sun beaten (but still VERY GOOD) Polyglass on the south facing side in the background.

Polyglass is the underlayment that we put on the roof in November of 2007. It has been holding up increadibly well, and yes, the sun has eventually burned off the green top layer, but the material (modified bitumen reinforced with fiberglass) is still rock solid (the green stuff is to improve adhesion between the layers). Polyglass is pricey (at ~$130/roll about 5 times more than #30 felt) but worth every cent (or rather dollar). Allowed us to do the roof at OUR timing, and not when the (normally installed) felt would require it. The Polyglass also survived a few December storms w/o moving an inch!

But, just to be 200% sure, Felix is putting a new layer of underlayment on the south facing side of the steep roof section, where you can see the sun has essentially burned off the entire green top layer on the Polyglass. Likely not needed, but better to be safe than sorry. A new layer also provides for an excellent integration with the coming torch down in the valley.

Upon further inspection and dissecting of the Polyglass, which is guaranteed for 90 days weather exposure in a Miami climate, I think it really could hold up as a roofing material for years in the Seattle area. Incredible stuff! Easy to put down, just ensure you have a clean roof deck, "peel-and-stick", and anchor with a few staples. Voila - waterproof membrane installed, a membrane that can handle water, wind, snow, and even a fair amount of physical abuse like walking, branches falling down, etc.





Another example of poorly installed batts. Is it that hard to make ONE cut for an electric wire?


New sheets placed and nailed down.


West side already covered with underlayment

And if I now have one common complaint about thss (otherwise pretty good) crew, that would be tha tis is imperative to ensure that nails/staples are well driven in and roof surface is flat/clean before putting on underlayment. I did spend some time going over the area, pounding down nails and putting on new patches. The underlayment is "peel-and-stick" so it is easy to do and holds up really well, but a "clean" and well prepared area is so much more important when putting on a metal roof, compared to the (much more) common ashpalt shingles.

If I would not have been up here, carrying the "hawk eyes", who really knows what it would look like underneath?

Wine Cellar cleaned up

Today was spent fixing the old "wine cellar" and getting everything in the basement back into that "cubby". Apart from wine, this is also where bulk items such as dog food, cereal, rice, oatmeal, etc, end up.

Also prepared a new area for a "cross connect" panel where incoming cable and fiber will terminate, as well as a location for router, switches, hubs, and databackup equipment. This time I've planned it much better so it will look much different than the current set-up, a lay-out that sort of has evolved over the past 7 years into something more looking like a spider's nest. Long overdue to get that cleaned up and out of the way.

Sealing cracks

With insualtion now in the attic, I spent most of the day temporarily sealing up cracks and crevices to prevent draft and air movement from the area that is still under construction. It looks sort of crappy, but it will all be covered by vapor barrier and drywall later on, so for now it'll just function. It should have a significant impact on the ability to retain heat in the house.

Insulation!

Finally! After a tedious (and extremely dusty) removal of the old fiberglass insulation in the attic, followed by a thourugh cleaning up (removal of construction debris and vaccuming), it was time to seal up the house and get it properly insulated for the first time in well over 45 years.

The old batts were "on location" but what a crappy installation. I thought of actually keeping them, blowing in insulation on top, but it would have been the easy and wrong way to go. In order for insulation to work properly, one need to minimize the movement of air closest to the interior. The way the old insulation was laid out between the old rafters, there was no chance in hell it would have worked properly. So, after a few VERY dirty days, I had over a truck full of old insulation (filled with nails, roofinmg material, and other cosutruction debris) to take up to the dump. The trusy LandCruiser hauled it all away in style!

After several additional trips to Home Depot, picking up 40 bales of cellulose insulation, a new trip to pick up the heavy and bulky blower I finally managed to get a promise from the wife to man the blower. It was all done today!

But, man was it dusty up there. I would not even want to think what it would have been like, should we have decided to blow in fiberglass insulation instead. Wife, outside in the winter sun, complained about the dust, but I can guarantee that she saw less than 10% of what I had up in the attic.

Solid Waste

Finally today got around to get the old roofing material off the drive way and on a trailer to the King County Solid Waste transfer station, down in Houghton. Since I was doing a run any way, I also took some stuff from neighbors. No point in having them doing a separate run.
A flush with the garden hose and an "ocular" inspection to make sure no nails were hiddin in the piles of discarded roofing, the drive way is now in its best Christmas dress.

Final Electrical Inspection + attic insulation

Had called for an electrical inspection and expected "Art", our neighborhood inspector to show up, since he's been here from the very beginning and know what I'm up to, but this time he was just to busy. Instead "Walt" showed up and just as Art before, he approved of my work and signed off the final electrical inspection. Means that I can now start to focus on getting everything properly (insulation and drywall) covered up inside.

Also started cleaning up the attic (to be a third floor later on) in order to properly insulate over our bedrooms, craftroom, bathrooms, and office. It was originally done sometime in the early 60ies, and the insulation lists it as being 2 and 3/4 inch, but at the very best, it has been one inch thick. Add to that the very crappy workmanship when it was put in, it probably has done done much good. This time around, I'll add a solid layer of blow-in insulation. Hope to get all that taken care of just after Christmas.

Feeder runs

A small concern have been how to get power to the new addition from the service entrance panel. First plan was to use some old and now decommissioned feeder runs that I disconnected earlier in the project. At the same time, even though these wires were in excellent condition, I really wanted brand new wiring all the way from the panel. Just "feels" better knowing that it has been installed correctly.

I needed to cut up the plywood sheeting in any case in order to get to the old wires and relocate them, and when that was done, realized that the old feeder actually moved fairly easily through the floor joists. Time to gamble and pull them out.

I attached a "fish line" to them and pulled them out. Worst that can happen now is that I have to hack up the drywall celing in the downstairs family room, but based on how easy the wires came out, someone when the house was built in the early 60ies actually planned a bit and did drill decent sized holes through all the joists.

With help from John (neighbor) I managed to get four brand new circuits pulled all the way to the SE panel, and that allows plenty of options for wiring up the new addition. It was sort of gamble, but this time it paid off. Final inspection of the electrical install can now happen early next week.