It is day 22 now and I can see the end in sight.  It was not all that cold temp wise today (52f) but the wind was howling so the wind chill was probably in the low 40’s.    I find it interesting that this December has entered the Charleston record books as the coldest EVER recorded since record keeping began (in the 1800’s). 

Yesterday, I completed the upper front and side roofs.  This side roof was the most dangerous part of the project.  It is 2.5 stories up and the with a 6 pitch (30 deg).    I purchased and wore a safety harness the whole time I worked in this area and carried my cell phone just in case so I could call 911.  Talk about slow going as the safety line and air hoses were constantly getting tangled up.  Back when I built the house (1993-1994)  I just worked close to the edge and never thought much about it.  I must have been total crazy to take such chances back then. 

Today I completed the most complex area of the house..  The upper chimney side if the roof.

There is a lot of flashing to be done around the chimeny to prevent leaks which I am totally obsessive about.  One item about the chimney I didnt like was the HDTV antenna wires (which was originally  for two satellite dishes).  Tony even commented on how bad the wires looked running under the sofits.   

I decided to weld a custom flashing  out of aluminum for the wires to travel through. 

I also removed the orginal flat flashing on the inside face I installed years ago to properly flash the chimney with a cricket.  I think the only reason it didnt leak years ago is that I double flashed it.    Heck I didnt know any better back then.

The cricket is like a mini hip ridge which directs the water around the chimney instead letting the water slam into a flat surface and then having to find a way aroiund it.

The chimney roof was completed today.  Tomorrow I’ll finish off the remaining upper roof and install the ridge vent and the ridge caps.  At that point I’ll be totally weathered in and should be leak free. Just in time as on Saturday (Christmas Day) I am taking off and there is a prediction of 40-70% rain with the possibility of snow.  

Hell, I might even treat myself to an entire 2 days off in a row!

Twas the week before Christmas and all over the house,
The blue tarps were flapping, the soffits in place.
Up on the rooftop, could be heard a click, click, click. 
Could it be Santa reindeer or homebuilder St. Nick?

The pitches had been changed, the rafters redone
all without help of warm Charleston sun.

Late one night, the rain, the wind made such a clatter
With a start,  he sprang from his bed to see what was the matter.

The drips and the drops, they damaged the ceilings
soon the project became much less appealing

Through cold and rain, and frozen toes
the project’s challenges seemed to grow and grow!

Finally when the shingling could begin,
St Nick’s face turned from a grimace to a grin.

Air gun in hand, he stopped for the night
from the high on the roof everyone heard him exclaim a hearty Ho Ho Ho
Merry Christmas to all and let the roof be tight.

It is now in December 20th, and I am in the 19th day of the roofing  job from hell.  This whole project has turned out to be a lot more than I expected, but it was something which absolutely needed me to do it.  I probably saved $10-20,000 by doing it myself, but it has it has taken a toll on me.   Unexpected freezing weather from an arctic front has frozen the east coast and I have been freezing my ass off.    The average temp in December here in Charleston is normally 65F.  Most morning is it has been in the 20’s with highs in the low 40’s if we are lucky.  We are having historic temperatures here with record breaking cold weather everywhere.   This has been a really crazy month weather wise. 

I’ll tell you what though, there is no greater motivator to getting up early in the morning no matter how you feel or how cold it is and work your ass off than having a completely naked roof and the threat of rain.  Speaking of which an unexpected rain came through (the weatherman prediction cant be trusted) and I now have rain damage in the ceilings in every room in the house (except for my study).  I had buckets everywhere to catch the drips.    After I cleaned up the mess I just thought, I built the house so there is NOTHING mother nature can throw my way that I can’t repair as good as (or better) than when I built it the first time.

Needless to say, after getting up at 6 am, starting work by 7:30 and busting butt until the sun goes down, then hitting Lowes or Home Depot to get more stuff for the next day, I have been totally exhausted every night and had no energy to write in the blog.  I didnt clean house for 2 1/2 weeks, piled washed clothes in the corner, and left piles of dirty clothes wherever I took them off.   I was just too tired to even care how I looked, if I ate, or how the house looked.  With my camera crunched up I have rely on my cell phone camera so I havent been able to document the work.   BTW, I just ordered a new 12 mp Casio camera from  from Amazon and cant wait to get it. 

I feel like I am now on the closing end of this project, things are looking up, and have the energy to write in my blog.  I’ll try do do a quick recap to catch you up.

 Day 6

After completing the stripping of the shingles and re-pitching the back roof of the house, it was on to the front side.  I found massive wood rot on the front porch.  I ended up just replacing the header beam of the porch and a number of roof boards.  Tony stopped by for a few hours to help me replace the beam.  He left to go home to bed as he was really sick.

 Day 7

Work was started on the re-pitching of the front roof.  I wanted to bring the top of the porch roof to the same height as the peak of the front bedroom.  It has always looked out of balance to me the way it was originally built.

The roof  rafters are going up.

Day 8

I removed part of the siding of the house to build a sofit on to the new addition.  The rafters are set in place and it is time to start sheeting the roof. 

Day 11

 This was a really bad day for me.  The rains came a day early than I planned for and there was nothing I could do about the fact that 1/2 of my roof had no protection on it at all.    Early that morning I bought some traps to cover the remaining roof up but it was too late for my ceilings.

 The house looks like a smurf house now.

The re-pitching on the back of the house so I can extend the structure of the the screened in porch over my exercise pool.  I’ll have to raise the brickwork to the new sofit in a few weeks.

Water coming out the ceiling vents, lights, smoke detectors.  What a mess.

My huge construction dumpster is nearly filled.  I am saving some room for the last and final roof the screened in room which I will strip and re-shingle last.

I have put all the extra wood trash on my trailer.  I plan to have a “burning up the house” part when this project is done.  I’ll invite my friends, get some beer and pizza and make a big bonfire in my back yard.  I plan to dig a big hole with the dozer, burn the wood and leaves in it and cover up the leftovers (nails) with dirt as I level out the land.

Day 12

Tony is back on the job feeling a bit better.  Now that that front roof has been re-pitched, we will be working on the sofits and fasha boards.

Day 13

The front front sofits are done.  This looks much better than what I had before.

Day 18

We FINALLY started shingling yesterday.  What a pleasure it was to be out of the really hard back breaking work and seeing something really getting done.   I think the sofits came our really nice and the shingles (called Hickory Red) gives a really nice look to the house.   Sort of a wood shake sort of look which really complements the brick.

Day 17  (Saturday)

It rained all day so I took a much needed day off.  I actually felt almost human again.    We had over 1/2″ rain, which allowed me to discover new leaks in my temporary roof covering visa-be my ceilings.  This time it was in my upstairs bedroom.  I covered the area with more tar paper and put out the buckets, drilled more holes in the ceiling to catch the liquid gold dripping down.    I cant wait for this shit to be over.

Day 18 Yesterday (Sunday)

I started work on the back of the house.  Putting down straight runs of shingles is very quick, but cutting around roof opening takes a bunch of time.  I am glad Tony took Sunday off to get ready for his trip to Los Angles, as he would have been frustrated about the time it took me to carefully cut the shingles and seal the various roof flashing’s.

Day 19 (Today)

Tony and I finished off the back of the house.  Moved the shingles off the peak and staged them for the replacement of the screened in porch. It look terrific now.  I also installed the flashing for my solar light tubes (two of them) which run down into the kitchen.  I cant wait to see how well they work.

We also completed the back side (1 of 4) of the upper roof. 

Well this catches you up to the present stage I am at.  Whats left? 

The remaining 3 sides of the upper roof
Build a cricket for the chimney
Installing the ridge vents and caps
Shingling the two storage building
Removing the shingles and shingling the screened in porch
Reinstall the vinyl siding.

I hope to have everything done by this weekend (4 days).    This is the LAST freaking time I will ever shingle a roof again.  Kind of a shame as I did a lot of research to do the best job possible and know a lot about shingling now.  With 30-35 year shingles I figure the next time this roof will to be done, I will be in a nursing home wearing a diaper and drooling on myself.    I would only help Tony if he asked, but for anyone else, you couldnt pay me enough money in the world to do this again.  Go higher a contractor.

Off to bed.  I have a 6 am wake up call for work.  It is going to be 31f tomorrow morning.  It will be so nice to not have to dress up with 2 socks, 3 layers on my legs, 5-6 layers on my upper body, gloves, hat, ear muffs just to go to work outside.    What fun…..

Today is supposed to be the coldest of the week with a high of about 45 f.  Tomorrow will be a bit warmer with a high of 47 f.  Actually, it wasn’t too bad to work in.  When I asked Tony what he thought of the weather, he just said, “In England it would be just this cold and rainy too.  You just work between the rain showers”.  I guess we are lucky because it is sunny here.

The back is coming along nicely.  All the rafter are up.  The walls are up and tomorrow it will have the roof decked.   Then we can move onto the side and front of the house.

Tony is doing the final stripping on the front side.

The shingles were delivered today.  The truck drove up the front yard because the driver was concerned he would crack my driveway.  I didn’t realize it but the truck alone weighs in at 40,000 lbs. It left 3″ deep tracks in the front yard.  I built the drive way extra strong to prevent cracking, but I dont think it would have stood up to this bruiser.

As soon as he pulled in the front yard, my water line sprung a leak.   Apparently the freaking waterline is buried 6″ deep where his tires rolled across and part of the line was on a root.  The weight of the truck caused the tube to crack right at the root (sheared it off).  It took about an hour to repair mainly because I couldnt get the water properly stopped.

The picture above was the last one my camera will ever take.  It was REALLY hectic with the shingle going on top of the house and my ruptured water line an apparently I set the camera on back of the truck.  I knew the camera was missing and searched everywhere for it couldn’t find it.   I eventually gave up, knowing it would eventually turn up somewhere.

I drove off to Home Depot for repair parts and 20 minutes later was in the front yard working on the leak an heard a crunch as a car drove by.    Hum, I wonder what he hit?   Walked over to check it out and there in the street was the remain of my beloved camera.   Surprisingly, the memory card was ok.

Another causualty of the roof job (along with the top of my attic fan and a broken broom.    I wanted to eventually replace it with a ultra compact camera.   I guess now is the time…..

I am now in day 4 of the roofing job.  What a PITA!  The only good thing about this roofing job is I’ll never have do it again.  With 30 year shingles, I’ll be in a nursing home drooling on myself the next time this roof will need to be redone.    I wanted to do it myself because I know it will be done right and will last.

The temperatures have been in the 50’s the last few days and surprisingly it has been great to work outside.  I thought it might be a bit too cold but have been loving it.    The next few days are going to be brutal though.  Tomorrows high is 51 with lows in the 20’s which is rare here.  Basically, late January-February Charleston weather.    Hopefully, by the end of the week temps should return to normal December 60F high and 45 lows lows. 

After completing the prep work on the upper roof, the repitching of the back of the house has been started. 

Getting ahead of the game.

Scaffolding is staged for the cripple wall and the work on the upper soffits.

Tomorrow the shingle arrive.  We are not totally ready for them, but…ready enough.

This week is absolutely crazy busy for me..  A hell of a lot of stuff is going on here and I am not great at multitasking.  I like to work on on one project at a time until completion….

The construction bin was dropped off.   I didnt want to have to go to the dump with all the shingles and wood scraps and the bin is just wonderful!

A couple of more truck loads of dirt were dropped off.  Man, I am having a great time with the dozer!

Every guy needs a dozer in the back yard to play with!

The lights in the kitchen were removed to install light tubes (like sky lights).  What a mess in attic to install as there was a lot of interference stuff up there.  The installation is now prep’d and ready for me to cut a hole in the roof.

The truck load of wood has been dropped off to rebuild my roof for a new look.

Today the back sheds were stripped and prep’d for shingles.

Before

After (getting a bit dark)

Tony and I also built  the scaffolding to build the soffits and a ramp to direct the shingles into the bin

It is crazy that for the whole month of November, we had almost no rain, and extremely pleasant temps (65-75f).  After I decided to this is the time to reshingle the roof, Tuesday we had a good soaking rain, and tonight the first freeze of the year with a high in the 50’s this week.    My timing is about as good as how I anticipate the stock market…..  it sucks.

Doug bought over some more dirt today.  Four huge truck loads of fill soil to be spread out in the yard.  I am planning to use a rotary laser level to do the final spreading of the soil to make sure the slope of the yard is correct for good drainage which was why I couldnt use this part of my yard in the past.    The rain would collect in a low area and the ground would turn to mush.

Lots of work ahead!

I took my heater to Gerharts to try out.    Boo hoo, it didnt work exactly as planned.    I was focused on having lots of surface area (60 ft of 3/8″ tubing) to raise the temperature of the oil.  I found out the temperature increased nicely, but the second part of a good design is adequate flow rate.  I considered this, but thought the oil would get thin enough to easily flow through the tubing.   It doesnt. 

The flow rate is about 1.1 gpm with a 40 f temp rise.  The temp was fine if you want to spend a couple of hours twiddling your thumbs waiting, but I know I will eventually rebuild the heater using 1/2″ tubing to increase the flow rate (I hate when something is right).   Right now the overall system is good enough to last through the winter.  Next fall, I’ll tear the heater apart, sell the copper and change it over to larger tubing.

The panel is being reworked too.  I wanted each light switch position illuminated with a blue, green or orange LED.   In order to match the rest of the panel and since the LED’s are very small (T-1 type)  I decided to use light tubes with the LED’s positioned behind the panel.   Each hole had to be very carefully drilled on the milling machine.

A white LED light is shined behind the switch to see how they would look.   Awesome!

The panel will be sent back to Aerotronics to have the label replaced with a new one which corresponds correctly with the new LED lighting.

Today’s project was church, flying and construction of my WVO heater.   

It is getting cold in Charleston, and the WVO does not filter when the temperature gets below 80 f or so.  The fats in the oil coat the inside of the filter bag and flow drops to almost nothing.

Since we do not have 220v electricity in the storage shed, I decided to go with a propane heat.  Most of this project is made out of junk I had around the house.  The old crab cooker was sitting unused in the shed, the handles are made out of an old bed frame, bolt were from my drawer, the cover from some extra flashing.   

 The only thing of value was the soft 3/8″  copper tubing I had to buy for the heater coil.

This is it.  I’ll take it over to Gerhart’s tomorrow and try it out.

The yard is started to open up.  I have been spending lots of time on the dozer.  I’ll tell you one thing, it is not as easy as it looks to operate one.  That beast beats me to death sometime and it is very hard to get everything level.   Doug is going to bring me a couple of big truckloads of soil so I can continue building up this area of my yard.

The garbage man had fun with the pile of brush I cleared out of the yard.  My pile filled an entire trailer.   Tomorrow, I’ll start again clearing out more shrubs.

I wanted to show you the before/after.  I decided to go with flush mount LED instead of having them sticking out of the dash.   

The clear lens hold the LED’s behind the dash.

I also decided I didn’t like the way the lettering was on the panel for the lighting control.  It has been redesigned for a different look and I am going to embed LED’s to indicate which lighting circuit is active.    The panel will be disassembled and sent back to Aerotronics for re-lableing.    It should take about 2 weeks or so to get it back.

Today was a VERY busy and interesting day for me.    After prep’ing the plane in the morning, I stopped by Jack Wilhelmson’s house at 1 pm.  Scott (his son) was married to woman he met on the internet a year or so ago (she was lived in St Louis).  Afer the decision was made, she moved to Charleston, immediately found a job and it is just amazing how well they get along.  Another internet success story. 

Scott was married in Jack’s back yard with just a few friends and family in attendance.

The happy bride and groom!

After the wedding, I stopped by Mariner’s Cove for their annual oyster roast/party  (2:30 pm).  I wanted to see Mike (my buddy) as he was organizing the event.  He is a great cook and I love stopping by his house when I am so lucky to be invited.    I had to leave before it really got busy.

At 3:30 pm, I took off for Myrtle beach for the annual reunion of Navy Cargo Handling Battalion 4 (dinner at 5 pm).    Flying is sooooo much faster than driving.  It only took 35 minutes of relaxing flight time to get there instead of 2 hrs of boring driving. 

NCHB-4 is the military unit I deployed with during Desert Storm/Desert Shield over 20 years ago.  We were overseas for 8 months. 

I can’t imagine it has been that long ago, boy how time flies.    Needless to say, it took a bit of time to start putting name/faces together.  What amazed me is at first I didnt recognize many of my shipmates, but as the night progress memories of them started re-emerging.    I really enjoyed the comradely and will certainly go again next year.

I stayed at the the Palace Resort right on the beach…..

This is Tom Bruder.  He sold me Sherman (my WVO car).    While talking to him I found out he has been following the blog to keep track of his old car.

A brisk walk on the beach Sunday morning

and it is off to the airport for a quick flight home…