The Roof (continued)

One day I will have the most famous roof in Dayton. Back in 2010 I had to write this post to counter an attack on me by the local newspaper while I was mayor of Dayton. Their article no longer exists. The journalist who wrote it took a tour around my property two weeks after it was published and called me at home to apologize for the article because he had no idea how much was involved in the project. Of course that apology was never published. Well, here it is eight years later and we now have waterfalls in my daughter's bedroom at the front of the house because the gutters are finally failing there. I have put off the roofing because our summers have been too hot or too wet the past few years but this year we have had record rainfall in March and April so I had to devise  a solution. So here is the story. The mansard style roof and box gutters were installed around 1887-1890 along with the slate shingles. I suspect that sometime in the 1930s the metal lined box gutters began to fail so the solution was to add tar paper and pitch to the rusting out box gutters. Every few years another layer of tar paper and pitch was added and at sometime plastic and tar was added. Between 1955 and 1975 the gutters were rubberized and the slate was painted silver to reflect the heat. Eventually the rubber cracked and water seeped through the tar paper, would run down the metal eaves and decorative corbels, get sucked up by the soft brick exterior until saturated and when that happened would drip through the window casings in the front rooms on the second floor. So, on what was likely the windiest day of this year I did this!

Water would no longer enter the gutter at the front of the house and pour into my daughter's bedroom which encompasses those three windows on the second floor! It has rained for several days after installing the tarp and the wind has caused holes to appear and grommets to fail but it is working.
I was able to work under the tarp and remove all of the slate on this side of the house. I was also able to reinforce any wood struts that were rotting out under the gutters, replace the entire wooden gutter floor and one strut with original 2 X 8 wood that I have AND get the new copper box gutters in place. I was also able to get the old dormer deconstructed, the roof sheathing to patch the hole in place and  two rows of tar paper on the roof without removing the tarp. Here are some  pictures of the gutters as I worked on them. Each two feet of old gutter filled a 5 gallon bucket of black debris. I also had to cut out two thirds of the original metal gutters leaving the front part intact because it connected to the ornate molding at the front of the house.

I then constructed copper gutter corners and installed 10 foot sections in place. I have to bond them together first with self tapping screws, then copper pop rivets and then solder which is difficult to apply on vertical surfaces.

Here I replace self tapping screws with copper rivets.

Here is a length of copper box gutter leading to a corner section. My old campaign sign was used to catch water dripping through a hole in the tarp and channel it into the gutter to drain during a storm.
 

This is my soldering iron. I hate to think what next months electric bill will be like!

Finally, this is what the dormer opening looked like from inside before I deconstructed it.

Tomorrow the tarp comes off and the real work begins! To be continued .......

Year End Update With Pictures!

I get asked this question often. "Did you finish your roof?" The answer is "No, but it is two fifths done."
The gutters are the time consuming part. They have to be riveted and soldered in place and each corner has to be custom made. There are eight corners due to us having a bay section with four 135 degree corners. The good news is that six of the eight corners are in place so in the spring I just have three straight sides and a dormer to remove and replace with a window similar to the others. I am not looking forward to that window construction.
So here is why it has taken so long. Besides the roof, I had to brick up this hole in the wall.



I still have one row to complete but it involves standing on a ladder. I don't stand on ladders unless it is at least 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Here is a news clip from New Years Eve where I get asked about the roof. This was aired live at 6:10 AM so I was up early for it.

Leitzell praises risk takers: wdtn.com

I had three downspouts to replace. This had to be done to stop the waterfall we encountered on Thanksgiving Day in our bedroom and parlor which was also the result of not completing a section of gutter before a torrential rain.

Then there was the eight tons of wood pellets that were delivered and moved to my basement. Before they could be stored, I had to remove a huge pile of wood and store it outside.

We had a furnace installed this year.



I actually paid for this to be done. If you live in the Dayton area, call Mr. Hartley who owns Dayton Air Conditioning and Heating, at 937-277-8864 and tell him the Mayor referred you. I did have a role to play in the installation.

My role was to seal up a window opening that we used to vent the furnace. I put in a second piece of 4" pipe for future use if needed. It is easier than knocking a hole in the wall!



While I was at it, I replaced the bulkhead doors which were destroyed by some kids trying to break into the house in 2009.



Then I installed this door in the basement in case you get through the bulkhead doors!



I have also made a bead board wall to replace the handrail to the third floor so that I can install a door and keep some heat in the house. I have also replaced the toilet in the Steampunk bathroom with one that actually works and doesn't require three flushes to clear! I also put a toilet in the 2nd half bathroom area (also the laundry room)so that I don't have to look at the hole in the floor any more!

Did I mention lining a chimney so that we could use the wood stove in the parlor? Well I did that too. I poured vermiculite around the liner and wondered why it was taking so much to fill the space. After entering my bedroom I saw the problem. My fireplace had filled up with vermiculite! This meant that there was a hole between my chimneys. After figuring where it was I proceeded to knock a hole in the chimney to repair the hole. After repairing the hole and pouring vermiculite again, I discovered another hole higher up. So I had to make an even bigger hole in my chimney to repair it. Here is a picture. I still have three bricks to install in order to finish the work.




After all this, homeschooling my daughter and doing Mayoral things there are still people out there that call me lazy!