Let’s recap. First, we replaced the roof of our Studio which is a 400 square foot building. Recently we replaced the roof of the Office which is a 700 square foot building.
Last week we started the replacement of the house roof. The house is 1500 square feet. The house was built in 1921 and the original wood shake shingles are still on the roof although covered in a layer of asphalt shingles.
Carrie has done a significant amount of research, planning and investigation to prepare. We got the Office and House roof permits at the same time and are under some time pressure to get the preliminary inspection done before the permit expires. Carrie measured the roof in detail and has prepared a plywood sheet diagram that shows how many sheets we’ll need and will act as a cut list.
87. That is how many sheets of plywood it will take. We will remove the asphalt and then the wood shingles. That will leave the skip sheathing which is made up of 1 X 3 inch boards placed about 3” apart. The plywood will be applied over the skip sheathing.
We ordered the plywood from a nearby lumber yard. It was delivered on Friday. Next time we buy lumber, we’ll buy it from someone who owns a forklift. These guys just scooted the pallet of plywood off the end of the truck, Crash! One band broke and the strap that secured the pallet to the truck bed was stuck under the plywood. The driver said he would come back for it. Friday night we moved each sheet one at a time from the driveway and stacked it against the wall behind the gate. This would not have been necessary if they had delivered the pallet with a forklift that could have placed the load at the gate.
Carrie removed a section of asphalt shingles about 4 feet by 20 feet to see how hard it would be. Obviously not hard enough as she then proceeded on Saturday to remove most of the asphalt shingles from the west side of the roof. I arrived in time to assist with the last 25%.
We paused to take a good look at the exposed wood shake to get an idea of what the house looked like new. There was very little damage, no rot or bugs. There is some evidence that the roof was once painted green. This would have been consistent with Craftsman style.
We then took off the shake shingles from about 80% of the west side of the roof. This was part demolition and part architectural dig. We found some shingles that had the manufacturer’s name stamped on the back. But no single shingle had the entire name or address, so we accumulated the fragments and hope to reconstruct the total.
Most fun was finding the parts of tin cans used to patch leaks. Plain metal rusty tin doesn’t hold much appeal, but one brightly painted can was cut into a number of pieces and used throughout the roof. Like the shingles with only part of the maker’s message, the can is in so many small pieces that we do not yet know what it contained. The picture of a lady drinking and enjoying its contents is one clue. There is a 1924 copyright date, and the can was black (or dark blue) and yellow stripped. We hope that enough of the can will be found between the remaining shingles to tell us more of its original contents. 
Removing the wood shingles, (they just tore and splintered being 85 years dry), left a forest of tiny nails in the 1X3 boards. Removing each of them in a way that prevented (most of) them from falling into the attic was the single most time-consuming step so far. But once done with the nails Sunday afternoon, we were ready to install some plywood. Spacing was a challenge as the rafters are not all on the same center. But using Carrie’s diagram as a guide we needed to make just a 3” adjustment to the first planned cut to retain the needed stagger in the plywood joints while landing the first two full boards on a rafter.
We are using “H” clips for the first time. They a StrongTie product that provides spacing and support between sheets of plywood. They do make placing and aligning the plywood easier.
At 6:30 PM Sunday we had five sheets of plywood in place, two of which required cuts, and called it a day rather than drag more plywood to the roof. Did I mention the temperature passed 100 degrees (40 Celsius) both Saturday and Sunday? Even though we had another couple hours of daylight, we were whipped. So we put stuff away and washed the car then ourselves before collapsing.
20%. That is the possibility of rain being predicted as we go to bed Sunday night. There is indeed a menacing thunderhead forming to the northeast. But as the prevailing wind should push the clouds away from us, we decide not to cover the roof in plastic. At 3AM we both wake up to the sound of rain hitting the ground. Carrie ran to investigate and soon returned to bed relieved to have determined that the sound wasn’t rain, but was just debris from our big cypress trees loosened by the wind and hitting the pile of wood shakes on the ground outside our bedroom window. Whew!
Monday. It rained a couple of drops this afternoon and the sky is threatening. I left work at 4:30 to get home in time to add a few sheets of plywood to the roof. We made our first few angle cuts as we had reached the part where the two roofs meet in a valley. Being conservative, we had to cut our first board twice to get it the right length, but our angle was good. The wind picked up which added some drama to carrying plywood sheets on the roof. Neither Carrie nor I were blown off, however.
There was a vent stack that used to attach to the water heater when it was in the kitchen. The water heater got relocated to the basement years ago, but the pipe through the roof remained. The pipe needed to go before we put down the new plywood. Carrie said the joints of the 5” diameter pipe didn’t look very secure and she suggested that if I pulled straight up on the portion protruding through the roof that everything from the last joint up might just pull free.
Taking her suggestion, I pulled. The joint separated as predicted and the pipe came out cleanly. That was too easy.
The sky is starting to clear and it looks less stormy. Again we decide not to cover the roof in plastic, betting that it will not rain. As it got dark, we took the measurements for the board that will surround the power pole. That will be our first sheet cut and installed tomorrow.
Another dry night.
