Welcome back, this post is all about hitting a major milestone in the project where we finished installing the new roof. Living with plywood and tarps as substitutes for roofing gets old, and dealing with water on the main floor was beyond tiresome. For those who don’t know our living situation: the house is two stories and we’re remodeling the upper level and living in a MIL apartment on the lower level. Water never made it downstairs but there were some stressful times.
There were lots of things going on to reach this milestone so let’s break them down.
Roof to be replaced with the guard dog on duty
This picture highlights the part of the roof we had to replace to open up the main floor. The entire roof is constructed of trusses and we needed to replace 12 of them to accommodate the girder truss I discussed in the last post. Installing it meant we could remove the wall under it and have a great room that includes the kitchen, dining, and living rooms. Doing this was central to the design of the house and allows us to highlight the view we have of the Salish Sea.
Look carefully and you can see there’s a chimney which was the exit for a large fireplace. We removed it last fall and were left with a gaping hole in the roof. A sheet of plywood solved that problem but wasn’t completely water tight, just mostly. The chimney wasn’t the only hole in the roof as the project moved forward so we learned to pay attention whenever an atmospheric river was forecast.
Living the Dream under Blue Tarps
There were lots of concerns about opening up the roof mid winter because making all the parts of that project fit together was really challenging with our typically unpredictable winter weather. We needed several days between starting tear off and resheeting the new roof with plywood. In between those steps included removing old trusses and installing new ones so tarping the exposed roof was critical. The challenge is having something in place to support tarps during the transition. This is what we looked after the roofing was removed but the old trusses were still in place. And yes, I know that’s a lot of gray tarps but blue tarps are industry standard and we just weren’t able to meet it.
Roof Off, First Truss Installed
Old roof and trusses are in the dumpster, this is the first trust being installed, and that big pile on the ground soon followed.
Girder Truss Installation
Here is the girder truss after it has been installed, it’s the one that looks like a big beam made out of 2×6 lumber. The other half of the roof is being hung off of it and you can see there’s no wall under it any more. It’s pretty wonky technically and I apologize for my obsession with it, but it’s been the biggest challenge we’ve faced. It took 2 engineers, an experienced crew, and some breaks in the weather to get us to this point. Sort of disappointing that all that time and energy will be covered up with drywall. Fortunately we’re past it now and can focus on taking advantage of the new space it gives us.
How to Install a Roof
This is what it looks like when roofing pro’s show up. Roof sheeting is complete and the tarps pulled back giving them room to work. This was the crew with machines to make it happen and they installed my roof in less than 2 days despite the rain. I was starting to be able to exhale watching them work their magic.
Finished Roof
And here is my finished roof. The roof has been a long time coming, we’re looking to the next chapter of the project building out the interior.
Thanks for reading, look forward to showing the cool stuff we’ve been planning.
