Thank You, a Lot (and things I learned)

Thank you so much to everyone that helped with the roofing project this last week. My parents, Ken, Jenny, Peter, Tim, Steve, Larry, Kent, Ron, Katie, Chris for lending the roofing nail gun, the guy who delivered the shingles, and lastly my neighbor Ed. I need to make sure I send out personal thank you cards soon to everyone. I'm finally back to the real world this week, but there's still a little bit left to be done on the roof. Once the Hips and Ridge are done and the soffit vents installed, and then final inspection, we'll have a brand new roof.

It took longer than I thought, just like my dad said it would. He has worked tirelessly for the last 11 days and is finally taking the day off (but this afternoon will help me with getting the hips covered). We started ripping off the roof on the 4th (of July) and worked every day for 10+ hours for the next 10 days. Yesterday I came back to work but my dad and Ken spent one more day getting the majority of the remaining shingles up and the new vents for bathroom and kitchen fans.

Things I learned in the last week:

1. Looking back, I don't think we should have done it ourselves. Yes, a roof is expensive but it is also hard dirty work and no matter how much you try to learn about roofing before you start, the people who do it every day know those little tricks, and they're a lot faster.

2. My roof is complicated. I just didn't know how much more work that was going to take. A lot of houses have complicated roofs but if you're thinking of replacing your own roof you better hope you live in a rancher or any house with a simple gable roof.

3. I need a tool belt. Once you're up on a roof, it gets kind of hard to hold on to all the tools you might need up there and a pocket full of nails. The last few days I wore a pair of old cargo pants and stuffed the pockets with staples, nails, my chalk line and tried to carry a hammer but that didn't work too well. And later, a tool belt could come in handy for other household jobs like when I climb in the attic to install the bathroom fan.

4. There are people out there willing to help without expecting anything in return. My family was the biggest help during this project and obviously I couldn't have done it without their help. But it was people like my neighbor who loaned us ladders and tools and the last weekend helped unload the shingles and put them up. The guy who delivered the shingles who came before we had any felt on the top of the roof, so he helped roll out the top two rows, move the roof jacks and helped unload the 22 squares of shingles on the roof. He could have just said, "tough luck" and unloaded the shingles on their pallets in the front yard, but he didn't.

My mom took a lot of pictures this week and once I get some loaded online, I'll go into more exciting roofing detail. Right now I'm just happy we're done (almost).

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It Goes (Comes?) Down Tomorrow

So tomorrow we start ripping off the old roof. With a 30% chance of thunderstorms. At least the temperature should cool down to 85 instead of the 90+ hotness it's been all this week. This is when you start wondering, "why don't I have an air conditioner." Then you remember that there will only be two weeks this whole summer with these temps and I think air conditioners are really more trouble than their worth. Especially since I'd have to build a custom window, take off the aluminum storm/screen, and some how locate an electrical outlet within six feet. Since I don't think any of that is going to happen I sweat it out, and ponder sleeping outside someday. So the roof. It's scary, big, and I definitely hope it isn't more than we can handle. By we I'm referencing the fact that this entire project will be completed primarily by myself and my parents with some ground support by other family.

I'm trying to keep my eye on the prize. The pretty, leak-free roof at the end of this task. The roof that will take the house one step closer to charming cottage and one step farther from run-down fixer-upper. I'm not sure if I'll necessarily feel a greater sense of accomplishment as apposed to paying someone to do it, but the $5000 we'll save will go a long way toward getting some other things done. What should be next? The clothes washer plumbing (and a washer/dryer), or the cabinets for the kitchen, or the electrical, or the back yard fence.



Speaking of the back yard, the tree that I labeled as an apple tree in my drawing is actually a cherry tree. Bing maybe, but since the crows have eaten all the fruit off the tree I can't be sure.

I also recently identified one of the fruit trees on the other side of the property line as a pear tree. The tree is in sad shape, having been improperly pruned for many years, but I saw two tiny green pears on the leafy branches. I hope they last long enough to come to maturity before the birds get them.

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Sometimes it's the shape that makes it

When we lived in California the closest drug store the the house was the Thrifty's. When I was nine-years-old the best part of going shopping was getting ice cream at Thrifty's. See, the ice cream was different there. I think I got the same flavor every time because there wasn't anywhere else you could get chocolate malt ball ice cream. And instead of round scoops on a cone, Thrifty's ice cream was cylindrical. I don't know how they did it, but saw this ice cream scooper today that might recreate that experience for me.



The Cuisipro Ice Cream Scoop & Stack gives you that cylindrical scoop shape just like a 25 cent Thrifty's cone. I remember the scoops being bigger though when I was 10. Now if I can just find some tiny malt balls to add to chocolate ice cream.

Update********
Apparently there are other people out there who loved the same ice cream. I found this recipe to make it, however still no source for the tiny malt balls.

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Emile Norman documentary

I happened to catch this on PBS last night and couldn't turn it off to go to bed when I should have: Emile Norman: by his own design. You won't find much on the internet about his work beside his own website but at 90 he is still a working artist. Besides a profile of his life as an artist, the documentary is an illustration of the life he created for himself. I was stunned by his house in Big Sur, which he and his partner started building over 50 years ago. The house is a gallery of his art, and every surface has been crafted, even the harpsichord and organ cases.

Watch this documentary if you have a chance. The next time I go to San Fransisco, I'm going to take a trip to the Masonic Temple to see the huge glass mosaic commissioned in 1955.

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Slow Progress

I had one of those weekends where I thought about all the things I should/could do, and then did the minimum. And I thought to myself, "at least I did something!" I'm not sure I should be patting myself on the back for that, but I'm taking those small steps.

I did my laundry, which shouldn't be a big deal but since I'm still trucking down the street to the Hi-Co mart/laundry mat I tend to put it off. However I'm sure I would put it off even if I had my own washer in the basement. The benefit of the laundry mat is that I can do all three loads of wash at once. It's 38 min in the washer (neptune front loader) and only 15 min in the dryer. And since I fold everything before I leave the whole trip clocks in at about 1.5 hours. Pretty good for three loads. I even brought a book to read but part of the problem with going is the waiting area. I'm sure they thought it was a great idea to make a nice waiting area with upholstered furniture except, um, it kind of smells funny. I never thought I'd be longing for a nice vinyl chair or hard bench.

I painted the back door. Again. This time I used the second mis-tint can of paint I picked up for the second and third coats on the door. The door, which started out flat white, then painted a creepy fleshy-mauve tan, is now a glossy brick red. I like it, but I think it would be too much if I painted anything else that color. I'm leaning toward a yellow tan for the window casings and super dark green maybe for the window frames. Since painting is probably a summer 2009 project there is plenty of time to ponder and test out colors.


I looked at the mountain of dirt. I didn't do anything with it. I though about digging, but then I didn't. I can't put it off forever, and since we're starting the roof in less than 2 weeks I guess I best do something with it. Here's the yard post grass removal, pre dirt mountain.

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Introducing Ryan Jr.

Surprise! I thought Saturday was going to be a lazy rainy day, until my dad showed up at the house with a gas-powered sod cutter.



A week or so ago my mom and I attacked the parking strip in front of the house with spades and removed 8-10 linear feet of sod. It was hot, and the dogs were antsy and I stopped every 8-10 minutes to rest or pull the dogs apart and to top it off I got sunburned in the one spot I forgot to put sunscreen - the front of my neck. I knew a gas-powered sod cutter would make short work of the lawn, but they're big, super heavy and noisy and I wasn't sure I could deal with all that. Not to mention the logistical transportation nightmare. My dad just wanted the project (at least the sod removal part) done with and after an hour of the two of us pushing and pulling the monster around the front (and the back of the back) yard we were. The next few hours my mom, dad and I carried all that sod to the side of the house and placed it dirt side up over the grass/weeds in the adjoining vacant lot. It rained the entire time and it was dirty work but look at the results. A beautiful yard of dirt!

So far that's all it is, dirt, and bad dirt at that. It just crumbled in my hands as I lifted the sod. Even though it was raining, and had been raining on and off all week, the dirt 2 inches down was bone dry. Just shows how important a long soak can be for your plants/grass. My birthday present from my parents last year was a truck full of dirt for the new yard so after that is delivered and tilled into the existing soil we should be able to fill the yard with the perennials and groundcover. Maybe I haven't mentioned how much I hate front yard lawns yet. I hate mowing something that I never use, isn't decorative, and something that requires that I water it with a sprinkler that has to be moved every few hours. I admit that I let large sections of our previous lawn turn yellow last summer because

1. Grass that isn't watered grows slower, so I mow it less.
2. I couldn't stomach leaving that water running like that.
3. I'm kind of lazy.

Lawn-alternative front yards are definitely still the minority but there are a few in my neighborhood. One in particular I have admired since before we moved in. It turned green before anyone's lawn did, it has year-round color/texture, and it doesn't have to be mowed. A number of the plants have to be cut back after their blooming season is over, or at the end of winter, but for me 10 minutes cutting tulip leaves to the ground is still better than 30 minutes pushing a mower.

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I want to be dead before I have to do it again

Number eight on the list of summer goals (in no particular order) is to replace the roof. The existing roof is obviously failing with missing shingles, granule loss, and signs of slipping/sagging shingles. I tried to get someone to come do a quote on doing a temporary winter fix to stop the leak (where the shingles are missing) but I couldn't get anyone to actually get out to the house and do the quote before the snow started. After that I kind of gave up and figured I'd just try and fix whatever additional damage resulted. You'd think that 3+ layers of shingles would offer superior protection from the elements - not so.

Like I mentioned, it appears that the roof has more that three existing layers of roofing material; I'm pretty positive that the original roof is still up there. In addition to the poor weather protection the current roof provides, I think the combined weight of all the shingles has got to be a bad thing for the continued structural integrity of the house. Since we got an estimate on replacing the roof on the house we didn't buy, and saw a thrice faxed copy of an estimate done for this roof, I know that the cost to rip off, re-sheet, and re-shingle can run from $8000 to over $10,000. Yikes!

Since I come from a family with a "I could do that myself better and cheaper" aesthetic, my dad has convinced me that we could replace the roof ourselves. So now that summer has come, rather quickly I might add, I am rushing to organize everything. I mailed off my permit and check to the city so we're legal and all, I found the shingles I want, and hopefully everything will fall into place for the 4th of July weekend. After a little internet research I found that laminated shingles (also known as architectural shingles) can now come with a 50 warranty. Now that's my kind of a shingle. I never want to put on another roof and if I'm 80+ when this one fails, well we'll deal with it when the time comes. I'm looking at the TAMKO Heritage Vintage shingles in green. I still have to go to the lumber yard tomorrow morning to order them, and all those other things like underlayment, iceshield (required by the city), drip edge, and a ridge vent. I'll also need to get new decking, new flashing, and vent pipes but I'll get those when we're ready to get started. I know this won't be an inexpensive project but I hope to fall short of the $10,000 mark.

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