Well, the next step to our re-roof project was to begin tear-off.
Dan began at the section of roof that he unearthed in our last post. This is a section that is just above our Master bathroom. It was becoming evident rather quickly that again there were going to be more surprises.
This eye bolt was literally covered in layers of "Henry's" roofing cement and completely invisible until Dan dug through the layers. But not only did they decide to bury eye bolts ...
They buried the roof under more roof!
If you look at this picture very carefully you will see a veritable stratification of roofing. As one of our friends said, "It's like an archeological dig!" How many layers can you count?
Dan thinks that the first layer of tar paper and the silvery stuff with gravel in it was probably the original roof from 1948.
(Note: it is bad practice to have more than three layers of material on a roof.)
Judging from the technique used by the previous roofer a roof will be more waterproof if you use nails every 2 inches on the seams of rolled roofing... NOT!
And, it does create much more work when removing the roof, of course.
Here is a shot after several hours of removal. Three layers of roofing, 1 layer of plywood, and 4 more layers of roofing. And, it's 90+ degrees outside too!
The next day Dan began to work on removing the roofing material from the guest bath area that he had uncovered the week before.
The previous roofer had wrapped the eve of the main roof, on down to the lower roof, with rolled roofing. This is kind of a creepy photo... it reminds us of the Borg for some reason.
The roof was very "spongy" in several places on this section. Dan noticed that there was an added layer of some kind. He began to pry it up...
This section had a lot of water damage. I don't know if you have been able to tell from these photos but this section of roof slopes toward the back of the house.
At first we could not figure out why in the world someone would build the roof like that???
Then we realized that this section of roof was original but the roof to the rear was a later add-on (the master bath, closet and bedroom). This still does not explain why they didn't build this section of roof up the be even with the main roof. Well, we are going to fix it right this time. "Hold on little house we are going to fix you up right."
Of course water damage isn't the only kind of damage we found...
No wonder the roof was spongy...
To be continued...
Yep, tearing off the old roof may take some time. But there's nothing more fulfilling than seeing the finished product that you guys did by hand. I can just imagine how much hard work you exerted to tear that old roof, not to mention it was 90 degrees that day. Whew! Well, good luck on the restoration. :D
ReplyDelete-Eugene Head
That roof sure has a lot of details. It’s really gonna take some time removing a roof like that, but I bet it’ll be more fun to do if you did it with friends or relatives. I remember when my dad, my uncles and I removed our roof. It was tiring, but it was real fun.
ReplyDeleteLino Kosters
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ReplyDeleteYou're right; the photos are kind of creepy. Regardless of how 'waterproofed' your roof the roofer claimed to be, it's still a necessity to have it checked at the first sign of leakage. The more you ignore those situations, the more water will soak in it that will cause your roof to weaken and rot.
ReplyDeleteMissie Rice
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog, I will keep visiting this blog very often.
ReplyDeleteRoofer