New Roof On Cabin - Pt 2

Bryan, the contractor assured me the paper stuff on the roof would not leak during the rain forecasted for the evening.  I had my doubts but he sounded sure that all would be well with the roof.

We went to bed a little late and listened to the rain on the roof and wondered if the paper would hold up.  About 4:00 AM I felt a little cold and started to rearrange the blankets and my back side was all wet.  That had never happened before and I got out of bed to see what was the problem.  Yep, you guessed it, the roof was leaking and it picked that spot so I got all wet.  Then I felt the bed and it was wet, so I woke up Gerry and her side of the bed was wet, also. 

Bryan, we have a problem.  I sent him an email since he gets them on his smartphone outlining the problem.  Then we spent the next hour placing buckets, mopping the floor, stripping the bed, etc trying to minimize the damage.  Finally we said that was it and we went out to the motorhome to catch a few hours of sleep.

I called Bryan once again about 7:30 AM and left him a message.  Ooooh ooooh!  No return call.  We went into the cabin and emptied the buckets of dirty brown rain water.  Finally Bryan rolled in with his crew and was surprised that I had a problem.  Once I showed him how serious it was he started work on finishing the roof.  By then it had quit raining.

 They put the finishing touches on the roof around 5:00 PM after working 8+ hours.  I think the job was a little more difficult than they had bargained for and the rain didn't help things any.  The roof color is bronze, but since it was a cloudy day it looks washed out.  Also, the cabin needs painting really bad and we plan on changing the color to a light brown rather than the redwood stain.  The stain doesn't hold up very well.  We just painted the cabin 4-5 years ago.

I mentioned in the previous blog about some neat tools roofers use now.  The electric screw gun was a great idea, but I like the tool below used to pick up screws and other metal objects.  You just run it over the ground or area where the metal is and it sticks to the bottom of the device.  The wheels generate a charge to a magnet and is fairly powerful.  Don't put your external hard drive near it when you are picking up nails. Then when you have all the metal clinging to the bottom of the device, you just pull up a handle and it releases the magnetic charge and drops the metal.  What will they think of next?

One of my first questions to the roofer was who he employs.  A lot of construction jobs are performed by illegals and I don't really approve of that when there are Americans willing to do the jobs.  I would rather pay more and have the funds stay in the U.S.  He only hires legal Americans for his company.  Great!  That is all I am going to say on this, but I do feel strongly about it.

Since it is fall and the temps are low at nighttime, plus the rainy day, the acorns are falling like leaves.  The cabin roof is and always has been a target for these acorns.  The old asphalt shingle roof didn't do much to deaden the sound of the acorns falling from 80ft and striking the roof.  The new metal roof is louder, but not so much that it will be a problem.  It does take some getting used to but that is one of the charms of living in the woods.

Bryan had to use more lumber for repairs than planned and he did not bill us for it and then reduced the bill due to the water damage in the bedroom.  We thought that was a fair deal and accepted his offer.  Now, if the roof problems are behind us it will be great.  As my friend Russell says, " Oh, the joys of home ownership".  

We had ordered a number of items through Amazon on Monday.  They arrived on Wednesday.  The baseplate, tow bar, lights, and other accessories arrived and I didn't even know they were here.  I thought the boxes were supplies for the new roof.  What a surprise to us that they arrived so quickly since a couple cartons weighed 30-60 lbs.  

That was our exciting day, how was yours.

New Roof On Cabin - Pt 1

Our cabin has two additions built on to the original cabin and the additions both have flat roofs.  Over the years we have had new roofs, repaired roofs, leaks, patches, branch through the roof and other assorted problems with it.  We finally decided to have a new metal roof installed and started the process on October 2011.  Due to scheduling problems, and other hangups we kept either putting it off or the contractor couldn't do it in the time frame that we were in the area.

Finally, this was the year to complete the job.  We contracted with a local construction company, Bryan Gaul Construction to have him do the job.  We picked out the color in August and finally Bryan worked us into his schedule.  He showed up bright and early Wednesday morning with his three man work crew and started the job.

 First they had to remove all the old shingles and padding.  This looked a lot like back breaking work, but they had special shovels that made it easier to pull up the old shingles.  The trash trailer was parked near the cabin and they shoveled the debris right into the trailer. They had a neat tool with a large magnet that would pick up the old roofing nails and other metal objects.

Shingles removal from the screened in porch, along with some rotted wood.

 Here I am supervising the removal of the bad wood on the porch.  I think they could have finished the job a lot sooner if I hadn't helped them.  Notice in the picture above how bad the pitch is on the porch.  In the winter time the snow would melt and freeze and get under the shingles and eventually rot out the support beams and plywood underlayment.

You can see the rotted roof joists in the top four joists.  This is the part above the bedroom and we've had a leak problem in the corner next to the porch numerous times.  Different roofing contractors have tried to fix it correctly, however they all failed in the long run.  I hope we have better luck with Bryan repairing the problem.

Hey guys, check this out.  It took a few minutes for them to come up with a plan to make the repairs.  In the end the joists were replaced and new plywood was put down.
 

For some reason they decided to work on the small entrance porch first, rather than the bedroom area.  As it turns out, that was a mistake.  It was interesting to watch them work and to see all the equipment they have to make the job faster and easier.  The worker on the right has a machine that inserts the screws in the footers.  The screws are on a plastic belt and he made short work on placing the screws in their proper places.  
 

Bryan is the one not working in the picture above since he is the boss.  Actually, he was a hard worker and all business.  The small porch roof was completed and they called it a day.  

2nd mistake of the day.  It was obvious that we were in for a number of hours of rain.  The only thing protecting the roof was a paper underlayment.  I was assured it wouldn't leak and everything would be fine.

 Then they quit for the day and left without putting the metal roof on the back part of the cabin.  Of course, that is where the flat roofs are and with the heavy rain we received that night, the outcome was easy to predict.

Since I'm writing this a day after this part of the job, I am going to close for now and continue on with day two of the work on Friday.  Stay tuned, it gets better.

We did visit with Sherwin and Linda on Thursday when we met them for dinner.  They are on their way to Tucson for the winter and made Chambersburg, PA their first stopover for the night.  They had a long day of driving and we also had a long day, so it was a quick meal at the Longhorn Steakhouse and some fast conversation.

 

Everyone seemed to enjoy their meal selection and I was very pleased with the chicken I ordered.  We all were fading fast so we took them back to their motel and bid them farewell until we see them again in December.  Thanks for stopping by and taking time for the visit.

That was our day, how was yours? 

Wedding Anniversaries & Birthdays

Gerry and I celebrated our 112th wedding anniversary yesterday.  No, that isn't a typo, it was the 112th wedding anniversary.  We eloped and married in a civil ceremony the first time and then a month later told our parents about it.  We didn't have much choice about telling them since we had to fill out an application form for jobs at the FBI and knew they would find out sooner or later.

Gerry wanted to be married in the Catholic church and I took instructions for the specified length of time and said all the right things so Father Guido consented to marrying us.  We were married in the church house with a few family members in attendance.  So, we were married twice within a short period of time.  Our 2nd marriage was September 28, 1957.  

Today is Gerry's birthday, but we celebrated it a day early by joining her sister Darlene and bil Tom at Callahan's in Frederick, MD.  Since my birthday was a couple days ago, I was also included in the celebration.  We picked the middle of the day to meet so the restaurant wouldn't be so busy and we could take our time and have a leisurely dinner.   They live in Annapolis, MD about 90 miles from the restaurant and we had a drive of 50 miles.  

There wasn't another patron in the dining room when we got there and it was nice to be able to chat without all the usual noise and chatter.  I think we were there more than an hour before another couple finally arrived.  They sat them right next to us, even though there were open tables far from us.  Just like RVing, park your RV in an open area and someone will park right next to you.

The company was great and we had a very nice time visiting with them.  It may be the last time we see them this year, unless they come down to Concord, NC while we are still there.  It's always sad to say goodbye, but know we will see them again next year.

We stopped by the soft ice cream place on the way home to get an ice cream fix.  They had a sign up saying it was the last weekend of the year for them and they would be closed until next spring.  We got in just under the wire for that ice cream fix.

We did start our day off by making repairs to the screened in porch roof.  Gerry noticed a leak a while back and I found another area where it was leaking.  Upon further inspection, we found about 15 places where there were tears in the roofing fabric.  It was time to sweep off the roof and fill in all these small holes with Dicor.  Then I will put some Eternabond over the repaired places and hope it holds until next summer when we will have the roof replaced.  By this time next year we should have a metal roof on the cabin and that will take care of any future leaks.  Always something that needs to be done up here.  Now I know why we got rid of the house.

Flat roofs are problems

More patches in white.

View from the roof top of the meadow.

Tons of acorns on ground.  Cold winter?

That was our exciting day, how was yours?