Roof Replacement Project - Section #2
April 28-30, 2006After spending 3 days on the first section of the roof, I realized that the roofing process took longer than I had anticipated! I waited for a clear forecast before starting on the second section of the project. This time, I'll be replacing the roof on the side opposite of the first section. Based on feedback from some readers, I have some close-up details to share.
One thing I learned from the first section was to remove the gutter before starting the tearoff. Otherwise it gets full of slate dust and needs to be emptied. With that done, the real work could begin. I got my harness on and started working down the roof, removing the tiles and tar paper as I moved down.
My son Casey was with we the first day, and took charge of the camera duties...so you get a different point of view this time! Just like before, I started at the peak of the roof and let the tiles slide off.
Now you can see why my legs were sore last time!
Casey was particularly happy with this photo below - it's the only one where he caught the tile in mid-plunge.
The piece of carpet at the top of the roof has two purposes - It keeps the rope from ruining the new shingles I put on the backside of the roof, and it prevents the rope from getting cut!
As I worked around the chimney, I found that the valley flashing on the upper side was rusted to the point of having holes in it.
I guess I can't complain too much, considering that it worked fine from 1935-2005.
One the valley flashing was out, the evidence of the leak was revealed. Look at all the water stains on the wood in the picture below! Luckily, there was no rotten wood.
In the fall, leaves would always get caught in this section of the roof. We would have to open the window right above it to keep it clear - just one more maintenance task to do. When I build the roof back up, I'm going to address this persistent problem.
Since there was no chance of rain at all, I decided to try a different approach with the installation of the new shingles. Instead of covering the whole roof with tar paper first, I just laid down the dripedge, a single pass of tar paper and four courses of shingles.
Once the four courses were down, I hung a set of roof brackets and placed a 2x10 to work from. This made it much easier to attack the next part of the tearoff, which was to remove the old flashing. This was enough work for the first day!
The next day, I got ready to remove the flashing. Below, you can see the old flashing in place along with remainders of the slate tiles. I'll need to cut the siding to get them out.
Cutting the siding and removing the flashing will create a lot of debris, and I need to make sure it doesn't get under that first course of roofing felt. Otherwise, something sharp could cut through it and potentially lead to a leak. A stripe of masking tape prevents stuff from getting under the tar paper.
You may also notice that I have a bundle of shingles up on the plank with me. I have learned to always keep at least one full bundle on the plank with me at all times. What I do is move the shingle pack to the opposite end of the plank from where I am working. It provides a counter balance and prevents one side from lifting. Think of the playground teeter-totter as a point of reference.
With the plank stable and the tar paper taped up, a circular saw was used to cut a few inches from the bottom of the siding. Once pried off, this exposes the old flashing and the nails that hold it in.
With all the old flashing removed, compressed air was used to blow off all the sawdust and debris. Full courses of tar paper were laid down next. Along the edge at at the overlaps, cap nails are installed every 12 inches or so.
After the tar paper is fastened, the drip edge for the rake is installed over the paper. This helps prevent water from getting under the paper.
Up at the top of the roof, I drove in two nails. One was 35&1/4 inches from the (side) edge, and the other was 29&1/4. The same measurements were taken at the bottom, and a chalk line was snapped. This gave me two alignment lines to work from, each allowing for a 3/4 overhang past the drip edge.
I guess a man on the roof is quite the attention-getter. While I was up there working, one of the neighbors looked at me instead of the road and drove right into the back of my car that was parked in front of the house!
Between the car and a leaky washing machine that I had to go get parts for, my day on the roof was cut short. Below is a picture of where I was on the start of the third day.
I started by making a template for a chimney "saddle". A saddle (sometimes called a cricket) provides a sloped surface behind the chimney to divert water and leaves around it.
Satisfied with my template, I cut a saddle from OSB (Oriented Strand Board). Unfortunately, this one left a big gap against the bricks. Seems the problem is that the chimney and the side of the house are not at a perfect 90 degree angle. I guess I shouldn't have assumed things were square!
I took a few more measurements and cut a second saddle - this one fit nicely. I tapered the edges and installed cleats to use for nailing. Notice that there are only two cleats - the saddle gets nailed into the roof and the side of the house. The third side goes against the chimney and needs to be able to "give".
After pre-drilling some nail holes, roofing cement was placed under where the saddle edges would lay and it was hammered home. The excess cement that oozed out was smeared into the seams, and used to cover the heads of the nails.
Tar paper was installed on the saddle, and flashing installed. The main section of the roof could then be shingled to completion.
With the main section done, flashing and shingles were installed on the saddle to finish it off. I will need to re-visit this in the future and install some counter-flashing as well.
That's it for this section! Below is a picture of the section right before it was done. The only additional things were to install tar paper where the siding was trimmed and to finish cutting the overhanging shingles.
Now that both sides of this section of the roof are done, I want to install a ridge vent. The ridge vent will help the shingles last longer, and keep the interior cooler. That may be my next project page, or I may start on another section of roofing. Be sure to come back soon to see it!