After I went to daughter's house to take care of kitty cat and garden while she's out of town, I drove over to the Mitchell Trailhead and walked south on the Perimeter Trail. I started at 3:50 pm and it was hot! Think sauna, think hemorrhagic heat stroke, think hot buttered brains! Needless to say, the trail wasn't crowded! ; D
Lots of pretty buckthorn bushes in bloom. At least I think they were buckthorn. Really, I can see a plant or flower more fully if I don't worry about the name. Going uphill out of the north fork of Pueblo Canyon, I enjoyed the spicy smell of pink NM locust flowers. Such a pretty flower - such lethal thorns!
On the way back to my car, I could see smoke to the north of Guaje Ridge. Probably it was from the South Fork fire near Polvadera Peak that broke out this afternoon. Spouse says he heard on KOB TV channel 4 that there is a fire in the Valles Caldera National Preserve. I was trying to verify that on the station's website when - whoosh - the world went black and we had an hour long power outage.
Fortunately, when the power went out, I was typing this in Blogger which constantly saves so I didn't lose what I'd already written.
Tomorrow is such a joy - in the morning, ABC Seamless Gutters, Comcast and the roofer are all coming out.
Spouse's injured left ribs are feeling better.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Will Talk With Roofer Tomorrow
Here's some more things that I figured out today about the new roof:
I verified that the VentSure ridge vent cover stops 8" short of the actual end of the slot cut in the roof's ridge. That 8" is only protected with ridge shingles. Spouse held the ladder while I went into the attic.
It appears that a lot of the soffit vents in the attic are mostly blocked by the rock wool insulation batts that are pushed up against the vents.
From inside the attic, I saw that the flashing on the woodstove chimney is so battered and bent that I can see daylight between the flashing and the chimney. They have filled the gaps with clear caulk - a short-sighted solution sure to let rain run down the chimney onto the ceiling when the caulk fails.
The roofer said they would replace the small flashings that needed it. The replaced all the small flashings but they didn't replace the small flashing on the vent stack for the gas range. Seems dumb to replace all but one.
The other large flashings for the gas furnace chimney and the hot water heater vent also look battered. The roof is only as good as the flashings. I'm amazed that they'd leave the large flashings in the condition that they are in and not advise us to replace them or offer to repair them. I don't think they were that damaged before. Replacing the large flashings was not part of the original roofing job which seems imprudent and short-sighted. I thought a new roof would give me less worries about leaks but instead, it has added worries!
I'm sure that eventually, all will get taken care of but it's aggravating that it wasn't done right the first time!
I verified that the VentSure ridge vent cover stops 8" short of the actual end of the slot cut in the roof's ridge. That 8" is only protected with ridge shingles. Spouse held the ladder while I went into the attic.
It appears that a lot of the soffit vents in the attic are mostly blocked by the rock wool insulation batts that are pushed up against the vents.
From inside the attic, I saw that the flashing on the woodstove chimney is so battered and bent that I can see daylight between the flashing and the chimney. They have filled the gaps with clear caulk - a short-sighted solution sure to let rain run down the chimney onto the ceiling when the caulk fails.
The roofer said they would replace the small flashings that needed it. The replaced all the small flashings but they didn't replace the small flashing on the vent stack for the gas range. Seems dumb to replace all but one.
The other large flashings for the gas furnace chimney and the hot water heater vent also look battered. The roof is only as good as the flashings. I'm amazed that they'd leave the large flashings in the condition that they are in and not advise us to replace them or offer to repair them. I don't think they were that damaged before. Replacing the large flashings was not part of the original roofing job which seems imprudent and short-sighted. I thought a new roof would give me less worries about leaks but instead, it has added worries!
I'm sure that eventually, all will get taken care of but it's aggravating that it wasn't done right the first time!
I Am Not My Roof
More droning on about the new roof:
I got the ladder out early this morning - around 7:30 am. The alarm was set for 9 am since I didn't go to sleep until 1 am last night but the heat woke me up early. I looked at the two ends of the ridge vent from the edge of the roof and took more photos.
Up close, from the roof edge, I can almost believe that the end of the ridge vent on the north side coincides with the end of the ridge vent cut or it's within a few inches not a foot like I said yesterday.
On the south side, though, after reading more about how important it is to caulk the end cap of the ridge vent, I'm worried. There is no transitioning ridge shingles to cover the end cap of the ridge vent - it just abruptly ends and steps down to the last shingle above the eave overhang. I'd feel better it I knew it was very well caulked (caulking DOES need renewing from time to time) AND covered by a transitioning ridge shingle.
I get the feeling I was an idiot to let them cut the ridge vent because it has the potential to create moisture problems, which is what I was hoping to avoid, when there were none before in the attic.
I also read that the VentSure type vent is a cheap, fast solution because it can be nailed. It can also clog. I don't really know if we have soffit vents the whole length of the house, front and back. I know for sure the remodeled carport addition has them. The soffit vents and ridge vent work together - the intake air comes in through the soffits and takes heat and moisture out through the ridge vent. They need to be balanced in order to work together with an equal amount of vent space for both. I get the feeling that the ridge vent was haphazardly cut with no computation of how long or wide it needed to be in relation to the vent space of the soffits.
I really wonder when one day we try to sell this house if a building inspector won't flag the ridge vent as not in code and not even effective? I've given up, though, on the idea of calling out the county building inspector. The roofer said the estimate included a building permit but what if he didn't get one and what if the county inspector flags the ridge vent as not being in code? Forget about it!!
I feel like a hypocrite for telling the roofer that I thought they were wonderful and then grousing about things in this blog. Some aspects were wonderful - I liked interacting with both him and his wife and the crew was nice but I do see deficiencies in his operation. I mentioned yesterday that he didn't seem to come around much while they were putting on the roof and he didn't come to look at the final job at the end of the day. Yesterday, he declined to even go up on the roof to inspect it.
Other deficiencies that I see:
When I asked him the width of the VentSure ridge vent used (in our area, there are two available widths - 11 1/4" and 7"), he didn't know the answer.
To make the roof penetrations look like they did before with their bases coated with roofing tar and granules would have cost extra. Spray painting the bases was a cheap, fast solution.
He only replaced the small flashings and re-used the flashings on the wood stove chimney and furnace vent stack. I foresee that if the roof develops leaks around those particular flashings, he'll say that we'll have to pay to get the leaks repaired and the warranty won't cover that.
On a minor note, he didn't leave any leftover shingles for future repairs. Shingle colors change over time. He said he would bring some by - we'll see!
Anyway, I'm going to email that I'd like the south end of the ridge vent checked and ask if they could nail a ridge shingle over the end of the VentSure end cap.
I got the ladder out early this morning - around 7:30 am. The alarm was set for 9 am since I didn't go to sleep until 1 am last night but the heat woke me up early. I looked at the two ends of the ridge vent from the edge of the roof and took more photos.
Up close, from the roof edge, I can almost believe that the end of the ridge vent on the north side coincides with the end of the ridge vent cut or it's within a few inches not a foot like I said yesterday.
On the south side, though, after reading more about how important it is to caulk the end cap of the ridge vent, I'm worried. There is no transitioning ridge shingles to cover the end cap of the ridge vent - it just abruptly ends and steps down to the last shingle above the eave overhang. I'd feel better it I knew it was very well caulked (caulking DOES need renewing from time to time) AND covered by a transitioning ridge shingle.
I get the feeling I was an idiot to let them cut the ridge vent because it has the potential to create moisture problems, which is what I was hoping to avoid, when there were none before in the attic.
I also read that the VentSure type vent is a cheap, fast solution because it can be nailed. It can also clog. I don't really know if we have soffit vents the whole length of the house, front and back. I know for sure the remodeled carport addition has them. The soffit vents and ridge vent work together - the intake air comes in through the soffits and takes heat and moisture out through the ridge vent. They need to be balanced in order to work together with an equal amount of vent space for both. I get the feeling that the ridge vent was haphazardly cut with no computation of how long or wide it needed to be in relation to the vent space of the soffits.
I really wonder when one day we try to sell this house if a building inspector won't flag the ridge vent as not in code and not even effective? I've given up, though, on the idea of calling out the county building inspector. The roofer said the estimate included a building permit but what if he didn't get one and what if the county inspector flags the ridge vent as not being in code? Forget about it!!
I feel like a hypocrite for telling the roofer that I thought they were wonderful and then grousing about things in this blog. Some aspects were wonderful - I liked interacting with both him and his wife and the crew was nice but I do see deficiencies in his operation. I mentioned yesterday that he didn't seem to come around much while they were putting on the roof and he didn't come to look at the final job at the end of the day. Yesterday, he declined to even go up on the roof to inspect it.
Other deficiencies that I see:
When I asked him the width of the VentSure ridge vent used (in our area, there are two available widths - 11 1/4" and 7"), he didn't know the answer.
To make the roof penetrations look like they did before with their bases coated with roofing tar and granules would have cost extra. Spray painting the bases was a cheap, fast solution.
He only replaced the small flashings and re-used the flashings on the wood stove chimney and furnace vent stack. I foresee that if the roof develops leaks around those particular flashings, he'll say that we'll have to pay to get the leaks repaired and the warranty won't cover that.
On a minor note, he didn't leave any leftover shingles for future repairs. Shingle colors change over time. He said he would bring some by - we'll see!
Anyway, I'm going to email that I'd like the south end of the ridge vent checked and ask if they could nail a ridge shingle over the end of the VentSure end cap.
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