Enter At Your Own Risk

The roof is covered with the Ice and Water Shield so if it rains, it should be fine. Snow is another story. Some of the metal will be placed back tomorrow; some we had to order and won't be here till Friday morning. Weather forecast is Winter Storm Warning Tomorrow 6pm till Friday 6 pm. Any uncovered (by steel) areas will be covered tomorrow before/if the storm hits.

Plan is to do the rest starting next week, weather allowing.
 
I have learned sooo much these past couple of years working on this house. What to do in this mountain climate versus the South Texas climate where I lived most of this life.

Good News: I have mentioned Ice and Water Shield before. Learned about it when the first wall was demolished and rebuilt. I have wondered if the stuff works like they say. It's expensive: 200 sf of this brand costs $150! Yesterday, a small area where it had been applied last year was exposed. When that small area was exposed (the steel was removed), we pulled up a corner of the I&W shield and it was absolutely dry underneath. The manufacturer says to NOT cover the entire roof with it because it may cause condensation in the attic. According to them, it should be applied on just the lower 36" edge of the roof and use another product on the rest.

Well, we have used it on the entire roof so far. Humidity here is quite low and much of this house doesn't have an attic. We will add another few attic vents, however, just as a safeguard. Also, there is good attic insulation. The damage I have seen in areas where standard products (tar paper/felt and plastic-type sheeting) was used is pretty extensive. The real problem is there is not enough slant to the roof for snow to slide off. Not gonna rebuild the entire roof structure so the I&W shield is the answer, I hope! So far, so good!

Today, some of the steel will be reinstalled. On the new addition to the eave, we had to order the steel, which should arrive tomorrow. Meanwhile, a winter storm is forecast for tonight so we will cover that part with heavy tarps. I have decided to go ahead with doing the rest of the roof next week, weather permitting. It will be a tight budget this month, lol.
 
Flexibility is the name of the game. No metal was placed yesterday. The old valley piece no longer fits properly since the eave was extended. The new piece we ordered should arrive this morning. The entire portion of the exposed roof was covered with heavy plastic. The new eave extension was painted and the area was cleaned up.

The snow began at 8:00 pm when I was outside with the dogs. I was very tired so we went to bed and a few minutes later, the phone rang. It was the young man doing the work. He said he was coming over to check that the plastic was still in place. I jumped up, threw on some clothes, turned on all the outside lights, and met him back there. He had done a good job placing that plastic, securing it down. No problem. But I wondered, would he go up there in the dark and snow to fix something? I would never have let him do that! But it shows what kind of person he is. I am seriously considering him as an heir to my estate. Seriously.

This morning, we have about 3-4" of new snow. Very strangely, the way it is now sliding off the roof is completely different than in the past and not just that portion of the roof but the entire thing. Maybe the temp in the attic is different than usual? IDK. It'll probably mostly be melted by mid-day. Not sure what today will bring.

OH!! Since we will be doing the rest of the roof next week, yesterday I called the local disposal company and ordered a small dumpster. All those shingles need to go somewhere. I figured it would probably be mid-week before they would deliver it but the lady said it could come yesterday. Sure enough, within less than an hour, a dumpster was delivered. Shock! This company has done so much for me during all of this renovation. Yes, it costs some money but not that much and they are always Johnny-On-The-Spot. Always friendly and respectful and sometimes they go a little extra mile.
 
GoodEnuff said:
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OH!! Since we will be doing the rest of the roof next week, yesterday I called the local disposal company and ordered a small dumpster. All those shingles need to go somewhere. I figured it would probably be mid-week before they would deliver it but the lady said it could come yesterday. Sure enough, within less than an hour, a dumpster was delivered. Shock! This company has done so much for me during all of this renovation. Yes, it costs some money but not that much and they are always Johnny-On-The-Spot. Always friendly and respectful and sometimes they go a little extra mile.
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:) Beware of shingle nails puncturing your tires.
 
Lots of the snow melted during the day yesterday but a little more fell during the night. The contractor picked up the new materials ($310) and dropped them off yesterday. Still too snowy to do anything today. This young man would work every day but he has a family member coming into town this weekend so I told him to take the weekend off and spend time having fun. So work begins again Monday and he thinks it can be completed in three days. Right. I think we will find more damaged areas that will require extra work (and $); that seems to be the standard with this place. We shall see.

Meanwhile, I think today I will shred old files. It's a once/year thing.
 
I have a case of the lazies. Didn't do much yesterday.

Today, don't know why but, I went back and read through all of this. It's funny how I know all of this has been done but I had forgotten or just refused to think about all of the details. Holy Cow! How did all of this get done? And I so appreciate the comments from my SF friends. Maybe one day I will print this all out and leave it for family. IDK.

The family reunion this summer will be interesting. They will want to see the place since most of them grew up here. In just the past month or so, I have noticed the great changes all put together and am surprised. It would be nice, perhaps, if everything can be finished before then but not holding my breath.

Yesterday, I had a long conversation with my eldest daughter (lives 1200 miles away) and she said she may come to the reunion, bringing my two grandsons! I am ecstatic with the thought. Haven't seen any of them since Oct 2024.

Forgot to Post this; it's now a day later but oh well.
 
Yesterday (Monday), work resumed on the roof. Those guys worked so hard, removing the metal and tearing off the old shingles beneath it. Only two small areas of the decking need repair, which I knew about so no surprise. Today, they will finish the shingle removal, replace/repair the damaged decking (and whatever needs fixing beneath it, a scary thought)), and start placing the ice and water shield. I will need to get about four more rolls of the stuff, at $150/roll. Ouch! I hope the hardware store has that much in stock.

The metal that has been removed is still in good condition so will be reinstalled. No need to get new; he said he will use the same screw holes with new screws. Glad for that!

Also, need another sheet of the OSB decking material, lumber for fascia replacements, some flashing metal (I think that's what it's called?) and order more metal fascia covers which will not be here until Friday. And a few more items. Need to make a list before I go there this morning. A project that originally would have taken a couple of days and less than $1,000 turned into two weeks and probably several thousands. Sigh. The fence and bridge will have to wait a few months.

Although the original plan was to only extend an eave over that bay window (which is my Nemesis), the rest of the older roof has been a bit of a worry and I will be glad to have it done. One less big thing to worry about. The other half of the house was done last year when a major leak was discovered. These types of repairs are new to me, never had to deal with this type of thing before and when there was a problem, my husband took care of it. Now that I see the results of a sub-standard job, I will do whatever it takes to prevent this type of thing happening again.

Also, building in this Colordo mountain climate is entirely different than in Texas. This house project has been a real learning experience!
 
There were two small areas of the decking that needed repair. I knew this because the first summer I was here when I was foolishly DIY'ing, had the soffits for those areas off and saw the damage. Did what I could (hahaha) at that time, which included removing several piles of large pine cones in the attic eave, what I could reach. Well, yesterday, when the contractor got to that area, he removed a large sheet of the decking and the entire ceiling over the dining area was covered in pine cones. Pine cones, rodent droppings and a squirrel ? carcass. It was a nasty mess.

My plan long-term is to have the entire attic cleared out with new insulation placed. He told me that addition is not accessible from inside so it was decided to clear that section out while the roof was open. He cleaned it up (nasty work), laid new insulation, sprayed any moldy areas with hydrogen peroxide, then replaced the plywood/OSB decking. The question: how did a squirrel get in there with those large pine cones? IDK. Hopefully the work that has been done these past two years has blocked any entrance? Fingers crossed!

The roof and part of the attic is now cleaned up and ready for underlayment to be installed. First, however, about 18 feet of fascia boards needs to be replaced. It was primed yesterday so is ready to go up. Then the drip edge placed, and the underlayment (ice and water shield) will be put on. He has been overlapping that on the drip edge in other areas in the hopes it will prevent ice/water from seeping under it.

Picked up the rest of the materials needed yesterday, $1080. They had only three rolls of the I&W shield (need four), but I have located more at another supplier not too far from here. They have set that one roll aside for me to pick up this morning. Another $157. This does not include the custom metal fascia covers that I ordered, which will come in on Friday. When we did the first half of this roof last year, I had him place fascia covers over just the areas that "needed" it; this time, we will do all of them. No more snow/ice/water damage up there. In theory. We shall see if I live that long.

So...the hardest, dirtiest work for these two young men is finished. The dumpster is full, along with two large bags on the side which should be included in my normal pickup. Today is trash day and all should be hauled off, making way for more although there won't (shouldn't?) be a full dumpster load after this. Please.
 
gruntlabor said:
Squirrels notoriously jump from trees onto roofs, then chew their way inside. I don't allow trees to overhang --or even be near my house anymore.
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Excellent observation. You are correct. There are so many very large trees (75-100 ft) right next to the house though, taking them out would require use of a crane. About eight years ago, that was done with dead trees; these are live. The cost was $18,000. I can't do that.

Meanwhile, I don't think they can chew through a 29 ga steel roof? With metal drip edges and fascias, don't know how they could get around and under that to the soffits to chew through them? Getting to them would be difficult since (hopefully) it is too slippery. I also had the lower 32" of the siding done in metal, a wainscot, so no climbing up from the ground, I hope. I don't know if this will all work but all possible entries have been sealed pretty heavily. The biggest risks now are the attic vents on the walls just below the roof line and the soffit vents.

You can bet your last dollar that I will be watching for those little buggers. Last summer, I saw the neighbor's cat had caught one of them. The kitties come through here daily so perhaps that will help. Here, kittie kittie!
 
Learned an interesting thing today. In the past, the underlayment/ice and water shield had instructions that specifically stated not to cover the entire roof with it. It is impermeable even to air and it may cause condensation in the attic below. We did it anyway. Now, the instructions in these new rolls say that the surface below should be well ventilated, doesn't mention condensation directly. They have changed their tune in regards to that.
 
All the work you do is amazing.

GoodEnuff said:
But it shows what kind of person he is. I am seriously considering him as an heir to my estate. Seriously.
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That would be really nice. He’s a special person. I’ve thought about how good it would be to leave something extra directly to a good person or two. It may that little difference in their life.
 
The whole large family is like that. They are amazing people. Sometimes I think I was led to this house because nowhere else would I have neighbors/friends like them. I would take a bullet for any one of them.

A couple of weeks ago, one of the clerks at the local hardware store asked me who was doing the work here. When I told her, she replied, "Oh! He is so nice! Friendly and non-judgemental!" I said, "Yes, he does beautiful work and they are my next door neighbors." She said, "You are very lucky!"
 
The roof is now completely sealed with the underlayment and the mess is mostly cleaned up.

Today, the steel starts going on. That will take at least two days, probably. It's a complicated roof and some of the materials will not be available until tomorrow morning.

IMG_0441.JPG

This is the front of the house (or part of it). The front door is to the left (not shown). You can see the strange roof line and how it was built on the hill (lower right). That area is where the snow falls and stays built up (when there is snow) and is where most of the inside of the walls was so damaged. These walls were all completely rebuilt, frame out.

It is almost impossible to get a pic of the entire house due to the lay of the land and the shape of the house. Anyway, this shows some of the challenge of this roof work.

@gruntlabor You can see a few of the trees on the back side. And two small icy snow piles in the foreground.
 
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For me, yesterday was a quiet day with not much to do. About 5pm, they ran out of screws. We had over 500 of them! The local hardware had just closed but they did answer their phone and I was told they have some in stock. When they are ordered along with any metal, they are $25 for a bag of 250. The ones in the store are the same price for 100. Also ran out of mastic tape (aka butyl tape). Not sure if this store carries that but another does (about 10 miles down the road). I will head down there this morning so work can continue.

My guy has an appointment at 4:00 today in a city about 85 miles away so work today will end early. He said he will return this weekend to hopefully finish everything.

We discussed the fence yesterday. I told him that would have to wait until April. Maybe May, maybe not because the homeowners and car insurance are due then. I don't do monthly payments on those so it's a bit of a hit. Sigh.

This project expanded exponentially when we found the decking was wet on that one area. The cost also expanded. I was whining to my BFF about that yesterday (I do have the funds but...) and she said it seems to be okay to spend here and there but it's really harder when it's all at once. Yep, that's for sure.
 
GoodEnuff said:
The cost also expanded. I was whining to my BFF about that yesterday (I do have the funds but...) and she said it seems to be okay to spend here and there but it's really harder when it's all at once. Yep, that's for sure.
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Could you get one of those bank arrangements where a loan is approved but you only pay interest on what you have withdrawn? (Sorry! I don't remember what it's called.) But that would mean one less worry for you.
 
gruntlabor said:
Could you get one of those bank arrangements where a loan is approved but you only pay interest on what you have withdrawn? (Sorry! I don't remember what it's called.) But that would mean one less worry for you.
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Do you mean a Home Equity Line Of Credit (HELOC)? I could but am hitting the mortgage hard to pay it off quickly. I don't want to add to it. This month I will pay just the normal payment. It'll be fine.
 
The roof is almost finished; all that's left is to tweak certain areas, place the fascia covers, and maybe install two attic vents. He will be back today and hopefully finish. Made another trip yesterday for a few other supplies (more screws). Sigh. Almost done.

He has other jobs waiting. That's a good thing because any other hired work I want done will have to wait a couple of months anyway. And they are minor in comparison to this one.
 
The roof itself is finished. He will return Monday to install the fascia covers and attic vents.

Meanwhile, I have discovered my car has an oil leak. Noticed it on the garage floor. Made an appointment to take it to the mechanic on Wednesday. The contractor, who lives next door, said they will pick me up when I drop off the car, about 8 miles away. I hope it isn't anything too serious.
 
Yesterday, went to the local grocery store, first time in two weeks to pick up a few items. Right. $250 later...

They had a nice sale so I stocked up the pantry. Lots of canned goods for my "prepper stash" were marked way down. They didn't have the 90/10 ground beef (or higher) so I ended up getting the 85/15. A couple of roasts were cheaper than the ground beef so picked up two; will slow cook and shred them.

I had placed a sheet of cardboard under the car to pinpoint the oil leak. Nothing for the last 48 hours but then I have made only two short trips to town so maybe it only does this on longer (hotter engine) trips? IDK. The oil level on the dipstick is within the "safe" level so it hasn't lost much. Still, I will take it in on Wednesday. Hopefully it is something minor. I did get a quart of oil to keep in the car, just in case.

Today, the fascia covers go up. It has occurred to me that we may need more screws but I don't know what type he will use. May make another short trip to town; we shall see.
 
Yep, more screws needed and while I was at the hardware store, picked up the attic vent cover. This should be the last of the materials needed for this project. He started with the most difficult areas for the fascia covers, which entails lots of corners and such, means custom cutting difficult shapes, etc. Didn't finish but the worst parts are done and he will return on Saturday to do the rest.

Today, I may wash and clean out the car. It is a hot mess.
 
Washed and cleaned out the car. Much better, lol.

This morning, the car goes into the shop to check out the minor oil leak, which has stopped the past few days. I hope the problem can be fixed while I wait. If not, maybe someone at the garage can drive me home? A neighbor said they will come get me if needed if/when I call for that. I have no friends/family here nor is there any type of public transportation/Uber/etc. that I know of. Walking is out of the question since it's 10 miles uphill all the way. Not gonna happen.

Fingers crossed that this is a simple fix. Never had any problems with this car before (110K miles on it now).
 
I will not go into detail on the car but apparently there was an error made two years ago when the transmission was serviced. After speaking to several different people in the industry, I am now taking the car to the nearest dealer 60 miles away tomorrow morning. It appears it wasn't an oil leak; it was a transmission pan leak. It was "fixed" today but after what I learned, I don't trust this fix. Long story but tomorrow it shall be fixed by people who know about "sealed" transmissions and have the right parts. The transmission itself seems okay. I am glad for that!
 
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