The roof is repaired

Yesterday there was progress on repairing the roof. A big dumpster was installed and a pile of shingles were delivered. Apparently it will take one to two days to install the new shingles and fix the overhang.

After a few days of rain the bloke who is doing the repairs turned up with two others to repair the roof. 

A nice empty dumpster but not for long.

A large truck delivered the OSB boards. The original roof was the panels that formed the body of the house. The original builder laid a layer of insulating foam on top with the original shingles on top of the foam. The new solution was to remove the original shingles and lay the OSB boards on top of the foam, nailed in of course. A plastic sheet for ice and water protection would lie on top of the OSB and the new shingles would be laid on top of the plastic sheet. The layer of OSB (a variety of plywood) would provide extra protection from falling branches. 

One of the blokes removing the old shingles. One of the other workers is Amish and I made sure not to include him in any photos since they prefer not to have their photo taken.

The new shingles and the ice and water plastic sheeting. These photos are good for documenting what was actually put up there.

It doesn't look too appetizing after 26 years. The original tar paper is not as flexible or strong as the new ice and water shield.

OSB overhangs to be cut off with a circular saw.

After lunch I went for my usual three mile walk to train for my walk across England next year. It was odd to see the house like this. The light colored roof really made a difference.

This photo was taken from about half a mile away from our house through the woods. Usually I can make out our neighbour's houses but not our house. Not this time. There it was in the center of the photograph.

Repairing the roof overhang.

Covered with the OSB boards.

The dumpster is no longer pristine. At the end of the day, the crew went around and cleaned up all the mess.

More work on the overhang. These photos are useful documentation.

The gang worked solidly from 8 am to 5 pm. I don't think they took a break in the entire nine hours.

The gang turned up just after 7 am and started work again. Fortunately we were already awake and ready for the banging to continue. By about 9 am they had put this aluminium drip shield around the perimeter of the roof. Back in 1986, this sort of technology was not readily available. 

They also replaced a few of the facia boards that protect the roof panels.

The new OSB roof.

A layer of ice & water shield on top of the OSB. It's like a very thick tar paper but with a plastic interior.

One of the repaired overhang panels that had been destroyed by the tree.

The roof ready for the new shingles.

Remember that empty dumpster from earlier in the blog.

Laying the shingles. Because it is so cold (under 40 degrees), it will take a while for the shingles to warm up and relax so that they mold to the roof. 

Almost done. They finished just before 5pm. It took them just two days to do all this work. It would have taken me months. 

Next morning we went out for an inspection.

The dumpster ready to be moved. 

It gave me a new appreciation of just how hard builders work these days and also how materials and techniques have improved from 26 years ago.

Work on the new deck will start sometime after Christmas.

Cleaning up after the hurricane

It's over a month now since Hurricane Sandy and I am still out there with the chain saw. Actually most of the trees I am working on came down in prior storms over the past few years.

My friend Lee comes down each year to get some wood to burn in his fireplace. There is plenty available this year.

Your hero at work with his electric chainsaw, a Worx 16 inch corded model from Lowes. It's powerful enough for the size of logs I am dealing with but not all that heavy. It's easier to use than a petrol model and I like the way it turns off completely when I release the trigger. It uses a fair bit of oil for the chain but in a way that is a good thing since it forces me to stop after about 45 minutes. I'm really pleased with it.

Most of the wood is a mix of poplar which is a light softwood and black locust that is a heavy hardwood. There is a bit of cherry.

The pile keeps getting longer and longer.

Part of the yard has quite a bit of long grass and it is obvious that the deer use it at night as a resting place. They are probably upset that I am removing all the cosy protection.

The white thing in the top of the picture is our well head. Our water comes from over 200 feet down from an aquifer that comes all the way down from the Adirondacks in New York State.

By the way, Marianne has been a great help picking up wood.

This will be a challenge, even if it is poplar.

We have also cleaned up where the deck came down. This is the view down from the back door.

There is still one section of the deck remaining. I'm not touching it and will leave it to the blokes who are going to fix the roof and build the new deck. They should be starting either late this week or next week depending on the weather.

The stuff that will go to the dump.

I have salvaged some wood and most of the Trex decking. I am thinking of building a path from the front steps to the driveway using the Trex. The copper pipe is from the deck railings. 

All of this wood cutting has been terrific upper body exercise. At first I could only do about 15 minutes cutting but now I can do considerably more.

To be honest, I was not looking forward to cutting up this thick poplar log which at a minimum was 15 inches in diameter. To make it easier, I bought a new chain for the saw and it went through the wood like a hot knife through butter. Eventually I got it done but now I have to pick up the heavy pieces and cart them over to the wood pile.