All done!

Well, I'm done with the roof.

My plan for this blog was to follow a similar path as I did when I renovated our kitchen 5 years ago.  You can read that blog here.  However, I quickly realized that I way, way, way underestimated how much time and energy it would take to do this roof.  I literally did not have the time and energy to document the project as I went along.  So here I am, 3 weeks after finishing the roof, going through the pictures I took along the way, and writing the blog afterwards.  These blog posts posts are pretty stream of consciousness.  Sorry about that.

I can't remember exactly how long I thought it would take me.  I want to say I thought it would take around 3 weeks, including nights and weekends.  I don't know where I got that estimate, but it was off.

Way off.

Way, way off.

I can't type enough ways to show just how way off I was.

As mentioned in a prior post, on May 12th, all the materials were delivered.  It took a day for my wife and myself to move the materials from the driveway, into the garage (plywood decking, fascia, and soffit materials) and the back porch (shingles and ice & water barrier), where they would be protected from the elements.

With the exception of a little bit of cleanup work, the roof was completed on September 16th.

128 days later.  4 months and 5 days.

I kept track of my hours, as well.  390 hours.  I think a safe estimate on the labor cost that I saved having to pay by doing it myself, is somewhere in the $8,000-$10,000 range.  Factoring that savings in, I "made" $20-$25/hr.  Not too bad!

It was also forced exercise.  My day job being in computers, I don't generally get a whole lot of exercise.  I managed to lose 13 lbs during the project.

I also got used to the heat, which ended up being quite helpful at work.  I don't tolerate heat well, but being exposed to so much of it this summer really acclimated me to it.  That worked out, because right in the middle of summer the AC in my office died, and it was routinely a stuffy 80-85 degrees in my office for much of July into August.  Any other summer, I would have been a melted pool on the floor. Not this summer!  80-85 was "cool" by my standards at that point.

One thing I didn't mention much about was the ridge vent.  Installation of that was unremarkable, and you can look on Youtube for more info on ridge vents.  The old soffit had just 8 or so tiny vents, and the roof itself had 2 tiny aluminum vents.  Replacing all of those with vented soffit and ridge vents was integral in my plan to improve roof ventilation.  That, along with the Energy Star rated shingles will help the new roof last longer, and reduce the attic temperature, which will in turn reduce our air conditioner usage.  It's not a perfect example since it's somewhat apples and oranges, but our electric bill this month was $10 less than the same month last year, which had the same temperatures.  By no means will the new roof ever fully pay for itself in energy savings, but every little bit helps!

About a month and a half in, when I saw how long it was taking me, is when I started regretting my decision to do this project.  In fact, when I nailed the last piece of sheathing down, I wrote the following on it:

Never Again!

As I finish this final blog post, I want to thank my wife for hanging in while I did this.  We're best friends, and I'm used to spending a lot of time with her after work and on the weekends.  With a few exceptions, for over 4 months I saw her for a few minutes in the morning, a few minutes at dinner, and when I was done for the night and exhausted.

Would I do it again?  The answer is, "It depends."  If I knew then what I know now, I don't think I would have.  By far the hardest part was removing and replacing the sheathing.  I think I probably would have repaired any broken 1x8 boards, and put thinner plywood sheathing over the 1x8s.  It would have saved time from tearing off the old stuff, but still given a solid foundation for the new shingles.

Would I recommend others to do it yourself?  Again, I'd have to say my answer is, "It depends."  If my roof had been two story, or had been steep, I wouldn't have done it myself.  The valleys were kind of a pain.  But if you have a ranch house with a simple gable-style roof that has nice solid sheathing, and all you need to do is a tear off and re-shingle?  I think it's totally doable, especially if you have some help.

Dealing with Problems. (Roof Part 5 of 5)

There were a few unique situations that I ran into.

Back to the drawing.

The first was where the house section of the roof on the left met the garage section of the roof on the right.  Where those two section meet, you need to install a valley.  Diagonally cutting the sheathing was horrible.  Diagonally cutting shingles for the valley was horrible.  Valleys are horrible.

I used a w-valley, a piece of metal flashing that directs water that hits it from the section of roof "above" it.  It made for interesting tarping, because I had to have enough tarps, and layered in such a way that any rain would run down behind them.

Speaking of tarps, I had only mentioned using screws on the first section.  Obviously, you don't want to use screws to secure the tarp to new sections of roof.  In that case, bundles of shingles work wonders.  I would generally have 10 or so bundles (~75lbs a bundle) at a time on the roof, holding down the tarp.  The obvious place to put the bundles is on the corners, but often you'll want them in multiple places along the tarp, as well as in the center.  The bundle in the center makes it much more difficult for the tarp to become a sail.

75 pounds for a bundle of shingles is pretty heavy, especially when you're talking about getting it onto a roof.  The 4x8 pieces of sheathing themselves are around 70-80lbs, too.  Behold: The home made shingle elevator!

I made it with a couple 20' 2x4s, a bunch of scrap 2x4s, some casters, and a Harbor Freight 120v winch.  It served me well, hauling over 4 tons of roofing supplies up, so that I didn't have to.  Everyone made fun of how slow it was, but it was still faster, safer, and better than trying to it myself.  Before I built it, I somehow assumed I was going to take it down off the roof each night.  Yeah, that didn't happen.  It was way too heavy and unwieldy.  I did, however, remove the "cart", and cover the winch to keep the rain off of it.

I only moved the shingle elevator twice.  Once to the front of the house when I started, and when I got to where I needed to work on that section of the roof, I moved it around the corner to the back of the house.  It sat perfectly on a section of the porch roof.  The entire time the elevator was on the front, I was thinking of the best place for it in the back.  I lost sleep over it, because I didn't want to place it on the new shingles and damage them by walking over them while carrying wood or shingles.

Moved around to back of house.

The final unique situation was with the 3 roof protrusions. One plumbing vent stack, one furnace/water heater exhaust pipe, and one electric service conduit.  The electric service conduit was only 5 years old, replaced when we did our kitchen.  We went from a 60-amp service to a 200-amp service, so everything from the electrical panel to the weatherhead needed to be replaced.  That left us with a nice, fairly new boot on that.  The plumbing stack had an old, old lead flashing that wasn't very water tight.  It had dried out caulking, mastic, whatever.  I had gone in a few years and duct taped a towel around the pipe to catch any stray water that came into the attic.  That got a nice, new boot too.  The existing gas heating exhaust pipe and flashing were in rough shape.

The rope is where the tarp was tied off to.  I put more trust in that rusty pipe than I probably should have.  Thankfully, it's a common brand of B-pipe that is still sold today.

While I had that section of the sheathing opened up, it was a perfect opportunity to pull the old pipe off and replace it.  I don't have a picture of the new flashing in place, but it's just as shiny as the new pipe.

One of the reasons I saved that section of roof for the last was because of the roof protrusions.  I obviously can't tarp over them, that's dangerous.  For the heating vent pipe and plumbing vent stack pipe, I carefully measured and cut holes in the tarp, and reinforced the edges with tarp tape.  That allowed me to put the tarp on over that section without blocking the pipe.

Old rusty pipe and rain cap.

The electrical conduit I wasn't concerned about, since it doesn't go into the attic space, it just goes through the roof and down the side of the house.


The final unique situation I ran into was on the very last section of sheathing that I was replacing, on the back side of the garage.  I tore off the shingles to find the following:

Newish looking 1x6 boards, meaning some repair was done sometime in the past.  Whether the repair was good or not, remained to be seen.

Well, poop.  That isn't good.  Two rotten rafter tails.  After consulting several websites, I determined I could cut them out, and "sister" in some replacement rafter tails.  I had a spare 20' 2x4 from the shingle elevator I built, so I went to work cutting and nailing them in place.

Good as new!  I doubled up the one on the right just to be safe.

If you're paying attention, at this point you should be going, "Hey, you replaced the soffits, why didn't you see that from underneath when you replaced them?"  Two reasons:  1) This section along the garage already had aluminum soffits, which must have been installed probably back in the 90s (80s?) when the screened in porch was installed.  2) Because of how the screened in porch is constructed, I'm unable to get in and replace the fascia or install the fascia cover.  It's possible, maybe even probable, that we'll be tearing down the screened in porch next year and replacing it with a fence.  The porch is showing its' age, and the way our house sits back on the lot, our porch is like a stage for the rest of the neighborhood to see.

Old mistakes made by the previous roofer. (Roof Part 4 of 5)

I have no idea who installed the previous roof, so I don't know if it was a professional roofer.  However, there were some pretty egregious mistakes made, that were corrected this time around.

1) No drip edge on the eaves.

The drip edge is used to direct water from the roof, into the gutters, and not onto the fascia.  The previous roofer relied on the overly long overhang of the shingles to make sure the water got into the gutter (which it didn't always).

2) Excess shingle overhang.

See above.  That can cause the shingles to bend over with their own weight, and shorten their life.

3) Improper drip edge on the gable sides.

It's hard to tell, but the right side of the picture leads towards the peak of the roof, and the left side towards the gutter.  The drip edge on the right should be extend over the drip edge on the left by several inches.  This is so water that travels down the drip edge can safely make it to the next section of drip edge.  In this scenario, water traveling down the drip edge on the right would hit the tar paper and go under the drip edge on the left, potentially damaging the roof.

4) Improper tar paper overlap.

Doesn't overlap.

Higher tar paper (on the right) actually goes *under* the lower tar paper on the left.

Again, you have to think like water.  Gravity is going to cause water to go from high areas to low areas.  As you build up the layers of the roof, you always start at the bottom.  This is so that the next section up, whatever it might be (ice & water barrier, underlayment, or shingles) overlaps the one below it.

5) Undersized valley.

This may honestly have been code back when the roof was last replaced.  However, it was definitely not to modern code.  The new roofing valley is 20" wide, and overlaps 6" (not 1" like above!)

6) No ice & water barrier.

Again, this probably wasn't code when the roof was last replaced, and may not have even existed.  Regardless, it's code now, so I did it.  It's required from the eaves, up to 2' inside the interior wall.

Thankfully, none of these appear to have caused any issues.

Safety, Shingles, and a Painful Hammer Tacker Mistake. (Roof Part 3 of 5)

Safety first!  For the first few weeks I worked on the roof, I used a fall harness.

First, the hat.  I'm not a hat person, let alone a wide-brimmed, cowboy hat person.  However, I don't like sunburns, so I made an exception and wore the above hat for the duration of the project.  It's a very lightweight Panama Jack hat, and it worked.

As far as the fall harness, the hook in the back attaches to a very thick rope that you then attach to an anchor that you screw to the peak of the roof.  There's a spring-loaded clip that you can very quickly adjust so that you have enough slack to work, but not enough to hit the ground if you fall.  I went so far as to keep mine short enough that I wouldn't even go past the edge of the roof.  It was literally impossible for me to fall off the roof.

After a few weeks, the rope became more of a hindrance than a help.  I tripped over it several times.  By that time, I was quite comfortable on the roof, and decided to go without it.  If I had a steep roof, or a two story house, I would have used the harness the whole time.

As far as keeping it all waterproof, I had tied 6 ropes to the corners of the 3 tarps that were used to cover the roof, and attached them to the fence with bungee cords.  On the roof side, the tarps went about a foot over the peak, and were screwed to the old roof using drywall screws and fender washers.

You can just make out the red and green ropes in the picture above.

On July 7th, I get the following message from our neighbor in Facebook Messenger: "The tarp is flapping wildly. The front is loose and flying all over."  I checked the weather, and we were in the middle of a huge thunderstorm.  I flew home from work, went right up onto the roof in the pouring rain.  Most of the ropes and screws held, but a few of the grommets were ripped out.  I secured the tarp with additional screws and fender washers.

A few days later, while I was home, we had another wind/thunderstorm.  I watched from a window as the wind would get under the tarp like a sail, and pull it up.  It was at that point that I realized I needed a different system.  I took the aluminum fascia back off, untied the ropes, and used drywall screws and fender washers on every other grommet, screwing them into the fascia.  It took a lot longer to remove them every day, but I felt a lot more secure in their ability to hold in the wind.

One of the Saturdays, I had help from a couple friends.  Having two people working on the roof doesn't make it twice as easy as on person, it's more like three or four times easier.

This their help, I got the first section of sheathing done, as well as two rows of ice & water barrier.  That's the black stuff you see above.  It comes in very expensive, very heavy rolls, is asphalt-based, and self-adhesive.  Very adhesive.  The idea is that it goes 2' up the roof past where the wall starts, and when you nail the shingles through it, the asphalt seals the nail holes.  It helps to prevent ice dams from forming.  It's not just a good idea, it's the law (code).  You roll it out into place, position it carefully, and peel back half the backing.  Stick it down.  Walk on it to press it down.  Then peel off the second half of the backing.  Repeat for the second row, overlapping the two rows.

The grey/red ProArmor you see is synthetic underlayment.  It's supposedly superior to traditional tar paper.  Lighter, more water resistant, and pretty close in price.  It installs like the ice & water barrier, but it either nails down with plastic-cap nails, or staples.  I got a hammer tacker to make it easier. It's a stapler that you swing like a hammer.  The momentum of the hammer tacker causes the staple to shoot through the underlayment and into the roof. Roll it into place, position it, staple.  Use your other hand to smooth out the underlayment, and staple again.

Just make sure your finger isn't in the way, or you'll hit it with the hammer.  I learned that the hard way on August 5th.

Here's a picture of my fingernail that day:

Ow.

Needless to say, it's 2 months later, and it still looks horrible.  The nail will eventually fall off, I give it another month or so.  Without going into gory detail, it looks like the replacement nail is growing in nicely underneath it.  Gross picture warning: I'm only going to post a link to the picture, in case you don't want to see it.  It's NASTY.

The nasty picture you probably don't want to see of my horrible fingernail two months after hitting it with a hammer tacker.  You have been warned.

Enough of that...

So after the sheathing, ice & water barrier, and underlayment have been installed, it's time to shingle!

Our local hardware store had a Senco coil roofing nailer on clearance, so I picked it up back in May.  It wasn't much more than the Harbor Freight model.  It's not apples and oranges, but the Senco roofing nailer was significantly lighter than the Harbor Freight framing nailer.  Might just be the nature of the tool.

Installing the shingles is pretty easy.  Just have to make sure you're lined up correctly, and you nail away.  What was surprisingly time consuming and physically demanding was cutting the gable-end shingles.  You don't want the ends of the shingles to straight up the roof, so you have to stagger them.  You do so by cutting 6 1/2" off the side of the first shingle.  The next shingle, you cut 13" off.  Then 19 1/2", 26", and 32 1/2".  Basically, adding 6 1/2" to each cut.  That allows you to essentially make stair steps of the shingles.  You only have to do this for the shingles that are along the gable edge, as that starts your stair step, which will continue along the entire roof.  In the above picture (the one above my nasty finger nail), you'll see the outcome.  On the bottom part of the picture, there are just 4 shingles installed in that row at that point.

Like so many of the individual components of this project, once you get the ball rolling it's just a matter of continuing until that part is done.  When I got to the peak of the roof, I made sure the final shingle would overlap the top to keep water out.

This basic process would be continued, night after night, week after week, until I was done.

Sheathing and a Big Misstep (Roof Part 2 of 5)

So with a slightly larger than 4x8 section of shingles and tar paper, it was time to tear off the sheathing.  As with everything I did, I wasn't sure how difficult it would be to remove.  The answer is: not easy, not hard.  They make specialized tools that I considered, but $204 after shipping was too rich for my blood.  I ended up going with a $12, 36" pry bar from Lowe's.  In hindsight, would the tool have been worth it?  Maybe.  But I still would have needed the pry bar.  If I were a contractor doing multiple roofs, I'd definitely have one of those tools.

Getting the first of the 1x8 boards up was difficult, because I didn't have much space to get the pry bar into.  Once the first was removed, I had space to get the pry bar into, and the remaining boards were easier (not easy) to remove.  As far as my method goes, if the board was already up slightly, and I could get the pry bar between the board and the rafter, I would pry that way.  If that wasn't possible, or if I needed to get the board started, I would position the curved end of the pry bar next to the rafter and yank up, allowing the upward momentum of the prybar to pull the board up.  Repeat, repeat, repeat.

As far as how the 1"x8" boards line up with the 4'x8' sheets, they don't.  At least not with gaps, and with the need to have space to work.  So with the first 4'x8' section (48" high), I had to remove 56" worth of sheathing.  And pretty much none of the 1"x8" boards were exactly 8' long. I had some that were 16'-20' long.  What I ended up having to do, since I was working in sections over multiple days (lets be honest, weeks and months), was to use a circular saw to cut just past the rafter, 8' over from the end.  You can see that in the above image.  That made for some largish areas that I couldn't walk, as the old sheathing was then only supported on one side.  I didn't break any boards like that; they just sprung slightly like a diving board.

However, I did make a mistake fairly early on.  On one small section, I removed the sheathing but left the tar paper in place (over the newly created space into the attic) for "water proofing purposes".  It cost me, as I stepped on tar paper that I thought had sheathing underneath it and went into the attic.  At first, I thought my foot just hit the insulation, but I was mistaken. It hit the drywall as well.

Well, crap.

This was earlier in the day that it happened.  I didn't bother getting off the roof until that night and looking.  When I showed Sarah, she was dumbfounded that she hadn't noticed it earlier.  She had gone through the room several times, never looking up.

Duct tape fixes everything!

It looked stable, so I duct taped it in place, and to be honest, is still like that several months later.  It'll be fixed soon.  I keep telling myself that.

Digression over, back to the roof.  There are a few sections on our ceiling where there's evidence of old condensation where the wall meets the ceiling.  It occurred in the winter, and I figured it was because of lack of insulation.  It's where the roof comes down to the eaves, and it was difficult to get the blown-in insulation correctly installed there.  With the sheathing off, that because quite evident.

You can see in roof bays 1 and 3 (numbered from the top), from the left, you have fascia, soffit, screen (used to keep insulation in/bugs/squirrels out during the soffit project), the 2x4 "top plate" (what the rafters sit on), and then drywall.  Just dirty drywall.  The ceiling.  So, without the blown-in insulation (as seen in bays 2 and 4), the cold air in the attic in the winter would hit the warm drywall, heated from the inside.  The drywall would cool significantly, and moisture in the house would condense on the cold surface: the ceiling.  The water, not large amounts but enough, would soak into the paint/drywall and eventually cause a small stain.

In the corners of the hip roof, there were batts of insulation that were installed 53 years ago, when the house was new.  53 years worth of hot/cold cycles in the attic, and the paper on the insulation just turned to dust.  Both that insulation, as well as the sections missing blown-in insulation, were fixed and replaced before the sheathing went on over it.  That should hopefully keep things good for the next 50 years.

As far as attaching the plywood, I used the standard nailing schedule (every 6" along the outside edge, and ever 12" along the inside) with one small modification.  On each of the four corners, I used a stainless steel deck screw.  This was just for peace of mind, a little extra hold down on the plywood.  I also staggered the sheets at least 2 rafter bays, and used H-clips in each of the rafter bays.  These are used to prevent sagging, and to tie each sheet of plywood to the ones around it.

As far as the framing nailer I used, it was a cheapie from Harbor Freight.  I think it was only $60 after coupon.  Pro tip: Never buy anything from Harbor Freight without a 20%-off coupon. They're everywhere, and you can even pull up the coupon from their website on your phone.  The money I saved on the nailer, I used in buying nice Hitachi nails.  Ring shank, galvanized, full-head nails.  I figured the nail was more important than the nailer.  Once the nail is in place, it doesn't matter what put it there.

Beginning the Roof. (Roof Part 1 of 5)

After I completed the soffit, it was time to start tackling the roof.  I didn't want to be unprepared, so my roof dimension sketches were extremely useful for calculating how many tarps I needed, and how they should be placed.

I'm a terrible artist.

Since I was doing the roof myself, I would work in sections.  I would tear off the shingles, tar paper, and drip edge (where applicable).  I would tear off the old 1x8 sheathing, and cut and attach the new plywood.  I would put down the drip edge, ice & water barrier, and synthetic underlayment.  And finally, I would nail down the shingles.   I would complete one section before moving on to the next, and I would start with the west section.  It was the largest, and simplest, in terms of dealing with where it would end and butt up to the next section.  From there, I went counter-clockwise, with the exception of the last 2 sections. I did the south triangle section, the small diagonal section, and then the south section of the roof.  From there, rather than do the north section of the roof, and finally the north-eastern section with the vents, I swapped those two; north-eastern section, then north section of the roof.  The reasoning will be explained later.

Don't do this.  This is way too much overhang.

The above picture is from before the gutters were even off.  Proper shingle overhang is 1/2" if drip edge is used, 3/4" if drip edge isn't used.  For some reason, I can't find a later picture I took that showed the measurement of how far it was overhanging.  It was somewhere around 2-3", because there was no drip edge.  No drip edge leads to just the kind of peeling I was having on the fascia.

First thing I did before I ever tore off a single shingle (say that 5 times fast) was to make sure the roof was properly tarped.  Last thing I wanted to do at the end of a long day of tearing off the roof was to find out that the tarp I was planning to use, wouldn't properly cover the roof.

June 28th is when the first section of shingles was finally torn off.  Moment of no return.

You can see the handle of my shingle shovel there.  It looks like this:

Get this kind.

They make other, less expensive styles of shingle shovels (they look similar to regular shovels), but this looked to be better suited, and for a few dollars more, was worth it.  You can't see the back side of the shovel, but it has a welded fulcrum piece that allows you to get the shovel up under the shingles and pry up the nails.

Of all the individual tasks involved in replacing the roof, using the shingle shovel was by far my favorite.  It was hard work, but I was able to move pretty quickly.

The tar paper underneath, if not caught by the shovel, tears off easily.

With the shingles and tar paper removed, I could finally see the condition of the existing 1x8 sheathing.

From underneath, during the soffit replacement.

Lots of gaps, lots of knot holes, and even some cracked boards.  Those were just a few areas, and pretty much the whole roof looked like this.  As difficult as it would be, I believe this justified my decision to replace the sheathing.

First up: Soffit.

With the supplies delivered and those issues resolved, it was time to get to work.

I decided that it would be best to start with the soffit.  A little simpler and easier, lower to the ground, and a good way to get myself acclimated to construction work.  It was a wise choice.

I started the soffit on May 13th.

My friend and neighbor thought he'd be funny, take a photo of me, and send it.  Joke's on him, I actually used the photo.

First up, was removing the gutters.  I knew it was unlikely to work out, but I hoped to disassemble and re-use the gutters. They were in fine condition, and the long runs were one-piece, so had been installed by professionals.  Alas, it wasn't to be.  Whatever gutter cement they used to attach the corners was amazingly durable, and it was soon apparent that I would need to destroy the gutters to remove them.

Gutters, RIP.  Remember that green grass for a later blog...

With the gutters off, I could see just how bad the old fascia was.  The paint had been peeling for several years, and I was excited to finally be doing something about it.  It wasn't just peeled paint though.

The old fascia was in very rough condition.

It's hard to tell, and I can't remember exactly how, but I remember that I could tell that the large split in the fascia was there before the gutters were installed, which was done sometime before we bought the house.  That's something that should have been addressed then.

As far as actually installing the fascia?  Once I got started, it was really pretty simple, and there's not really anything I can elaborate on beyond what you can already find in YouTube videos.  The initial question I had was in figuring out how to attach the F-channel to the stucco.  In my internet research, it seemed a lot of the discussion centers around houses that are new construction or constructed with siding.  The problem lies in that my existing soffit was in place before the house was stuccoed.  It then sits horizontally under the eave, and butts into the fascia, about 1/2" to 3/4" above the bottom.

A better example.

I ended up going with Tapcon screws to attach the F-channel into the stucco, and will be sealing any gaps between the F-channel and the stucco with caulking.

The F-channel against the stucco isn't too large of a gap, but on the parts of the house that are stone/brick, the gap was pretty large.

That is the almost after.  It was in-process.  What I ended up doing is tracing along where the F-channel would go, and then using a sledgehammer and chisel to chip away at the stone/brick until the F-channel would lay flat.

I underestimated how nasty inside the soffits would be.  It was essentially 53 years worth of dust, spider webs, and blown-in insulation that had migrated from inside the attic through the space between rafters.  I decided that one of the most uncomfortable feelings is having all of that grime on your sweaty arms for hours at a time.

Completed soffit.

When it comes to going around hip corners with soffit, there are a couple options.  What seems like the most common to me, is to come out at a 45-degree angle from the corner of the house to the corner of the roof.  I didn't choose that method, for several reasons.  The first is that it looked like it wasted a lot of soffit material.  Secondly, as you can see by the photo above, I've got a 2' overhang on the whole house, except for over the garage where there's a 4' overhang.  A 45-degree angle wouldn't line up, and if I did adjust the angle until it lined up, it would just look really, really weird.  So in the end, I went with just 90-degree angles.  I like the look, and it was much easier, as well.

Shortly after I finished our roof, our neighbors had their original plywood soffit replaced.  The owner said, "I found a guy that did it for only $1600.  I say 'only $1,600' because I had several quotes of $4,000 to $5,000."  Their house is split level, so it only has about 75% the soffit square footage as our house.  I didn't price out the soffit materials separately, but I know it's less than $1,600, and I went with aluminum (versus the neighbors' less expensive vinyl).

I completed the soffit on June 28th.

Planning stages: Soffit and fascia and decking, oh my.

I had mentioned earlier about the roofing quote I had received.  That quote was just for tear off of the shingles and felt, and putting fresh felt and drip edge down.  That was the bare minimum, but in actuality, I needed more.

The fascia (the vertical part that comes down from the roof, and the part that the gutter attaches to) and  the soffit (the horizontal part that encloses the eaves) needed some attention.  They are old, the paint is peeling, and as you can see in the one corner, the fascia has started to pull away from the house a bit.  The soffit itself is probably original, and since it has minimal vents, it doesn't allow the attic much ventilation.  It's just thin plywood.  So in addition to the roof, I'm going to replace the fascia and the soffit.  The fascia will get new 1x6 trim, and the plywood soffit will be replaced by vented aluminum soffit.

And now the decking... The decking is the wood that is directly under the shingles.  Back in the 60s, the decking they used was 1x6 or 1x8 boards.  Over the years, they dry and shrink, and leave gaps for water to get through (ostensibly the source of my roof leak).  Some boards have knots that dry and fall out over time.  Either way, it leaves quite a bit of roof surface without a decent place for the roofing nails to attach to.  In the interest of doing this project the best I can, within reason, I decided to replace the old 1x6 and 1x8 decking with 5/8" plywood.  All ~2000 square feet of it.  While I anticipate that being the most physically demanding part of the job (one sheet of 5/8" plywood weighs 80+ pounds), each sheet will cover a large area (32 square feet), so it shouldn't be too bad.

So, the roofing project grows.  Roofing.  And decking.  And fascia.  And soffit.  Essentially, a new house from the top of the stucco line up.

Useless random fact:  The word origin for soffit is from the French soffite or Italian soffitto.  The origin of that word is from the Latin suffixus, meaning "fastened below".  Obviously where we get the English word "suffix". The word fascia is actually the Latin word fascia, meaning "band or doorframe."

Delivery Woes

This post is definitely not a complaint about Menards delivery service.  Considering I only had to pay $69 for them to pick my entire list of roofing materials, 10,000lbs+ worth, and deliver it to my driveway, I'd say it's an excellent deal, even with all the hassles.

Ah, hassles.  It took 3 weeks and a day for everything to get delivered to Menards, so they could deliver to my house.  Not a huge deal, I wasn't in a rush, except being anxious to get started. The soffit was special ordered from one manufacturer, and the shingles were special ordered from another. It was supposed to take 2 weeks and be delivered 5/5, but after checking tracking on 5/4 and seeing that some of my stuff wasn't even at Menards yet, I knew it wouldn't be 5/5.  A call from Menards confirmed it.  They'd be in contact when everything was ready for delivery.

Everything was received at the store by the following Monday, but I never got a call from them. Gave up waiting and called on Wednesday to check, and, oh yeah, we can scheduled delivery for Friday, 5/12.

Thursday (5/11) rolls around, and I get an email about a new special order I had just placed that day.  Except I hadn't been to Menards in a couple days.  It was for 12 pieces (1 box) of 12' soffit panels.  I called Menards, and they said that while I special ordered 2 boxes, only one box was actually delivered.  They started that order to cover the situation, but they had an alternative that had just arrived in store: Boxes of pre-cut 1' and 2' sections of the soffit.  4 panel, 2 vented, 2 solid, white, basically pre-cut versions of what I wanted anyway.  I needed to make sure it would work, and that my soffits weren't actually 2' 1" or something.  I checked and the pre-cut soffit would work just fine.  Preferable, even.  So I called them back on Friday and said to send the boxes of the pre-cut soffit, but the truck had already left.  She said she'd call me later to schedule a separate delivery.

Let's take a break from the soffit for a moment to talk about another issue.  Fascia.  I'd ordered 17 of them.

Obvious damage before the strapping was removed.

1 of them was severely damaged...

Not cool.

and 3 others were slightly damaged.  But that wasn't the main problem.  The main problem was, I'd ordered 6" white smooth aluminum fascia, and received 6" white rustic aluminum fascia.  With a very fakey looking woodgrain.  The receipt said smooth.  The pick sheet from Menards said smooth.  Delivery sheet said smooth. But the barcode (and obviously the product) came up as rustic.

So, Sunday, 5/14 rolls around, I take my delivery paperwork, original receipt, and pictures of the incorrect fascia to Menards.  I'm glad I wasn't in a hurry because it took an hour for them to finally go through enough managers to help me.  We got the fascia squared away (they'd pick up the incorrect fascia and deliver the correct fascia), and I'd save them the hassle of delivering small boxes of the soffit to me, and just pick them up that day.  The guy got it squared away in their delivery system, and handed my original paperwork back to me.  I was standing by a checkout line and pointed to the 12 boxes of soffit in my cart and asked how I'd get through without paying for them.  And without looking like I'm trying to steal them.  He said, "No, it'll be fine."  Riiiight.  So, I take not 10 seconds to walk over to the checkout line, and when I explained the situation, the cashier wasn't buying it.  So, they called over the manager that finally approved everything, and she said it was fine.

The delivery of the correct fascia was uneventful.  The day before that, I got an automated email from Menards saying my second box of 12' soffit was in (that I had already swapped with the boxed soffit).  Guess they never canceled the order.  Oops.

Roof Material Options

We bought our 1964 ranch home in suburban Central Ohio at the end of 2006.  The home inspector estimated that the roof was between 5 and 10 years old at the time.  11 years later, we're looking at between 16 and 21 years old, which about the average lifespan of a traditional asphalt shingle roof.  Not bad.

So, at this point, we knew we were looking at replacement.  We got an estimate from a reputable, local roofing company.  In business since the 1950s, not a huge company, but excellent reviews all around.  Their estimate for removing the existing shingles, putting down felt, and 3-tab shingles, was around $6,500.  At 20 "squares" (1 square = 100 square feet of roof), that's $325 a square.  I'll consider that my high estimate.  Checking Craigslist, I see that a who-knows-who-they-are-roofing-company estimate of $189 a square.  $3780.  I'll consider that my low estimate.

I previously mentioned 3-tab shingles.  These are the traditional, and extremely common, asphalt shingles you see.

It's a shingle with, you guessed it, 3 tabs.  They're your "bottom of the line" shingle for people who don't care what kind of shingle is on their roof.  Nothing wrong with that, it is what it is.

Another option, is an architectural shingle, or dimensional shingle.

These are (with a few exceptions) the same size and shape as 3-tab shingles, but with a few differences.  There are no notches cut out like 3-tab shingles, they're solid across the bottom half. Secondly, they're often laminated, and made from 2 pieces.  This gives them a 3-dimensional look... because they are.  They have higher wind resistance, and a longer warranty than 3-tab shingles, and aren't significantly more expensive.

And finally, we had the option of metal roofing.  On a house?  Not a barn?  Not a commercial building?  Yes, metal roofing isn't just for barns or office buildings anymore.

Metal roofing offers many advantages, and for a long time during my 2+ month internal debate about which product to choose, I was leaning toward metal roofing.  First, it's sold in long pieces that go from the ridge right to the eave.  The pieces are sealed together.  The only way water could get inside is through the screw holes, but those have rubber washers that seal it up.  Metal roofs have better wind resistance, hail resistance, and lifespan than asphalt shingle roofs.  Also, the lighter colors are Energy Star rated, to keep the attic cooler.  Those advantages come at a price, though, and metal roofs are more expensive than asphalt roofs.  The large panels themselves are reasonably priced, but the necessary trim pieces; the valleys, valley cap, ridge cap, gable-end cap, all really add up.

My roof isn't complex, per se, but it's not super-simple.  I've got 2 gable ends, a hip end, and 2 valleys.  When I priced out the metal roof, the trim pieces ended up being about 2/3 of the cost, and the main panels about 1/3.  If I had a super-simple roof, something with just 2 gables, I might very well have gone with the metal roof.

As it is, after much research and internal debate, I chose Owens Corning TruDefinition Duration architectural shingles, in Shasta White.

These, to me, offered the best compromise of features.  I would get the increased wind resistance (110mph vs. 60mph) and warranty (lifetime vs. 20 year) that is common with metal roofs, without the cost and extra detail required for a metal roof.  Also, the Shasta White shingles are Energy Star rated, and should hopefully contribute to a cooler attic.