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! |
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.
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