Cousins

I love that Sam has some great cousins. Tyler and Issac really have a fun time playing with Sam. The three of them have been getting along so well and keeping each other entertained. There have only been a couple of times that we have had to intervene, and several where it wasn't probably necessary, but we are learning as parents to let the right stuff get figured out between them.

Auntie Ann had some fun crafts for them to do; Pilgrim faces made from paper plates and hat cutouts with a buckle that they colored. That was fun but wrestling seems to be Sam's new thing this time; testing his strength against Issac and sometimes Tyler. He is about even with Issac, coming out on top sometimes and not others; it seems Issac is a little timid in wanting to fight Sam off completely, so he ends up letting Sam bowl him over. They love to hug each other when it is all over, which at 2, 4 and 7, is really cute.

I look forward to my brother, Tim, and Candace, his wife come Dec 28th, having kids (sorry guys, no pressure) and us having more so that there are just that many more cousins playing around at the holidays and other times we get together.

Sam is such a social man that I know he will be such a good cousin and brother with the younger kids when they come. With his play times at the babysitter and church daycare and playgroups, I am such a proud father he isn't following after my solitary ways.

I am also glad he is learning to have fun with friends and even cooperative play; although he is still working on going along with the other persons way of play and not always getting things the way he likes them. He is developing into a great little boy; he has a lot of learning and exploring to do but I couldn't be happier to have such a great son.

Solar Installed

The solar electric panels got installed today. It was fun watching them go up and see the process they went through to install them. They installed 8 modules on the east end and 4 on the west end of the south facing roof; I don't think they would be able to fit more up there if we wanted them. The basic process was:

1. mark the rafters and measure for the final install locations
2. measure and drill the holes for the roof anchors
3. install the roof anchors and mounting rails
4. drill holes for and install the DC combiner boxes by the two areas on the roof where the panels are located
5. install the electric AC cutoff switch, the inverter and DC disconnect in the garage by the electric panel
6. install a whole house surge suppression breaker to help protect the house from electrical spikes coming from the power going in and out of our panel as we start to generate our own electricity.
7. install the electrical duct from the AC disconnect switch to the panel, and from the inverter to the combiner boxes on the roof.
8. Run all wiring from the panel, disconnects, combiners and solar modules
9. make sure all wires are tucked up under the panels, verify all connections
10. Turn on the system and verify it is producing power
11. disconnect, wait for building and electrical inspections and the power company to install the bi-directional meter before we can turn it on for good.

So we are waiting for the inspections next week before the system can get turned back on. I also need to clean up my rearrangement of the garage that I did on Tuesday night to make room for them to install the inverter and have access to the attic, etc.

I was happy they were impressed with my attic access crawl-ways I had put in to make it easier to inspect the attic area and move through the otherwise blown-in insulation up there.

Now I just need to finish the roof and button everything up for the winter so we can enjoy our new solar power in comfort. Oh and finish the bedroom and bathroom so we can finally have a "finished" living space after a year and a half of working on these projects. I have a lot of respect for contractors who can do these jobs to completion in weeks, but I guess they are not juggling a full time job on the side since that is their job.

Pics to come when I get them downloaded, hopefully.

Roofing and other shelters

So I took a little time off on Friday to do some work and rest a bit after doing roofing all week. My back was really giving me trouble, so I rested, went to the chiropractor and just took it easy.

On Saturday, I went and dumped the trailer full of roofing at the dump; I can't believe how much they charge! Anywho, on my way back with the trailer, I stopped by HD and got wood and way plastic roofing to make a covered area by the garage.

When I got back from HD and got the stuff unloaded, I was able to mostly finish the second half of the south facing roof, all but the ridge. I even got the valley on the east side covered so I don't have to have tarps on that side any more. I still have two up there, but those can come down anytime since they aren't actually protecting anything.

Saturday night I started putting the 12' x 8' wavy plastic covered area together. I air nailed the frame together and screwed the plastic sheets to the top using the wood cutout supports that they have with the roofing. I didn't get it put together quite right and will need to add some additional 2x4 bracing to support the wavy supports, but Aimee and I got it set up on the side yard where it is going and we left it for the night since it got too dark.

Today, I attached it to the overhang on the house and put up 2x4 posts out at the fence. It took about 2 hours to get it all secured, but it looks pretty good and will keep the trailer dry without needing to tarp it. It will also give the solar guys a place to stage their stuff where it can be out of the rain, in case it rains on Wednesday. I still need to anchor the posts to the cement blocks I have them standing on so the wind won't lift it, add the cross bracing, and probably should shorten it by 4 inches so I don't have an exposed end of the framing. I figured I could do most of that with is in the up position, so we will have to see how that goes.

Clear skies are passing through

As you can see from the pic above from before I started today, it was really nice this morning. I was really surprised when I got up this morning and looked outside expecting it to be cloudy and rainy. It lasted off and on until about 2pm when it rained for about 5-10 minutes. I had just put the last piece of felt down and was positioning it when it started. By the time I got back to putting shingles on, it was mostly dry.

It was sunny and nice again until about 4pm when it started pouring. I watched the cloud bank roll in and the wind picked up just before the first drops started. I was soaked through with my green coat, jeans and sweatshirt dripping. There were some times in between the two showers with some overcast clouds but they would clear and it would be sunny again.

This picture is of the time at 2 just before it rained; It’s panoramic, with the orange leaves just under the sun spot being the cherry trees and the right hand side being more north.

click to see more detail

Then just before it poured at 4pm.


I really like the gables now and probably wouldn’t have thought to change it if I would have been working on it by myself; thank you Dad. They are probably my favorite thing about the roof now, oh and the solar vent. It looks pretty good up there. Taken directly north; there was another front like this that formed shortly after this that was due west. Here are some more process pics:

The next section of roof

We started the next section of roof, the southwest side of the main part of the house; Dad and I:

• got the shingles off


• new plywood for the ridge and gable


• the gagle straightened out


• all of it mostly nailed down when it started raining.


• and a couple braces for the remaining plywood we left up there since it was just sagging it one place next to where we tore the sheeting out.

Oh, and Sam got to go up on the roof with me; he almost went up by himself. I took him outside and had to walk back into the garage for something, telling Sam to wait for me. By the time I had gotten to the back where the ladder was, I discovered he wasn't waiting for me like I asked and was at the top of the 8 foot ladder, about to climb onto the roof by himself. That gave my heart a jolt but I realized he is a good climber and has had practice inside with ladders I have used in the bedroom while working.

I will have to get the pics Mom took while we were up there. Sam kept wanting to walk away from me, trying to let go of my hold on his arm, but I told him if he was not going to hold my hand, he was choosing to get down. He didn't fuss to much but did want to walk around. We walked around the old and new parts of the roof and gave him a view from the tallest peak above the Familyroom; he loved it. He was very obedient after getting down and he was out back with Grandma playing in the dirt. We did have a quick talk that he doesn't go up the ladder without permission and especially not by himself.

Anywho, Dad and I didn't get out there until almost 9am today and I had to take a break at 2pm for an hour work call. It started raining about 3:00, but I think we were out there until about 4pm by the time we got all the tarps down and shingle bundles distributed to keep them from blowing away.

It has been raining steady since then and just now started to really pour. I put a camera on the roof that I can watch from inside so I don't have to go out in the rain to see if the tarps are doing fine; so far so good. I really don't want to wake up in the middle of the night with the bedroom ceiling caving in again from water.

Oh, and I found an Amped can on the roof, well in the gutter on the front of the house above the garage. Makes me think that someone was up there, but maybe they just threw the can up there. I may have to leave the camera up there after the roofing project just to see if anything goes on up there without my knowing. I have wondered if someone would be able to get up on the roof from the fence like the cats and squirrels do.

As you can probably surmise, the roofing project is on hold for the time being. It is forecast to rain through tomorrow and have showers through the weekend. I just need a couple dry patches to be able to finish up:

• tear out the rest of the valley on that side


• put down the water and ice shield membrane in the valley


• put down tar paper


• nail down starter strip


• and start shingling

This part of the roof is about a third the size of the part we finished so it shouldn't take that long once I get a break in the rain long enough to do some work up there. The valley tearout is going to probably take longer than any of what is left, but I am sure glad I left that up there with this rain.

Pics from Tuesday afternoon before we finished and then after the tarps were up to protect the valley on the FR side:

Gettin my roof on (well off and then on)

Spent this last weekend plus the last couple days re-roofing a section of our house. I had originally intended to get the south side of the house done in a weekend, but evidently the weather and my estimation were not very good. So I am here on Tuesday with only one small section of the roof finished; probably only 20% of what I wanted to get done, but 70% of what needed to get done before next week.

My Dad has been a great help but we are both not very cut out for roofing; bad backs and sore muscles down to the bones to prove it. It has been great that he is willing to take time away from his own home projects to help me with this; he is redoing the master bath at his house.

Anywho... this is how it seems to have gone.

Friday afternoon: Got started on tearing the old roof off on the southeast side of the house and evaluating what sheeting needed to be replaced; that side of the house was really bad and bounced when you walked on it. We replaced a couple pieces that were really bad and started cleaning up the roof deck. It got dark after only about 3 hours up there and started raining; we got tarps up just in time to catch the most of it.

Saturday: quickly realized after replacing the first couple sheets that most of the sheeting needed to be replaced since walking on it you thought you would go through if you didn't find the rafters. That took the rest of the day. It misted all morning and finally opened up in the early afternoon for about an hour. We got back to work and, while replacing the sheeting at the very end at the ridge, decided to square off the end of the gable; it was pointed, and actually still is on the north side.

Aimee and Jim, a friend who I asked at the last minute if he could help, took off part of the valley to the next part of the roof during the morning before Aimee went to a baby shower lunch with Jim's wife and other friends; so I lost Jim's help for the rest of the day so he could watch his daughter while Cara was away.

Tarped everything up for the night and hoped it all stayed put.

Sunday: We finally got the finishing touches on the gable end and the replaced sheeting, including adding insulation to the outside 3 feet of the outside wall in the attic where there wasn't any. We were then finally able to put felt down and start shingling the roof. Oh and we got the ice and water shield membrane in the valley to the next roof section. I got about 6 feet from the gutters done before darkness required us to call it a night at like 6:30, when the streetlight was the only light and we just couldn't see anything anymore.

Putting together and figuring out how to modify the roof above the gable ate up a lot of time. Replacing almost all of the sheeting ate up all of our energy. Dad and I were both exhausted and were figuring there was no way we would be able, even if we were willing, to work the next day.

Monday: The weather was perfect with little precipitation, so we got a lot more shingles up on the roof, up to about 3 feet from the peak at all but 4 feet away from the valley, which was more like 8 feet away from the peak. There was more intricate work with figuring out how to do a lapped valley and shingle around our new square gable, so it didn't go as fast as I thought it would, but progress none the less.

Tuesday (today): Woke up several times during the night to find it was raining hard and checked the tarps. Up to 6 am they were fine, but when we went out at 8:30 to start, the tarp at the top of the valley had blown up over the front of the house, but the tar paper and shingles seemed to be fine; although a bit wet and the tar paper a little saggy.

We ended up finishing the southeast roof, except for the hip at the end which I just realized we didn't do. So no tarping there tonight. Today included cutting holes for and installing vents and a solar powered roof fan, figuring out what to do at the peak to tie into the old roofing on the front of the house, and putting on the ridge shingles.

It all went pretty well, but was kinda tedious with all the cutting around the vents and trimming shingles down to fit at the ridge. I ended up installing the ridge vents in a steady misting rain after dark, with a led headlamp on while my Dad cleaned up the tools and got them inside out of the wet.

Overall: I have to say, even though I have done roofing before, I am glad we are doing the back of the house first so when I get to the front I have the specifics figured out and it will look and hopefully workout a little better than the back did.

I only have one more south facing roof I have to do before Wednesday next week when I have Solar Electric panels being installed. I really doubt we will get that done in one day, but tear out starts as soon as I can get out of meetings for the day since it is the last dry(ish) day that is forecast for the next week.

So, anyone reading this that is able to come help out for the day tomorrow, it would be very greatly appreciated.