Up on the roof...

Soon after the roof infrastructure structure was repaired on the Hawksbill Cabin, we met Alan Knott, our roofer from Stanley. As his team was wrapping up the job of installing our "100-year standing seam metal roof," he invited me up to have a look at "my new roof."

That installation is still a point of pride for us. Working with Alan, we feel like we got a high-quality job and we made a decision about the house that is going to outlast us, benefiting future owners. After all, we have a little bit of a legacy here, as indicated by this inscription that I found on the chimney cap this weekend, indicating that it was competed in August 1949. The inscription pairs up with another we found at the base of the chimney, which is marked Thanksgiving 1949.

Earlier this fall there was a rainstorm and water got in along the chimney. I had suspected that a stone chimney is really hard to protect from the elements, and since the Hawksbill Cabin was built in an era before codes guided construction, we figured we’d just be dealing with whatever nature handed us. So water gets in during storms – hopefully it’s not enough to do any significant damage to the interior or the structure of the house.

Mary called Alan to take a look at what had been causing periodic leaks like this one, and he was able to come out this weekend. He found a few spots where the seals around the flashing had opened up a little bit, enough to allow driven rain to get through and run down the walls. He was ready with silicone caulking to correct the situation, taking care of us very quickly.

Despite the willies I get sometimes up on the front part of the roof, I went up to check out the situation (again, at Alan's invitation). Now I know what needs to be done as part of an annual inspection and maintenance chore, something it appears I may be capable of taking care of myself in the future. And hopefully, it’s taken care of for this year.

After Alan was finished, I took advantage of being up there to clean out some leaf litter and acorns from the gutters. Roof-wise, I think we are as ready as we can be for the winter.

…and for this, our appreciation goes out to Alan for great service. He’s onto another job in the Hawksbill Pines neighborhood, and based on the quality of his work and his commitment to his customers, it’s not hard to understand why he’s holding his own, even in an economy like this one.