So it’s 2013 and I have embarked on the ROOF Project!
You can see that the corrugated sections look a little like tiles
Some years ago after a bad hail storm, I had enough insurance to put a cheap roof on the house. It originally had a clay tile roof which an unscrupulous roofer told the then current owner was old fashioned and that she needed a modern roof. Now it is true that there was considerable water damage from years of neglect, but rather than properly repair the roof, he decided to take off all of the tile, haul it away (to his profit!), perform some lousy repairs and put on a shingle roof. He also wrapped the facia with aluminum trim coil and covered the three foot overhanging soffit with poorly supported vinyl. At the time I only had about $6k for the roof job so I decided to put Ondura roofing over the shingles. It is a corregated product and when cut into 2 foot sections has a look of tile, sort of. It lasted about 12 years. What I didn’t know about Ondura is that is has to be recoated (painted) every 10 years. If you don’t do that it deteriorates badly. Without the underlying old shingle roofing I would have been in deep kimchi! The ridge cap had huge holes eaten by the sand and wind over the years. Enough said, I need a new roof!
So the first thing was to pick a type, style and color. Since the original roof was a red clay tile roof, I considered that first. I didn’t like the idea of a brand new red roof however. It would clash with the age of the house and was the most expensive alternative. I decided to go with concrete tile. It is a little cheaper and lasts just as long with the proper care. I selected Eagle Roofing’s Capistrano Product No: 3624, Biscayne Bay Blend which is a Golden Beige, Green Blend.
Capistrano
Product No: 3624
Name: Biscayne Bay Blend
Description: Golden Beige, Green Blend
This will look aged even when it is new. I also like the subtle green highlights. Having picked and ordered this tile, I now have the beginning of the color pallet for decorating the rest of the house.
So we waited for the order to come in from the plant in Florida. It took weeks and just the freight bill was in the thousands. This roof is not cheap!
Here is just some of the roofing in my driveway. This stuff is 100 lb. /sq. ft.
My roofer is Stevens Roofing in Norfolk, VA. and I choose them because of referral from my Mason and Angie’s List. They are a long standing roofing company and have a great deal of experience with historical roofing projects in Norfolk and tidewater. They are not the cheapest but I believe they are the best in the area.
We began with the tear off crew. They are a Latino crew and they really blew that old roof away! This is not a small roof. It is over 2600 sq. feet of living space with at 9/12 pitch so that is a lot of roof. They tore the back roof off, repaired the broken roofing boards and covered the roof with water and ice shield all on the first day. They did the front roof on the second day and the entire roof was dried in.
These pictures show the tear off.
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- They would pound on the bad boards and break them out of the roof
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- Rotten boards from water leaks through old flashing
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- New wood shows the extent of the repairs
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- After repair, water and ice membrane covers the roof
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- They ripped off the old back roof and dried it in
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- They dried in the front on the second day
In the process of tearing off the roof they also removed the old aluminum facia and vinyl soffit. This exposed a lot of damage that had been hidden. Most of the damage came from wood rot caused by failed flashing around the chimney and dormers. The carpenters have been working for weeks to repair the damage properly. Below are pictures of some of the damage and repairs.
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- Soffit is removed to expose the tails of the roof rafters
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- Roofers removed all of the aluminum facia wrap and vinyl soffet
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- Box beams are supposed to support the facia boards
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- there were many squirrel nests in box beams. Destructive little beasts!
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- Lots of damage was hidden by wrapping with aluminum trim coil
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- Rotten wood and sisters were tied together with steel plates
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- fortunately many of the box beam structures were sound
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- Lots of restructuring is required down slope from the chimney
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- Old repairs were poorly done and even ineffective. This steel L was not supported by the structure
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- The roof was removed to access the structure and reenforce the cantilever beams
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- Cottage style supports added to porch overhang
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- A real jackleg repair. Rotten wood was sistered with ineffective supports
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- The Facia on both sides was totally rotten and replaced with new wood
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- The big box beams required major restructure
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- Left side support restructured
Sometimes you get lucky and uncover details of original construction. This box beam had finished ends that were hidden under the aluminum trim coil.
Detailed end caps were preserved on one box beam
I intend to add similar details to all of the box beams. The new soffit, facia and box beams will be covered in 3/8″ PVC and the beam end details will be fabricated out of PVC lumber.
After the tear off the roofers started placing the battens and bird stop for the tile. Each tile is nailed to the batten with copper nails. All of this came to a stop as the extent of the restructure became apparent. So it is all up to the carpenters to finish before the roofers can start laying the tile.
Almost all of the battens are in place
The first row of tile requires bird stop to keep out the critters.
Associated with this project was the start of another project to re-stucco the entire outside of the house. Check it out here.