When we bought the junky old house, there were a number of things we knew needed attention soon- not the least of which was the roof. We essentially lived in the "surprised it's not leaking" phase for three years. That phase ended last fall when a stain began to form on our loving room ceiling.
 |
| The old shingles were faded, curling, and falling off the roof. Time for new stuff. |
 |
| Zoom in on that crap! |
After months of research (mostly just trying to delay the inevitable), we started meeting with contractors and collecting estimates. After some quick photoshop work to settle on a shingle style and color, we made our selections and started writing checks. As with all our other projects , the solution is always money.
Being concerned with our aging roof structure, we opted to tear off the existing shingles and underlayment to avoid any added weight. Turned out to be a good move, as in exposing the wood roof deck below, we realized how much of it needed replacement as well.
 |
| Everything sat while it rained for three days longer than it was supposed to. |
Demo began first thing Saturday morning with a few azaleas. Thankfully, this was not permanent. You can also see our dire need for a good pressure washing, which will follow in a later post!
Even living on the ground floor the noise of the old roof being ripped off was incredible. We were convinced the house was going to fall down on top of us.
 |
| Some of the Carnage |
 |
| What it took to replace all rotten wood. It was getting real at this point with little heart attacks had by all. |
 |
| Mid-demo. Mild panic sets in when we realize the extent of what needed to be removed and replaced. |
You can see just how much of the old roof deck needed to be replaced. Whoever installed the old roof half-assed the chimney by layering on additional plywood instead of removing the old deck, so that came off too.
 |
| Some New Stuff! |
We were relieved to see our roofers actually replaced the old soffit with matching bead board. A small added cost (nobody was still keeping track at that point) to ensure everything would still match after we have it painted.
All this was in addition to our originally quoted price, so we promptly left to blow off steam at the gun range.
 |
| Therapy sesh |
 |
| End of day one. |
End of day one. Old shingles and tar paper in a trailer in the yard, lots of rafters and roof deck replaced, and new peel and stick underlayment installed. We also opted to install hurricane straps on the rafters- not only will we sleep a bit better in the fall, but they pay for themselves in about three years in reduced insurance premiums. Win-win.
Yard was trashed, but we figured this would happen. It's going to make an awesome (and expensive) before / after for a later post...
We also needed a bit of stucco work - another fail from the previous installation was the lack of flashing where the low roof met the two-story area of the house (Their fix was some strange flexible tape, painted to match the stucco... sort of visible in the before pics). This eventually led to leaks and some small stains on our living room ceiling. The only fix was to cut everything away, install metal flashing, and re-stucco.
 |
| No plywood on these walls, just old school lath on wood framing. Architect's mind = blown. |
Next day - progress! Sighs of relief from everyone to finally be moving in the right direction.
 |
| Not-quite-finished product, pic taken before stucco guy's work began. Sweet roof though! |
Done! Not really photogenic, but very weatherproof. Everything was still wet and dirty from four days of rain / fog / old roof crap everywhere, but some nice "after" shots are on their way! Looking forward to giving this blog a decent front-page image of all our hard exterior work in the near future...
Josh & Steph
