Friday (Day 4) was an interesting day. The roofers came to take care of the apartment. This roof has a very low slope (about 1:24), and so all of the contractors recommended a rubber roof, like we already have on the other parts of our house that have a low slope. The normal way to install this type of roof is to put down some high-density foam board insulation, screw it into the roof sheathing, and then glue down a rubber membrane. Additional rubber strips go over the edges and seams, and then you are done. It has a lifetime of at least 30 years.
Our problem on Friday was that the existing roof material (several layers of cheap rolled asphalt roofing on top of an ice and water shield layer) was all glued together and glued down to the sheathing. It was practically impossible to get off, and I saw the roofers struggle with it. We decided it would be OK to give up on the removal and just mount the foam board on top of it. There didn't seem to be much harm other than not getting to see the sheathing condition, but we might not have been able to see it under the stuck-on ice/water shield anyways. After jumping around on the roof for a while, the roofer convinced me it would be OK (note: I am very gullible). Unfortunately for the roofers, somebody measured wrong and didn't deliver enough roofing material, so they had to go out during the day for more. This meant they couldn't finish in one day, and had to come back on Saturday for a couple of hours, but I guess it was otherwise uneventful. There is a sort of unfortunate white strip across the roof ridge at the front of the apartment now, but the edge had to be covered with something. Maybe it can be painted black, or maybe we'll get used to it.
Meanwhile, the siding crew was completing the new sheathing on the side of the main house. There was a small surprise when they started taking off the siding on the second floor and found they had a nice view of the attic crawlspace behind Edith's closet. We talked for a while about mounting new plywood inside the crawlspace, putting in insulation, and adding more on the outside, but decided against it because the roof is not insulated there either. There is some insulation on the back of the closet, and also in the floor of the crawlspace to keep the first floor "warm".
After completing the new sheathing, everyone on site (siders, roofers, me) agreed that it looked better already, and maybe we should just leave it like that. We decided to keep going. The crew actually started mounting siding at about 4PM, and did the front of the apartment. They make it look easy, especially if you have a nail gun. Cut to length, nail once to hold in place, adjust with a level, then secure it with more nails (thud thud thud thud thud). It took them an hour to do the front, including making a new box for the new outside lamp and assembling it. There was a misunderstanding about the window trim style (I asked to have an extra piece put under the sill) but I think it will be fixed up on Monday.
Primer Beige is OK, but Edith and I went to the paint store for an hour on Saturday anyways. I think we have settled on a color scheme. I'll keep it a surprise for now, although I know some people have heard rumors.
No comments:
Post a Comment