The roof is in a stage called “embrittlement” and needs replacing. It is original to the house and a good thirty years old, so the roofers are coming tomorrow and we’ve been preparing for it. New gutters too, and in July a new coat of paint. They’re coming early and we are enjoying good, clear, and mild weather, so the timing is perfect. Just lucky I guess. The biggest issue is, what to do with the doggie and where do we go to spend the day?
Update: Got some useful feedback about roofing materials, thanks!
We are getting a bit of everything on this first day of Spring: clouds, bright skies, wind, a touch of rain…and the doggie is loving it as she begins her fur-depletion cycle. Little white tufts of fur are ejecting from her winter under-coat, and furry little dust-bunnies are collecting in places she doesn’t even go. Pretty soon the black truck will have a white interior, and I’ll be vacuuming every day. Pretty soon when I go driving down the road with the windows down, a fur-tornado will cascade out behind me in tufts and waves – and so she is banished from the new, red truck for the time being.
A few hours later after going to the store for jugs of fresh water, my plumber friend stopped by on the way to a job up-country, and did a quick assessment: start digging here and I’ll see you tomorrow. So I laid-out a half-folded tarp and got a shovel, and after about an hour had uncovered the main, and a T-junction that went to the house, and what appeared to be an un-glued elbow where separation had occurred.
At any rate the flood had subsided so it was just good to let things dry-out in the hole, besides I was muddy and sweaty and there was just one big jug of water with which to clean-up. Civilization is practically defined by running water, even if just cold water, and plumbing apparatus to deliver the water. My Civilization had failed, temporarily, but I still had a dog that needed her walk and she doesn’t think quite as highly of Civilization as I do since she is rather independent of it.
After the dog-walk, I heard my neighbor (the free-range chicken rancher) motoring about on his Craftsman tractor. Ah-ha! He’s a retired Plumber! So I called him over and we talked and he went off to get some of that two-part PVC glue, and then came around the fence to see what I had gotten myself into. He inspected the pipes and said that it looked ti him as though a bunch of the joints were only stuck together with the purple-primer, and that whoever had done previous work had missed a few spots. The Main t-junction showed evidence (blue) of glue, but other joints were just smeared with purple.
I grilled again yesterday afternoon, a buy-one-get-one tri-tip (some trimming required) I found two that were both 30.06 (dollars) and that seemed appropriate. The trimming was actually quite extensive, so the Butcher’s bill still got paid, but the result was less fat and no silver skin.
The ’11 Silverado turned over 100k last week, and turned up an error code: the “Stabilitrack” needs fixing. Jason the mechanic thinks it’s just a sensor, tied to the low-speed squeaking noise that appears below 20mph – guess I’m just a slow driver, because I hear it and it’s annoying. So into the shop around the corner on Monday.
In afternoon I went up on the roof and drilled three holes in the gutters where they overlap between rooflines. The guys who cleaned the gutters said that there was just a few (like five) 3/8″ holes drilled to help transfer water from one level to the other… No wonder that downspout never ran right., plus it created a big puddle next to the foundation.
So now the roof-water transfer should be a lot more *fluid.* (ah-ha) And I also went and deepened and lengthened the trench alongside the house/lawn, alongside the concrete edging, so the runoff will go down a pipe to the pine tree and stay away from the foundation. Phew, burning calories.
An inch and a quarter yesterday, an inch and a half (so far) today, pretty soon it adds up. Might get some clearing tomorrow afternoon into Saturday, then more rain from Sunday onward with more clearing by the next weekend. The gutters are loaded up with asphalt composition (sand) from the decaying shingles, and over-spill is coming off every corner, but gutter-cleaner dudes are coming tomorrow morning so that should get fixed. They got their work cut-out for ’em, anyhow! And maybe the life of this roof is coming to an end. UPDATE: Should have two-inches easy before the day is over.
So, it’s unlikely that I’ll be out on the Harley for a while, but maybe I can throw more chrome bits at it – if I feel like going into the walk-in freezer I call a garage.
And all that is great and it looks really cool and bitchin’ – except today while inspecting my handiwork I noticed a wiring plug hanging freely, something with a bung on one side, something which must have been concealed by the football…
So Saturday we attacked the quince on the embankment, and even with long-gauntlet rose-pruning gloves, my forearm was attacked back. But now the yard-waste can is full and the pickup is Monday morning.
Besides food-therapy, the Pandemic of the Wuhan Flu has brought about some retail-therapy, with more parts going onto the Harley Fat Boy: a “lay-down” license-plate holder, and an LED tail-light to match being the most recent bits.