New Roof Progress!
At several points thus far I have mentioned the roof issues. We visited the Hawksbill Cabin on September 22 to check progress – remember last week, the roof was off and we were shocked to encounter the cabin in that condition!
I have some extensive documentation of termite damage to share down the road in the next Battle of the Species entry, but for now I want to write about the roof technology we selected.
Basically, when we first identified possible roof damage, all that was revealed was one beam and a wet spot in the roof above it. There is a photo early on of the suspect beam and the ceiling around it.
As the GC and roofer got to work, it became clear that the termites had gotten into all of the beams in the original part of the house. They eat wood from the center out, and had made their way across the ceiling, 12 to 15 feet into the span of each beam – a hard freeze and wet snow would have brought the whole thing down.
The pitch of this roof is not optimal for shingles, as water will tend to wick under the lower edge of each shingle, leading to early failures of the roof. Complicating the situation was the fact that each time there was a leak in the roof, the previous owners put a new layer of shingle on, rather than demo/removal of the old system. During demo, six layers of old shingles were removed! Finally, a layer of corrugated metal was put over that, and then, on the original side, that metal was even tarred!
We had secured escrow money to repair the beam and re-roof the entire building with new shingles – not optimal as we were learning. Then we discovered the full extent of the damage and worked with our GC to put together a better – and more expensive solution.
The original beams, assuming you could find enough trees to produce the 12 joists needed, cost $1500 each; we had $5K in escrow so you can see this wasn’t going to be an economical choice. Plus in the do-it-yourself original design, the beams were spaced at 36 inches, which we were concerned wouldn’t meet modern code.
The roofer suggested a new engineered wood product: http://lpcorp.com/ijoists/ijoists.aspx, which was available in the length we needed for about $250 a pop. Plus, we could fix the beam spacing problem for more support.
The photos below show the newly installed ceiling – not finished, but the advantages of this technology are clear.
Back to the outside part of the story: because shingles were not the optimal solution, we looked at two alternatives – a membrane roof and standing seam metal. Both have their advantages and disadvantages – the membrane is cheaper (much cheaper!) but it only lasts a few years and given the overhanging trees, there is much risk of puncture. Standing seam metal, on the other hand – expensive, but is a “100-year roof”. It is a typical material for the area out there. So even though our quote was $7K for this, we opted for the peace of mind.
During yesterday’s visit, the roofing team from Knott’s Roofing and Siding was putting on the finishing touches, shown in the photo below. The second photo shows the new porch area, which has been completely rebuilt during this project.
When they finished, Allen Knott invited me up to “see my new roof.” I can’t tell you how great it felt to see the projects this far along.
At several points thus far I have mentioned the roof issues. We visited the Hawksbill Cabin on September 22 to check progress – remember last week, the roof was off and we were shocked to encounter the cabin in that condition!
I have some extensive documentation of termite damage to share down the road in the next Battle of the Species entry, but for now I want to write about the roof technology we selected.
Basically, when we first identified possible roof damage, all that was revealed was one beam and a wet spot in the roof above it. There is a photo early on of the suspect beam and the ceiling around it.
As the GC and roofer got to work, it became clear that the termites had gotten into all of the beams in the original part of the house. They eat wood from the center out, and had made their way across the ceiling, 12 to 15 feet into the span of each beam – a hard freeze and wet snow would have brought the whole thing down.
The pitch of this roof is not optimal for shingles, as water will tend to wick under the lower edge of each shingle, leading to early failures of the roof. Complicating the situation was the fact that each time there was a leak in the roof, the previous owners put a new layer of shingle on, rather than demo/removal of the old system. During demo, six layers of old shingles were removed! Finally, a layer of corrugated metal was put over that, and then, on the original side, that metal was even tarred!
We had secured escrow money to repair the beam and re-roof the entire building with new shingles – not optimal as we were learning. Then we discovered the full extent of the damage and worked with our GC to put together a better – and more expensive solution.
The original beams, assuming you could find enough trees to produce the 12 joists needed, cost $1500 each; we had $5K in escrow so you can see this wasn’t going to be an economical choice. Plus in the do-it-yourself original design, the beams were spaced at 36 inches, which we were concerned wouldn’t meet modern code.
The roofer suggested a new engineered wood product: http://lpcorp.com/ijoists/ijoists.aspx, which was available in the length we needed for about $250 a pop. Plus, we could fix the beam spacing problem for more support.
The photos below show the newly installed ceiling – not finished, but the advantages of this technology are clear.
Back to the outside part of the story: because shingles were not the optimal solution, we looked at two alternatives – a membrane roof and standing seam metal. Both have their advantages and disadvantages – the membrane is cheaper (much cheaper!) but it only lasts a few years and given the overhanging trees, there is much risk of puncture. Standing seam metal, on the other hand – expensive, but is a “100-year roof”. It is a typical material for the area out there. So even though our quote was $7K for this, we opted for the peace of mind.
During yesterday’s visit, the roofing team from Knott’s Roofing and Siding was putting on the finishing touches, shown in the photo below. The second photo shows the new porch area, which has been completely rebuilt during this project.
When they finished, Allen Knott invited me up to “see my new roof.” I can’t tell you how great it felt to see the projects this far along.
2 comments:
Wow, that's some project. The 100 year roof is well worth it, and the exposed beams are beautiful. This experience will result in your treasuring your home even more when it's done. Very interesting design similarities with the Usonian style! And I'm lovin' the blog. Thanks for sharing.
cathy e. - glad to see you here and thanks for the note!
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