My new book about Minnesota if finally done and available on Amazon!

This has been another busy fall for us, and Thank You to everyone we have worked for and worked with. 

  I just found this link. A short article about a few projects that still make financial sense even in the hardest hit economic areas.  http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/111220/home-upgrades-more-cost-than-value?mod=realestate-homeimprove

  Here is a direct quote from the article:

“The most valuable projects, in terms of percentage of cost recouped at sale, are exterior work that enhances curb appeal, the magazine says. Many of these, such as door and window replacements, are also among the cheapest projects.

Another surprise, said the magazine, is the benefits of adding an attic bedroom. Though this is an expensive project, costing nearly $50,000, it is one of the cheapest ways to add living space.”

10  Things You Should Know About Your Roof     

Here are a few things I have learned, seen, and experienced through my last 6 years of being a Building Contractor in Cook County.  We do a lot of remodeling and re-roofing.  I have seen roofs in almost every condition imaginable – some so bad that I’ve even been nervous to walk on them. Here are a few of the things that grab my attention as soon as I see a cabin and its roof.

1.  Trees  -

 A cabin nestled in amongst the trees is a nostalgic idea, but close trees can be tough on your cabin and its roof.  Branches and leaves overhanging and touching the roof are especially bad at holding onto moisture.  The roof – and whole cabin for that matter – really needs to be able to dry.  As dense as our forests are, making sure the sun can actually get to your cabin is important.  I have seen some cabins that I don’t think ever actually dry out.  In situations like that the structural sheathing under the shingles is often even saturated and deteriorating, decks are often moldy and slippery, wood siding starts to rot as well.   Trees against buildings also cause more of a fire danger and FireWise has a certain distance that they would like to see trees cut back to.

         2.   Mice –

Twice this year I have heard from homeowners about having mice in their cabins and they didn’t understand how they were getting in.  Both cabins were relatively recently built.  Both also had plastic roof vents and trees touching the roof.  One of cabins had obvious signs where rodents had chewed through the vent and gone inside the building. The other cabin’s vents had lifted up and would allow plenty of room for mice to go right underneath.  I believe that the trees touching the roofs of both these cabins were offering the mice an easy access to the roof and vulnerable roof venting. The rest of the siding, soffits, etc..are still sealed up tight with no signs of being chewed on.

           3. Overhangs & Drip Edges

The edges of a roof should all have a metal Drip Edge installed to help keep rain from getting under the shingles.  Many older cabins I see don’t have any drip edge.  Shingles should then overhang the Drip Edge to provide even more of a moisture barrier, to keep the rain falling off the roof before it has a chance to get back under the shingles.  Shingle manufacturer GAF/ELK recommends up to a ¾” shingle overhang.  Not having the shingles overhanging the roof often rots the facia much faster and I have seen eve edges where water was wicking back up under the shingles and rotting out the roof sheathing.

         4.  Flashings & Crickets

Anywhere a roof meets another wall, a dormer, a chimney, etc..it needs flashing.  Flashings are generally bent metal designed to waterproof tough areas.  Step flashings are used where a lower roof meets against a wall for example, and they step up with the shingles to keep water draining correctly.  Chimneys need other styles and shaped of flashings around them, many end up being custom bent to fit each chimney.  Most chimneys also need a “cricket” built between the chimney and the roof so that there is not an area there that can catch and hold rain and snow.  The cricket is a short pitched roof designed to shed moisture off both sides of the chimney instead of having it pool up behind the chimney.  Many roofs in this county are missing many of these moisture prevention systems and are being damaged by the weather because of it.  And no, a bucket of tar smeared onto these areas does not constitute a flashing!

          5. Cracks, moss and mold on shingles

These are all visible signs that your roof probably needs to be replaced.  Moss and mold are often easy to see even when standing on the ground.  Cracks in the shingles and edges curling up are probably better seen from above the roof.  I would recommend replacing your roof a few years before the warranty on the shingles is up, rather than a few years after it expires.  Most modern quality shingles have at least a 30 yr warranty now.  If major issues are visible on the shingles, you can expect to find more problems with the wood under them, once they are removed.

         6. Metal roofing Vs. shingles

There are pro’s and con’s of both metal roofing and asphalt shingles.  Quality shingles and metal roofing generally carry the same Class A fire rating.  I find that for the best price, the easiest to install and repair, asphalt shingles are the way to go.  I have found many maintenance issues with the screw-through type of metal roofing.  Our temperature swings throughout the year cause the metal to expand and contract.  This often causes the screws to back themselves out and causes more holes in the roof. 

The higher priced standing-seam type metal roofs offer a much better weather protection as there are very few penetrations through the roof, it often just costs at least 3 times the price of shingles.  The standing-seam metal roofs do allow for movement because they are held down with clips that allow the metal to expand and contact, sliding in the clips instead of fighting against screws going through it.

            I personally prefer shingles that I know are not going to send loads of ice and snow crashing down when the roof sheds, like metal roofs can do.

       7. Permits

No permits are required to have a new roof put on your cabin or home.  In Cook County our permits are Land Use Permits and not Building permits.  As long as you are not changing the footprint of your building or doing anything else that is changing the land use, a permit should not be required.

         8. Insulation

Many of the buildings on the Gunflint Trail anyway were originally built as seasonal summer cabins and not a lot of consideration was given to insulating them.  A great time to add insulation to your cabins roof is when the roofing is being replaced.  After tearing off the existing roofing we have added both sheet foam and spray foam as additional insulation, depending on the situation.  Either way, additional “rafters” are usually added to create both a space for more insulation and for an air space for ventilation. Then the additional insulation is added and new roofing is installed above.  I am leaning more and more towards using spray foam insulation when I can because of the superior job I believe it does in sealing everything and that it does not hold any moisture like fiberglass insulation can.

        9.  Shingling Over

I have never added another layer of shingles on top of an existing one.  I know it does happen in a lot of areas and it is actually up to code, to a point, I want to make sure that the roof sheathing and the underlayment below the shingles is in good condition.  Adding another layer of shingles on top does not allow a visual inspection of the integrity of the roof condition below.  To me this feels like adding a band-aid to a problem instead of making sure everything is corrected to begin with.

          10.  Tar Paper and Nails

In doing re-roofing projects we have run across a few buildings that were lacking good tar paper ( roof underlayment ).  In one situation after tearing off the shingles we found that no tar paper at all was used on the initial shingle installation, on the other a couple rows of upper tar paper didn’t overlap the layers below.  Neither of these are ideal situations for your building.  We install with at least 2 rows of an “Ice & Water” type membrane on the eve edges and under valleys, around chimneys and any other hard to seal areas, and then 30lb Tar Paper up the rest of the roof.  Each layer overlapping the one below it.

Then the shingles are nailed down on top of this.  Shingle manufacturer GAF/Elk recommends using roofing nails and not roofing staples, and states that  “any problems resulting from the use of staples, including wind blow-off, are not covered by the warranty”.

One thing I have learned is to expect the unexpected when remodeling.  Here are a few photo’s of a recent job.  There originally was a deck built on top of an almost flat rubber roof, on an old log cabin.  We took off the existing deck, rubber roof, rolled shingle roof that we found undernieth, a kraft faced tar paper type membrane , and we replaced several of the original roof boards that had rotten over the years.  We then installed a layer of 1/2″ cdx plywood over top of all of that to give a nice flat surface for the rubber rooofing to go back on.  Rubber roof went ontop of that and the deck re-built on that.  All this while trying to get a good tight flashing system around an unconventional styled old chimney.  This cabin was built in the 1930’s I believe.

     We weren’t suprised by too much on this project except for having rolled roofing under the rubber roof, and then the kraft-faced type tar paper with threads in it.  Removing those layers and replacing the rotten boards, and adding the 1/2″ ply were all steps I hadn’t anticipated though.