Roof Reassurance

Spouse today called one of the premier contractors in town to ask questions about our roof worries.  I'm writing this as a summary of the conversation so that if either of us ever worries about this issue again, we can look back at this post for reassurance!

Contractor said:   It possible that the sheet of wood decking stopped short of the ridge and another piece was used up to the ridge, thus creating a seam.  It's also possible the gap in the roof deck was there all along. It wouldn't be unusual for the roof decking on a half century old house to separate along the seams due to expansion and contraction.  If we checked other old houses in the neighborhood, we may find similar situations.  It's not necessary to caulk the gap.  If it gets worse, he would nail a plank to the underside of the roof deck from inside the attic to cover it. The ridge vent shouldn't affect the structural integrity of the roof. The ridge vent won't make the house cooler but is only intended to prevent build up of moisture in the attic space.

The contractor once taught a building trades class in the local high school and our roofer was one of his students.  Our roofer has done 3 roofs for houses the contractor has built.

Despite this recommendation, I have to say that our roofer doesn't have the best customer service interface.  It wasn't  necessary to say things to us like "the roofer destroyed our house", "blame it on the painter".  It wasn't funny and put a pall on what was otherwise a considerate act, coming out to inspect the decking.  To his credit, the head of his roofing crew has good customer service skills at least.  I'd truly rather not ever again see the owner himself.

The roofer also told us at his recent visit that if the gap gets wider, we should call a contractor as it would not be his area of expertise.  This is probably true but perhaps the roofer should have first ascertained, before he cut the ridge vent the full length of our roof, that the roof over the remodeled carport is probably not built to the same strength and specifications as that over the rest of the house.  We didn't do the remodeling but I can see that the roof in the main part of the house has impressive cross supports but the peaked roof over the carport's original flat roof only has a center support. 

In the meantime, I won't hold my breath waiting for the roof to fall!

Marvelous 84 Year Old

On yesterday's WI hike up the Aspen Vista Ridge Trail, I fell in beside the marvelously fit 84 year old hiker.  She's the one who told me I wasn't at the top of Tesuque Peak. 

On our steep slog up Tesuque Peak, she mentioned that she no longer drives due to macular degeneration.  She was driven to the trailhead in her car by another hiker. 

I told her about my 3 Santa Fe area winter hikes that I'd like to complete one day.  They are winter hikes because they are mostly flat and shadeless - the Spur Trail from Santa Fe Community College to the Rail Trail, Arroyo de los Chamisos Trail from Yucca Street to the Rail Trail and the rest of the Rail Trail from El Dorado to Lamy.  I asked if she wanted to do any of those hikes one day and then I could take her to Vitamin Cottage afterward to shop.  She has her own philosophy of hiking, though, and kindly suggested that I find someone else for those flat hikes.  She doesn't hike everyday but swims also.  When she does hike, she wants it to count.  I have my peculiarity of insisting on 4 miles a day.  Hers is to do at least 1,200' elevation gain. 

Eventually, I wanted to go up faster to get to the top and then back down to my waiting husband so I said goodbye and asked her in parting to let me know this winter when she again does the hike to the Rio Grande down the Falls Trail in Bandelier.  This is the one where she saw the Rio Grande magically transformed by rafts of snow.