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Before starting to remove anything |
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Note discoloration (accumulated crud) in the door joint on the left |
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Removing the old shingles and pulling all of the nails out |
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And taking off the flashing from the peak. At this point,
it looks like there is some rot on the left side |
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Uh, oh. A HUGE carpenter ant.
Reflexivly squished with a hammer. Almost 3/4" in length. |
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The peak there was thoroughly rotted, which is where the ant was living. |
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Well, at least one mistake when it was being built. The tar paper
was laid down vertically, which means that moisture could get in and stay in. |
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After getting all of the shingles off of the right half |
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All shingles off; Now to start taking off the tar paper |
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And see how pervasive the rot actually is |
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It's bad. And affects some of the structural supports.
This needs to be protected by a tarp to keep the rain out of the basement. |
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The foot of the roof is in really bad shape. |
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And at the peak. This level of repair/rebuild is waay
beyond my skills. Time for a pro. |
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At about the one hour mark: the entire roof is pulled off.
In amongst the junk, there was a moldy dessicated frog.
It's the white blotch on the rectangular bit of junk at almost
the center of the photo.
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About 2 hours into the effort |
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|
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About 3 hours into it, the framing is done. |
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And the new plywood is in place |
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Newly framed, using pressure treated wood for the contact point
with the cinderblocks. |
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Inside, at the top of the roof, just below the flashing |
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Protective paper on, starting to shingle |
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At the end of day 1 |
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Ok, this needs some explaining.
In order to combat the problem of standing water inside the well,
I got out the hammer-drill, and had put a few holes through the floor at
low spots to help with drainage. The slab was about 4-6 inches thick.
Except for the very last one.
It was only about an inch thick, hollow underneath, and the drill bit
caught on a plastic bag, and was tough to pull out.
Bizarre Why would there be a hollow with a plastic bag under it?
After a couple of hours of thought, I could still not come up with a
"normal" reason for someone to remove about 1'x2' of slab, put something
in a plastic bag in that spot, and then redo the concrete.
This, plus the context of having seen far too many tv shows about
forensics, I decided that I really needed to call the local police
department to ask for advice. They graciously sent an officer over.
He pointed out that it was up to me, but that if I didn't open it up,
it would bother me perpetually.
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And the cause of all this? Plain old trash.
The officer asked whether or not the previous owner was an older
Italian man. He indicated that burying garbage seems to have been
a common practice. Surprising question, but that was actually the case.
Personally, I still don't understand the motivation to expend
all that effort to bury a single trashbag of garbage vs. simply
taking it to the curb for municipal pickup (or taking it to the
town transfer station). Anyhow, the nice rectangular hole is now
filled with gravel, and will provide good drainage.
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Day 2, photos at about 1 hour intervals |
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New shingles almost completely in place |
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Now to frame the door |
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Note the angled piece of flashing to divert the rain |
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Everything done, now for cleanup |
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cleaned up (except for the old content) |
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And its finally repainted |
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Another view |