3rd dilemna: Roofing

Why is it that roofing is always complicated?  It seems like it should be so simple...  The technology really hasn't changed in many years and it's not "rocket science"...  So, why is it so hard to find someone who can diagnose the problem and then fix it?

Some people worry about flat roofs, but I never do.  I don't see what's the big deal.  You cover them with some sort of membrane, whether "rubber" (not really rubber, but a synthetic material called EPDM) or "torch down" (modified bitumen, similar to asphalt and heat-adhered to layers of fiberglass) and as long as you seal the edges properly and don't puncture the roof, it's good for a long, long time...

Upon a quick first inspection of this house, it seemed that the main roof was in decent condition (there was absolutely no evidence on the inside of it EVER having leaked).  However, the roofs on the cantilevered overhangs between the 1st and 2nd floors were another story.  They had been coated and recoated so many times that they were best described as "gunky" and Joe the contractor described some parts over the porch as "spongy".  Not being an expert on roofing by any means, I started contacting roofers to appraise the roof's condition and give me an estimate for the recommended work.

Much to my surprise, no two roofers gave me the same advice and their prices for the work they deemed necessary ranged from $1,200 to $12,000 (!), and from "just apply some silver coating to the various parts and call it a day" to "you need to reconfigure the roofs, apply new roofing throughout, and install new gutters all around"...   While some thought a new "torch down" roof was the only way to go, others said they wouldn't consider anything but "rubber"...  And several wanted to secure the new roofing material with the dreaded "termination bar" on the face of the overhangs (the cheapest and ugliest thing ever!)...



Finally, the plumber recommended a friend of his, Michael, to do the work.  Michael had a compromise approach (in both work and price).  He said that the top roof still had a lot of years of life, so he suggested re-adhering any roofing that was loose along the top of the parapet walls and silver coating the entire thing.  (Note to self:  Remember to tell whoever buys the house that they should silver coat every five years - it will extend the life of the roof and reflect the summer heat).

For the overhangs he had a more radical approach.  He suggested stripping them down to the original sheathing and applying a new torch down roof using the original custom-made drip edging.  So, this is what we decided to do.

In stripping the overhangs, he uncovered a bit of Pittsburgh history:  the original "coal tar pitch" roof (coal tar pitch:  a by-product of processing coal into coke).  Unfortunately, on the front overhang, under all that pitch, he discovered some rotted wood.  With rain being predicted, Joe quickly replaced fascia boards and sheathing and Michael finished up.  In hindsight, I should have taken that opportunity to give the overhang a bit of a slope and add a hanging gutter all around.  But, in the rush to get it recovered before the upcoming rain, I just didn't think of it.  Maybe when this roof wears out, whoever owns the house then can do it... 


The roofer then replaced the drops that connect through the overhang structure to the downspouts and installed a torch down roof with the proper edgings and flashings, thereby maintaining the look of the original house.  On the main roof, where most of the water ends up, he secured the parapet roofing, silver-coated the entire thing and installed a gutter that wrapped around the overhang.  And, the overhang roofs: Wow!  They looked great,  What a difference from their old gunky selves.

A day later, after a heavy rain, I was giving a tour of the house to some folks, and much to my dismay there was an inch of water on the front overhang!  I was sick to my stomach!  All that work and money!  It seems like the front overhang has sagged a bit over the years and the water just doesn't get towards the drop (and, therefore, the downspout) as it should.  What to do?  Just the kind of thing that keeps my brain churning in the middle of the night for hours on end...

Fortunately, Joe has put me at ease - his own roof holds water that and he's never had problems.  So, as long as the membrane is intact and gets silvercoated periodically, it's ok for it to hold water (some of the roofers had said that; others said absolutely not).  But, just to be safe(r), I'm going to have Joe install another drop and downspout on the opposite end from the existing.  This should let the majority of the water run out and we should be ok.  However, I'm not happy about how that extra downspout is going to look :-(

2nd dilemma: Insulation (i.e. more insulation)

Given that the house was built in the 50s, I had assumed that there was a certain amount of insulation in the walls and roof.  However, I knew that it would need to be upgraded to today's standards.  So, the plans had always been to install new code-compliant insulation in the kitchen and upstairs bathroom once they were gutted.  We also planned to wrap insulation around the ducts in the garage as there is no sense losing heat and a/c in the unheated garage, to furr out the basement walls and add rigid insulation between the furring, and to install acoustic insulation in the new basement bathroom walls.

Joe, as usual, did a great job.

 

The plans had also been to leave the walls and ceilings outside of these spaces alone since the plaster was in good condition and we figured they had some insulation...  However, knowing that there was only 3-1/2" of insulation in the roof was nagging at me...  Then, a neighbor told me a story that started keeping me up at night:  the previous residents had complained that the furnace didn't work because they were always so cold.  Well, Mark, our hvac guy from L & F Heating, had told me that the existing furnace was only 6 years old (even encouraged me to sell it on Craig's List), and that the only reason for replacing it was to get a higher efficiency (95% instead of 80 some)...

So, how do I justify the expense of taking perfectly good ceilings down and then putting them back up?  Plus, I couldn't just use regular batt insulation since the roof cannot be vented...  I'd have to use the more expensive foam insulation...  But, now was the time to do it  - it'd be an impossible task for a homeowner once they've moved in...   After talking to several insulation companies in the area and more sleepless nights, I decided to take the ceilings down and fill the rafter spaces with open cell foam.  And, while we were at it, they might as well foam the kitchen and bathroom walls.  What the heck!  I was already spending money I hadn't budgeted for, so what's a few hundred more!!!

Thankfully uneventful plumbing

I know that people are into bathrooms and more bathrooms these days.  But, it's usually hard to squeeze a bathroom into an existing home without ruining the original architecture.  But with plans to partially finish the basement of this house, I couldn't find a better place to put in a second bathroom down there.  And, with having such great access to the outside through the garage and a yard that a dog might like, we might as well create a full bathroom with a curbless shower that will be good for people and dogs :-)

So, in comes JT (Jeff Tolusciak, our plumber) to break up the concrete floor in preparation for the new lines.  This also gave him the opportunity to inspect the condition of the existing lines, which we are happy to report are cast iron and in great condition.

Breaking up the concrete is hard, messy and dirty, requiring a good bit of clean-up on his part and mine. 

Soon, the new lines are in place for the basement bathroom, utility tub and washer:

 

The first dilemma: Windows

I'm always a big proponent of keeping a house's original windows (refurbishing them and adding storm windows when needed) because they have a certain quality that replacement windows just cannot imitate, and changing them almost always alters the character of the house (unless you spend a lot of money to accurately replicate them).  However, there are times when keeping the existing windows just doesn't make sense.  And, this was such a case.

The look of the original windows definitely suited the house - rows of narrow casements let lots of light and air in and horizontal muntins echoed the house's lines.  They were steel, constructed at a time when Pittsburgh's steel mills were pumping it out like there was no tomorrow (which unfortunately, there wouldn't be).  However, that very steel transferred the cold and heat into the house.  The single pane glass made it even worse.  Most of the cranks didn't work and the windows couldn't be opened. And, to make matters even "worser", they did not meet the Residential Building Code's egress requirements (need to be able to get out in case of a fire).

Through much consultation with Dave Murray, a most patient sales rep at ThermoTwin (a local window and door manufacturer - yeah, let's keep it local!), we finally decided what to do.  First, we looked at replacing them all with aluminum casements following the original configuration.  But, aluminum windows, even with a thermal break, don't meet the local Energy Code...  Aluminum clad wood windows (my second choice) proved too expensive and, besides, would look to heavy on this house.  Finally, we turned to vinyl, making them sliders so they would be big enough for egress.  Dave was able to spec horizontal muntins to keep the original look and full screens so the shadows from the different planes of the sashes is not so evident.  We didn't want the ubiquitous white vinyl, so we paid a little extra (~10%) and got tan which better suits a 1950s house.  In addition, we got low-e, argon-filled glass to improve energy efficiency.

The results are pretty darn good. Judge for yourself:

Check out the hills of Highland Park in the middle of the photo

It will be even better once the dark brown siding is gone

Framing soon follows

Joe doesn't rest on his laurels and gets right to framing.  In the kitchen, we steal some space from the dining room for the refrigerator (so that it no longer narrows up the path from the kitchen door and the basement):

Upstairs, we bump out the coat closet in the back bedroom so that you can actually hang your clothes (!):

In the bathroom, we relocate the door so that we can put in a double sink vanity, as well as steal some space from the big linen closet for a niche in the hallway (no photos)

In the front bedroom, we build new, more manageable steps (i.e. shelves) above the stairway to maximize and better access storage:

In the basement, besides framing for the future bathroom, we furr the walls and ceilings so that we can insulate as well as hide the pipes and ductwork:

And, in the garage, we frame around the ductwork so that we can insulate and fire-rate them:

Let the demolition begin

Anyone who's worked on a renovation project knows that before you can make it better, you have to make it worse.  I was lucky that our trusted contractor Joe Kuntz, from Kuntz Construction, had a few days of down time and before we knew he started gutting,first the bathroom:

 

and, then, the kitchen:

This gave me the opportunity to be able to assess the structure and be able to get accurate dimensions so I could draw up the new floor plans and order the new windows.  The only revolting discovery was that the roof had a mere 3-1/2" of fiberglass insulation - which is nothing compared to the 12" that are now required.  (More on that in a future post)

We did have a little excitement during demolition:  While gutting the kitchen, one of the window panes was accidentally broken.  No big deal, right?  We're replacing the windows soon anyway...  Well, the "vacant property" insurance company happened to have come to check things out, noticed the broken window and started to cancel our insurance!  (Who knew that a broken window was so important?)  After a few phone calls and emails, the company put the cancellation on hold with the caveat that we would send them a photo of the new window within the next month.  And, so we did:

By this point, Joe had also gotten to do a little exploratory demoltion of the aluminum siding.  Lo and behold, we found that underneath it was the original redwood siding and it was in great condition.  So, of course, we couldn't leave it covered and the aluminum came off and was recycled.  How much more natural and compatible to the style of the house the wide redwood boards look than the old exaggerated "wood grain" "lapboard" aluminum siding!  Sure, it will have to be painted from time to time, but there isn't all that much of it, and it's all very accessible.  And, besides, the fake sidings fade and get dirty any way; so it's only a matter of time before they look bad and have to be replaced....

Now for the"Before" Tour of the Interior

It's rather unusual for houses in Pittsburgh to have integral garages, so let's start our interior tour there.  For starters, this garage has a real wood panel door - none of that fake "wood" grain and steel doors that you find in suburban developments...  And, though not all that wide, the garage is long enough to have plenty of storage in the back.  One bad thing, notice that the heating ducts run right across it with not an ounce of insulation or fireproofing around them!  Not too energy efficient and not too safe!

Right next to the garage is the official "basement" which is quite roomy with a nice high ceiling, but also quite damp due to what we would later find out to be totally clogged and overflowing downspouts on the back and right side of the house...

Up the stairs, you enter the kitchen.  While not a large kitchen by any means, with a little reconfiguration and wall removal, it will work quite nicely and be even better connected to the dining room (you are seeing its green walls) than currently.  The cabinets are not original, and while they seem to be good cabinets, they just don't suit the house.  So, they'll soon be gone, along with the bulkheads above them and the various layers of awful flooring.  Surprisingly, the refrigerator and stove are rather new - in fact, the refrigerator still has its blue plastic film on the doors - so, they are keepers. 

The adjacent dining room is quite nice, with great views of the backyard through its picture window.  Unfortunately, that window will have to go, so that future homeowners can better access the deck and patio out back.

And, now comes the living room.  And, what a great big room it is - well, it will be once those awnings are removed and light can stream in... and once the green walls and pink (yes, pink!) ceiling is gone...

Once you get to the top of the stairs, you understand where previous owners got the green and pink color palette: from the bathroom!   A convoluted path through the bathroom, windows you can't see through, the ugliest vinyl tiles anyone has ever seen, a cracked vanity sink and a claustrophobic tub area don't let you appreciate the bathroom's generous size or its potential.  So, here comes a total gut and some moving of doorways and walls....

The back bedroom is next.  Good size and good light but terrible closet:  only 1' deep (can't hang anything in it) and with sliding doors that limit access to one half at a time.  This won't do, so I guess we'll be moving walls here too.  One good thing:  inside the closet is a laundry chute (how I would love one in my own house).

Now, the front bedroom is what will definitely sell this house!  For starters, it's huge.  In addition, it's filled with morning light (i.e. the "morning-side" bedroom!).  And, once, those trees with the pine cones that are clogging the downspouts are gone, there will be views of Highland Park and the Heth's Run Valley.  Super!

Now it's time for the renovation to begin...