Laurel's Adventures in Home Repair
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Raising the Roof
Garage Roof Replacement
Repair damaged soffit and fascia on main house
Facelift of facade around garage doors

February 23, 2015 - March 12, 2015 - Contractors on site
March 13, 2015 - August 22, 2015 - Work done only by me

 

The one thing that we have been trying to do for years, is to replace the roof over our garage. 

I am not talking about rolling out new asphalt.  I am talking about tearing off the entire roof and rebuilding the roof with a pitch steep enough to let the rain water run off the roof, instead of it sitting in puddles on the roof until it evaporates.

The current pitch of the garage roof is a sorry 1:12.  Which means it is almost flat.  A cracked beam has created a low spot in one area.  There is also leaking water in several areas in the garage and under the section of the roof that connects to the main house roof.

I have climbed on the roof and placed roof tar on every area I suspected water was getting in, to no avail.  When it rains hard, the water just keeps coming in.

The other thing are the aesthetics of the current roof.  The garage IS the front of our house.  At the garage's current state, the entire house has zero curb appeal.  Nada. Zilch. 

A new garage roof with a higher pitch, new wood work and trim around garage doors, and fresh paint will improve the appearance.... a lot.


Front of the house with nearly flat garage roof

What you cannot see in the photo above, is how bad the soffits and fascia are on the garage roof.  We had done nothing to the garage roof soffits and fascia because we knew we would be tearing it all off.....eventually.

When I say that we have been trying for years to have this work done. We just could not find a contractor.  We would call, they would climb on the roof, take some measurements, and we would never hear from them again.  They would not return our calls.  Hmm.

In September 2014 I contacted the general contractor I used for my bathrooms to begin with an estimate.  It is now February 2015 and the details of the job have been ironed out.  Work will now begin.

Of note: The other two houses that were built at the same time, with the same floor plans, both have had their garage roofs replaced.  We were the only one left that had the original garage roof.


Neighbors' houses with their replaced garage roofs.

The work that will be done is:

1)
 
Tear off the entire garage roof and re-frame the roof with a 3:12 pitch.  A decent enough pitch to allow rain to flow off of it, but low enough to safely walk on top of.

2)
 
The high point of the roof will be centered above the middle of the garage doors instead of the center of the garage.  This means the right side of the garage will have a longer slope diverting more rain water to the outer side of the house, rather than the front porch. 

3)
  The decorative wood beams attached to the front patio side of the roof, that I spent 2 months stripping, sanding, and painting last summer, will stay.  I told the contractor that they cannot tolerate the stress of being moved around. 


 Wood beams on front patio

4) The roof section that connects the main house to the garage will be removed and re-framed. 
 
The new section of roof will extend beyond the stairs to the stucco patio.  The roof currently ends right above the stairs which means the rain water beats down on the stairs, damaging them over time.

I just repaired and resurfaced the stairs with a faux treatment and did a facelift of the wrought iron


Rain hitting stucco patio stairs.
Stucco wall repair in progress last Aug.


Resurfaced faux treatment to stairs
 and wrought iron facelift

The contractor did suggest putting the roof over the entire stucco patio connecting the house and garage entirely on this part of the house.  My husband pointed out that this would make the two bedrooms on this side very dark.  What I thought of was the summer heat.  It would be trapped under the roof making this side of the house hotter.  I also like to put plants on this patio.
5)  Replacement of damaged soffit boards and fascia on main house where needed.  Decorative wood beams refinished.  Overall paint job to new color that is on stucco walls.

Oval soffit vent covers to be replaced with aluminum rectangular screw/nail in type.  The white plastic oval vent covers pop out, get brittle, and are not easy to replace in high sections of the roof. 

I want vent covers that will rarely need to be replaced.


Damaged soffit and fascia replaced. Wood beams
stripped and painted.

6)  Replace the vertical wood work around the garage doors with PVC sheet material.

Water collects at the bottom and rots the wood.  PVC properly sealed will permanently fix this problem.  The PVC will last forever unless it is damaged.  To see where I used PVC elsewhere, see my column wraps here...

Garage door weather strips will also be replaced with new.

The garage doors will be painted the new house color of green / beige.  Faux windows will then be painted on garage doors.  I don't want real windows where people can look in, but I like the look of windows.

New house numbers will be placed on the section between garage doors.

All of the work done in this phase (6), will be done by me after the roof is done.


Vertical wood to be replaced with PVC

February 23, 2015 -- Today was the start day of the project.  The workers did not show up until after 12 noon.  Today they removed the sheet rock ceiling in the garage and removed the soffit and fascia on three sides of the structure.


 Sheet rock ceiling being removed


Sheet rock ceiling gone


Soffit and fascia being removed

February 24, 2015 -- The rest of the garage roof came off today.  The plywood they removed was 3/8".  Much thinner than the requirements now.  It is a wonder that no one fell through this roof.

The garage door openings are being held in place with some of the lumber they ripped out.  The beams are also being supported on the ends that were attached to the fascia.


Plywood being removed


The roof is all gone now


Decorative beams being supported with scrap lumber

February 25, 2015 --  The construction workers did not show-up, even though they said they would be here in the afternoon.  Probably because they were yelled at in the morning for jerry-rigging the garage door openers in-place.

The jerry-rigged holders for the garage openers did not work in high winds.  At about 5 pm on the 24th, a front came through bringing 40 mph gusts and rain which had NOT been in the forecast.  The beams holding the motor and tracks did not hold and were flopping around. I caught the contractor before they went home at the office.  They got hold of a garage door specialist who came over at dusk and removed everything. 

As for no one showing up, no problem, I got to finish the last part of a rock wall I had been working on without any interruptions.


February 26
, 2015 -- Today the framing of the new garage roof began.  The carpenter and his crew showed up around 8:30 am.  A truck delivered the roof materials and a forklift placed the materials onto my driveway.


Materials being delivered


Ridge board in place. Ceiling joists being put in.


The rise and second ridge board being put in place


Trusses added


Front view of the garage roof

February 27, 2015 -- Today the workers showed up at 8:30.  They worked on the soffit areas, added additional support between the ridge boards, and added plywood to the west side of the roof.


West side of roof covered with plywood, soffit added


Inside of roof as of February 27, 2015

March 2, 2015 -- In my world, it always rains when I hire a contractor to do outside work.  In a city that averages about 300 sunny days a year, where March and April statistically are the driest months, you would think that the odds were on my side.  Nope.  Today it started with a few sprinkles and then a light drizzle in the afternoon.

The workers came at about 8:40 am and started by getting the rest of the plywood up on the roof.  They then added the fascia boards and drip edge that will hold the flashing when the shingles are put on.

Just about the time the rain starting coming down heavier, the roofer arrived to put the tar/felt paper on the roof.  At least now there is no more water dripping into the garage.


The rest of the plywood added to the east side of roof


Fascia board and wood for roof flashing being attached


Tar / felt paper being attached

March 3, 2015 -- Today was another rain day, so the the workers did not come today.  This day did allow me time to casually inspect the roof and I found some issues that needed to be addressed.

One thing I have learned, living and working in this town for 17 years, is that communication is often lacking.  Sometimes it is a language barrier.  I speak some Spanish, but I am in no way fluent.  Sometimes it is the problem of expressing ideas to someone who's brain is just wired differently.  Sometimes it is cultural.  Sometimes it is because I am a female.

After a sleepless night, where my mind was working around the roof issues.  I e-mailed and phoned the contractor the next morning to make sure I had the fluent English speaking company representative on-site the next morning with the work crew.
March 4, 2015 -- One issue that we covered this morning, before anyone started working, was the section of the roof above the patio.  It was flat.  I did not catch this until after the trusses were in place and the sheathing was already put on.  My fault for not looking r-e-a-l close sooner.  With the light rain we had the past two days, the flatness of this section was evident because of the still standing water on this section of roof the next morning.  The rain had stopped the previous afternoon.

I had wanted a gable roof.  Period.  Not a roof where a section of it went flat over the patio where it met the decorative beams.  When I mentioned this to the contractor he said that they could not have done it because of the decorative beams.  Wrong!  All they would have had to do was raise the height of the wall on that side until the trusses were level with the end of the decorative beams.  But I can be flexible.  I told him that it would be unreasonable and costly to rip-off half of the roof to fix this problem at this point.    

I suggested instead that they elevate this section of the roof slightly so the water runs off.  To fix this they only had to remove the tar paper and sheathing on this small section and re-do it by adding some height to the section where the gable met the flat section.


Where rain still sat the morning after it had stopped raining the afternoon before

The second issue also concerned this section of the roof.  The problem was at the front of the house where the gable section met the flat section. 
You have to look at the photo to the right to see what I mean. 

Really?  At first they looked at it and could not figure out what I was talking about.

My suggestion for this was to just follow the curve of the roof.  Let's cut off a portion of the section horizontally at the bottom, after they fix the elevation of the flat section.


 Where gable and flat roofs "collide"

Another concern I had was the front of the house on the gable.  The plan from the beginning had been to remove the old orange siding and place new siding on that would meet up to the new roof.  Since it had not been removed yet I wanted to make sure this was still going to be done.  We then discussed how the design was to be.

You would think that the supervisor would have communicated this to the work crew.  He did not.  When I heard them working at the front of the garage later in the afternoon, I caught them putting the new siding only on the new gable with the old siding still in place.  Good thing I caught them before they finished.  They then ripped off the old siding and with my instructions, completed the front siding as it was supposed to be. 

To fix the flat section of the roof, the framer put 3 inch wedges on each of the beams then reattached the sheathing.  The roofer then placed new tar paper back on.  There is now a gentle slope on this section which will now allow rain water off the roof.


Flat section was raised 3" to create a slight slope by adding wedges to each beam

The photo below shows the new siding on the gable and the corrected corner of the roof edge.

Please keep in mind that I will be adding trim and repairing the wood around the garage doors after the contractors are finished.


Modified corner section on the left edge of roof and new siding on gable

March 5, 2015 -- Today the contractor worked on the soffits, roof extension over the stucco patio stairs, and started demo on a badly damaged area on the east side of the house.

The one thing I had totally forgotten about, was the siding over the window in the garage.  Siding over windows was not covered in the contract, so I will be doing this work myself.

This morning, when I stopped to take a look at the window, I realized that I would have a heck of a time changing the siding and trim above the wrought iron with the soffit board in place.

I asked the workers to do the soffits on the other side of the garage while I worked on the window siding.

One thing I had been doing was dumpster diving.  Any materials I thought I would need in the future were taken out.  There were some large pieces of siding I retrieved.  It is amazing to see what the workers just threw away.  When having construction done.....rescue the good scraps.


Old orange siding above garage window

The first thing I did was to remove the weathered pine trim.  When looking at the old siding, I realized that it was still in good shape.  It stayed.  But I wanted the window siding to match what was on the gable.

I then removed any old paint and caulk to level the surface.  I then cut a piece of the new siding to fit over the old.  The piece that I cut was 48" x 15 1/4".

After the new siding was in place, the workers put up the soffit.

 


New siding and PVC trim above garage window

While the workers were working on another area, I went back to do the trim over the window.

The one thing I have discovered about the above window sidings with this house.  The siding has lasted throughout the years.  The pine trim has not.

Since this window gets a lot of direct sunlight and is hit by the rain I decided to use a more durable material for the trim.  PVC

In my pile of purchased moulding, I had a few pieces of 1" x 4" PVC trim board.  I ripped one in half so I had 1" x 2" moulding and started with the trim piece that is above the window. 

This window has a little ledge that the new siding just managed to fit in.  The old trim sat on top of the ledge.  I wanted to prevent any water from getting in on this ledge.  So I cut away a little of the moulding so it fit over the top of the ledge.  See the graphic at right to see what I mean.

Caulk placed between the moulding and new siding will further block any water, along with the paint.

After I paint the soffit, siding, and trim, I will place some clear silicone on the trim that is against the brick to seal this area.



How bottom trim went
over top of window frame edge

The soffit boards were placed on.  The soffit vent holes will be placed on after I tell them where to cut them.

After all of the snafus on this job, I need to mark where to cut on the soffit.  I want all of the vent holes evenly spaced, straight, and centered.  If they are not, it will bother me every time I look at them. 

The next thing they worked on was the extension over the stairs on the soffit patio.


Soffit boards in place

They tore off the roof in this area and and placed on the frame that would extend this part of the roof about 1-1/2 feet.  Well over the stairs.


Roof being extended over stucco patio stairs

After the extension framing was placed on, the workers left on an errand.   I climbed up the ladder to take a look around.  To my surprise I saw the big ass hole in the stucco wall that was only visible after the old roofing material were removed.  No wonder we occasionally had water dripping against the wall in the garage.  This roof section is attached to the garage framing in this section.  The stucco was removed in the past to get to the garage framing.  Instead of repairing the wall, it had been covered with roofing material.

Do you think the discovery of this hole was something that the workers should have pointed out to me when they uncovered it?  They did not.  They did not realize that I do not have a problem getting on my roof.  At the end of the day I told them that I would be repairing the hole the next morning with cement.  What hole?


Big ass hole in stucco garage wall


Underside of roof extension

The next area that was worked on was a section of roof on the east side of the house.  There was a shade cloth attached to the fascia when we moved in back in 1998.  This cloth stayed there until January this year when I took it off.  We could see the water damage to the fascia...but not the extent of the damage.  This area receives a lot of rain runoff from the roof.

After the fascia and soffit board were removed, you could see the extensive damage to the framing.  What look likes burnt wood is all pure rot.


Extensive damage found on section of house roof on east side after fascia and soffit boards removed

March 6, 2015 -- Today I was expecting four different contractors.  The contractors doing the framing, the roofer, the garage door specialists, and an electrician (who did not show up).

My first chore of the morning was patching up the big ass hole in the garage stucco wall.  I climbed up to this section with my hammer and chisel to remove any high spots and to generally clean up the hole.  I then used almost an entire 40lb bag of Quikrete patching material to fill up this hole all the way behind the wood beams. 

The roofer will also be adding flashing to prevent any leakage in this area.


Big ass hole in stucco garage wall now patched up with concrete

While I was on the roof, Tony and Jorge from Desert Garage Door, LLC showed up to reinstall the garage door tracks and motors that were removed during the demolition of the old roof. 

We hooked up an extension cord from the house so they could get the doors working properly.  The electrical cords had been cut during the demo.

The electrician still has to re-wire the garage.  In the meantime, I can park my SUV in the garage again.  I just open the doors manually.


Tony (l) and Jorge (r) working on garage door


Garage door tracks and motors now put back in place

In the afternoon, the framing contractors came back to work on the badly damaged section on the east house roof.  They did further demolition on the area by removing a section of the roofing and replacing the damaged wood.  The roofer will need to re-shingle this area also.

I caught them as they were getting ready to cover the section pictured below with plywood.  I stopped them at this point and pointed out the damaged end of the wood.  I told them that it would never hold any weight and to add another piece of 2" x 8" flush against the damaged board on the inside to add support.  Yes, at this point I am getting tired of catching these little "short cuts".  They did add the extra support as requested.


Damaged end where I had to tell worker to nail an additional piece of 2" x 8" board to the beam


East section of roof fascia and soffit over repaired framing

The roofers from Esperanza Roofing arrived in the morning to place the shingles on the west side of the roof.

They did a pretty good job of matching the new shingles to the shingles we had put on the house in 2009.


Frank and Fred from Espinoza Roofing placing the shingles of the west side of garage roof

March 7, 2015 -- Today is Saturday.  The roofers are the only contractors coming in today to work on the east side of the garage roof.  On Friday, I called the contractor about the overflowing dumpster and was told that a pickup had been scheduled for today. 

The garage roof is basically done at this point except for the caulking and painting I will be doing.


East side of garage roof shingles done by Adolfo and Fred from Espinoza Roofing


Overflowing dumpster waiting for pick-up

March 9, 2015 -- Today I started out the morning with a phone call to the contractor to let them know that the dumpster had not been picked up on Saturday.  It was finally picked up later this morning.

The other thing I needed to discuss was the section connecting the garage to the house.  There were a couple of now cracked pieces of wood where workers had stepped on them and damaged them.  Granted, they were in bad shape to begin with.  This is all framing that should have been removed when the garage roof was removed.  The ceiling had also not been removed from this section.


Wood that was damaged by workers

After meeting with the contractor and the carpenter supervisor to address these issues, two workers and scaffolding were left behind to do the work.  The first thing they did was tear out the ceiling of the front entrance area of the house.  The section where the garage and house are connected.  They also replaced the cracked piece of plywood on the roof and reinforced the broken beam.


Ceiling removed from front entrance area between garage and house

As you can see in the photo above, the wood on the roof over the front entrance, closest to the house, was in good shape.  As far as I could tell, there had never been any water damage.

The wood under the fascia boards on a part of the house over the stucco patio was another story.  After the front entrance was taken care of, the workers proceeded with removing and replacing the damaged soffits and fascia on the house.


Water damage found under fascia and soffit on house roof over stucco patio


Damage wood removed

The workers also managed to get the front entrance ceiling back in-place after a few snafus.  They tried 3 times to get a 4 x 8' piece of plywood up.  Scraping the hell out of the siding walls.  I stopped them and told them to cut the damn board in half and then put it up.  In broken Spanish I tried to explain that I am going to put ceiling tiles on this space. Where the seams were, did not matter.  Also, if there was water damage in the future, only a smaller piece of wood would need to be removed.  I also told them to leave the moulding at the top of the wall off.  I would put this back later.


Ceiling put back in place with plywood, replacing damaged Hardy board

March 10, 2015 -- Today the 2 workers I had yesterday came in today on "a mission".  I believe their boss told them to finish this job up today.

They started on the west side of the house tearing up the fascia and soffit.  The scaffolding had been put in place.

The one thing I noticed real quick is that I had yet another window with siding in sad shape.  While the workers were away to pick up some supplies, I climbed up on the scaffolding to take a closer look.

What I saw was expected and then I was pissed off.  The bathroom window was replaced in 2013.  I wish the window installers had bothered to say how bad the pine trim was at the top of the window.  I would have just given them a new piece.  I always have this type of moulding sitting around.  The bottom piece of old trim was nailed back on in 3 pieces.

So as quick as I could, I took off the old trim and scraped down the old siding.  I then used the scrap siding from the garage and cut 2 pieces to fit over the old siding.  I did not have enough scrap siding material to cut just one single piece.  Again I used PVC trim board in place of the pine.


Damaged siding and trim over main bath window

The final task the workers did, after replacing the damaged soffit and fascia on the west side of the house, was to cut the soffit vents on the west side of the house and garage.

On the garage I had already made a template and carefully drawn out where the cuts were to go.  On the house soffits I gave them the template and told them where to put it.

For the cutting, they did not have the right power tool to do it.  Jeeez.....So with a few instructions I let them use my Dremel Saw Max. 

March 11, 2015 -- Today the electrician was going to come and reconnect all the wiring in the garage. I woke up early so I could get to Lowes when they opened to buy a cheap fluorescent light fixture.  I also stopped by Sherwin Williams to pick up my exterior paint that they have been trying to match since Sunday.  A quick stop at McCoy's Building Supply for brown concrete color and I was home by 8:00 am.  The electrician did not show up.


New siding and trim over bathroom window


Repaired fascia and soffit over stucco patio and west side of house

The workers did stop by to pick up their scaffolding at around 8:30.  I had just enough time to climb up and to get some caulk on the bottom trim piece above the bathroom window, to block out any water in case it rained before I painted it.

March 12, 2015 -- The electrician came today and hooked up the electric in the garage.  The roofers came by and finished up the roofing over the repaired damaged areas.  The second dumpster was removed.  I am now officially done with the contractors. 

The rest of the work is now up to me.  But how was I going to get up to the high areas?  Originally, the painting of the decorative beams and the high areas were going to be done by the contractor.  I decided that I would save money in the long run if I just bought my own scaffolding and do it myself. So I bought 12' worth of scaffolding.

There are also a few fascia boards which need to be replaced on the back and east side of the house which I now know how to do.  Why didn't the contractor replace all of the fascia and soffit around the house?  To keep the cost down.  I only had a limited amount of money and I told the contractor to only replace what was really damaged.

March 14, 2015 -- I am going to spend a week finishing off my rock wall project in the front of the house and then start all of the painting of the new wood work on the garage and house.  When I start working on this, I will update this page.


 Finished front of house as of March 14, 2015

March 25, 2015 -- I have finished what I wanted to finish on my rock wall project and I am now going to work on the areas of the house that need to be painted - post construction.

The first area I am going to work on is the ceiling area above the front entrance. 

Not only do I need to reinstall the light,  I also want to put my rubber floor tiles back down on the cement.  All were removed before construction.  The new plywood ceiling needs to be painted before I move anything back into this area.

BUT before I do any painting, I needed to repair and prep a wood beam and fix a section of the soffit above the door that leads to the garage.

First I needed to remove a piece of moulding that was attached to the beam.  I had placed the moulding there to help keep the former Hardie board ceiling from falling down.  No need for this now.  There was also a damaged area of the beam where a chunk of wood was missing.  I used Bondo to repair the wood.  The beam was then sanded down to remove any old caulk and rough spots.


 Wood beam repaired with Bondo (gray area above hook)  Rough spots on beam sanded down.

The next thing to fix was an area of the soffit above the garage door.  This is one of those transitional areas that does not make any sense.  It is a section of roof that is not a roof anymore.  I had hoped to have this section of soffit removed during the demo.  But then again, it is a continuation of the soffit along the rest of the roof on this side.  Ack!


 Soffit area above garage door.  Where transitions go bad.

OK so I am stuck with this piece.  I can at least make it look better.  The construction workers put some fascia board to close off the area above the painted flashing.  OK that will keep the birds out but does little for the aesthetics.  And really, what is the flashing for?  To divert rain water off the roof.  But if this area is under a roof, what rain water is it diverting?

So I removed the flashing.....and all of the fascia board....and all of the wood the construction workers put behind their fascia board covering the top of the soffit.  I just tore everything off.


Section of soffit stripped down

Now that I had this section stripped down, I needed to rebuild it water tight.  Rain water can get into this area if the rain is blowing in from the north.

The plywood on top of the soffit over hung by about 1/4" so I placed a piece of 1/4" plywood on this section so the long edge would be flush.  For the short side, I cut a piece of plywood that went up to the ceiling.


Piece of plywood added to long edge so it would be flush with top board of soffit and side piece added

The final piece of wood was nailed on over the long edge of the ceiling going to the ceiling. It is now just a simple "box".


  Final board added to soffit that goes to ceiling

With this last modification made, it is time to paint all of the new wood.  I will be painting the ceiling with a coat of oil based primer.


 Ceiling ready for primer

After three days, when the paint is completely dry, I will be placing ceiling tiles on the ceiling.  I am going to try out the same styrofoam tiles I used on my ceiling inside the front entrance. (See these here...)

So far, the tiles inside the house have stayed put real good.  Even with the humidity from the swamp cooler in the summer.  I have never seen anyone use these tiles in an outdoor setting.  I plan to use extra mastic to make sure they stay put in high winds.  Since this area is sheltered I am pretty sure they will not blow away.

I am painting them before installation.  The color I will be using is the same khaki / beigh color I have used on the walls.


    Style of ceiling tile going on ceiling

April 2, 2015 -- After a little over a week I have finally finished the ceiling over the front entrance.  After priming the plywood, I placed the ceiling tiles on.  

I started in the center and then worked outward.  The light fixture is not in center, by the way. This took around three days for me because of all of the cuts I had to make on the tiles around the edges.  I also got tired quickly squeezing the mastic flat on the tiles over my head.  Men have it easier with more upper body strength. 

A lot of time was spent on the moulding around the edges and caulking every seam before painting.  I needed to scrape all of the old paint and caulking off the top of the two long walls where the old moulding was. I wanted the new PVC moulding to lie flat.  I also re-painted the walls to cover up all of the scraping damage done by the contractors when they were trying to get the plywood ceilings up.

I added moulding to the areas where the ceiling meets the brick. Not only did the contractors knock loose many of the bricks at the top, I lost some of the mortar.  I secured the loose bricks and filled in the gaps before placing the moulding on, which was stuck on with a silicone caulk.  The moulding used on the bricks is PVC lattice.


Ceiling tiles going up on primed plywood

You have to agree, my ceiling now looks awesome with the tiles.  Maybe a little too monochromatic, but I can always change that later.  I also attached one of the new soffit vent covers.  I might paint it later, but for now, I'll just leave it white.

A note on attaching these vent covers.  I am attaching them with white aluminum siding nails.  They were the only white nails that I could find that were small enough.  They do not go in easily on plywood.  I also do not want to accidentally whack the ceiling tiles, which will dent easily.  I ended up pre-drilling the nail holes with a bit smaller than the nails.  I was then able to get the nails in without too much effort. On the rest of the soffits around the house that are still Hardy board, the nails go in easily with a few hammer taps.


Ceiling tiles complete and moulding added at top of brick wall


Front entrance ceiling as of April 2, 2015

April 3 and 4, 2015 -- I have now switched to the front of the garage.  I had already primed some of the soffits on the left side of the garage.  I then continued the painting around the corner to the front of the garage.

I first masked off the areas against the brick and the new roof flashing.  I then caulked all of the seams with an elastomeric sealant.  All of the new wood and siding was then painted with an oil based exterior wood primer.


Front of garage on April 3, 2015 after caulking and masking


Front of garage after priming on April 4, 2015

April 8, 2015 -- I have finished painting the soffit and gable section on the front of the garage.  And yes, in case anyone is wondering, my paint color was almost the same color as the unpainted siding.

I placed ceiling tiles on the underside of the soffit.  It adds a nice touch to the roof.  Unfortunately, the tiles cannot be seen from street level.  The styrofoam will add some weatherproofing to the wood underneath. 

Since these tiles are originally intended for inside use, we will see how they hold up to the weather. They were painted with two coats of exterior latex paint and all of the edges were sealed with elastomeric caulk.  Extra mastic was used to secure them.  There is no way they will fly off at this point. If they fall apart in a few years, I will place an update on this page letting you know that this experiment was a bust.  If you do not see anything here in a few years....that means the ceiling tiles are holding up to the elements just fine.


Front of garage after painting roof fascia and gable on April 8, 2015. Trim still not put on.


Garage soffit with ceiling tiles

The front of the garage still needs the trim added and the orange painted wood replaced.  I just needed to have the new construction painted and protected before the monsoon season arrives.  Therefore, I am concentrating more on painting bare wood.  Why didn't I add the trim and then paint?  This is because I like to put layers of paint on before adding trim that will get wet from rain.  It is just extra protection in case water gets in the cracks years down the line.

And yes, as my husband pointed out, the flood lights are crooked.  This is because of where the mounting light screws go onto the electrical fixture.  To make it straight I will need to drill two new holes in the light fixture, seal the original holes and remount it.  These lights are made so you can adjust the angle of light to where ever you want it.  So functionally, the lights are pointed where I want them to.  For now they will look a little wonky.  I may just leave it this way to bug people. ;)
April 13, 2015 -- For the past two days we have had rain, so work has been halted.  Prior to this, I was able to finish placing the ceiling tiles on the soffit and some fascia on the east side of the garage which is over the front entrance patio.

The fascia between the wood beams, which I had sanded down and fixed up last year when I worked on the wood beams, had taken a beating during construction. 

The fascia remained attached to the beams and remained when the beams were reattached to the side of the roof.

I had a bunch of 6" pieces of ceiling tile left over when I had done the ceiling.  So I used these pieces to cover the beat up fascia between the beams.


Ceiling tiles placed on the rest of soffit

The fascia between the beams measured between 20" to 20-1/2".  So I could not use a single piece of the ceiling tile which measures 19.625" (to be exact).  So I cut two pieces to fit each space individually. 

No, I will not be placing ceiling tiles on any more fascia.  I only did it between the beams.

I still need to place my shade cloth back on to the wood beams. To see how this looked before I removed the cloth go here...


View of ceiling tiles over door going into garage


Completed soffit and fascia area on east side of garage

The next phase is finishing up the west side of the garage.  I already primed the wood on the soffit and fascia last week.  After the weather clears, I will be placing the ceiling tiles up and painting the section.  I will then work on the back of the garage.
April 14, 2015 -- Since yesterday was a rain day I made a run to the hardware store.  When I got back I decided to do some demolition on the front of the garage. 

First the old garage door seals were removed and then I removed the damaged wood on the center post between the garage doors.

I could only remove the wood on the front.  The boards on the sides are structural and connect to the cross beams above.

But the wood was damaged along the bottom.  When I looked underneath I realized that there was not much holding up the weight of my new roof.
 


All that there is holding up center of roof front


Center post demolition

In retrospect, I should have had this center post replaced by the contractors before the roof was placed on.  I had no idea it was this bad.  I am surprised that the center of our old garage did not sag or collapse.  Amazingly it did not and the post measure exactly 7 feet.

So what to do at this point.  I cut off the damaged wood and inserted 2 pieces of scrap 2 x 4's.  I added a piece of scrap PVC trim board at the bottom front.  At least I know this won't rot.

I then cut some 1/2" plywood to cover up the front of post.


Bad wood cut out and 2 x 4's fitted in

The post looked better, but I was still not secure about my little pieces of 2 x 4's that I had inserted.  This roof is a lot heavier than the old roof and the existing wood is old.

After sleeping on this problem I came up with a solution.  Add more support.  So off to the hardware store again to buy some pressure treated 2 x 4's.  My idea was to add two 2 X 4's on each side of the post and attaching it to the existing framework.

After cutting the new 2 x 4's, I nailed them to the sides.

My whole plan from the beginning had been to cover the center post with dense PVC to prevent water damage in the future.  The 4 x 8 sheet I wanted was almost $200 so I decided instead on a 4 x 8 sheet of 1/8" thick ABS instead.  (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, a material used to make car parts, cases for computers, Legos, etc.)  You will not get this at a hardware store.  I went to a company called Piedmont Plastics.

I then cut the pieces I needed of ABS on my table saw.  I nailed these onto the post with finishing nails.

A few days later I realized that the ABS was a mistake.  Every time direct sunlight hit the material in the afternoon it would expand, then shrink back when the sun hit it.  So I went online and purchased the dense PVC sheets I should have bought to begin with.  A day was spent tearing off the ABS and putting on the PVC sheets.

I will be placing PVC trim on the bottom and PVC corner moulding after I place the new garage door seals on.  Everything will be sealed with a silicone sealant, then primed and painted the same color as the roof fascia. 


Plywood placed on front


2 x 4's added to sides


ABS cover on post which was taken off and replaced with PVC


Front of house as of April 14, 2015

The next step for the front of the garage are the sides.  I will be removing some more damaged wood here.  I also need to add trim at the top of the garage doors.
May 2, 2015 -- The front and the west side of the garage are now complete.  Work on the back of the garage has been going on the past week.

The work on the front of the garage took awhile.  First, all of the old garage door weather stripping was removed.
For the sides of the garage doors the old damaged wood brick moulding was removed.  The bricks were cleaned with a paint/rust remover stripper I attached to my hand drill to remove where sloppy painting and caulking had been.

When the bricks were cleaned I placed on new PVC brick moulding. I covered the old wood with dense PVC.  Between the brick moulding and PVC covered wood, I placed some quarter round moulding.  Caulked and then painted.  Clear caulk was used this time between the brick and brick moulding.

For the trim above the top of the garage.  I used 2 pieces of MSDS 1 x 4 trim board.  BUT before I could place this trim board on, I had to build-up the the space between the bottom edge of the siding on the gable and the top of the garage doors.  I wanted the trim to go straight across on the top of the garage doors.

First I used some scrap lumber to build up the space and to give me something to attach the bottom board to.  Then the bottom board was adding extending the width of the top of the garage doors.  The trim board was then added to the end of the built-up section and covering the end of the gable siding.

To attach the trim board to the top of the garage by myself, I used two ladders and clamps to hold the trim in place to get the nails in.  Not easy.


PVC covered wood on side of garage and new brick moulding


Scrap lumber added to top of garage door to build up top edge of garage doors


White board nailed on to the edge of the built-up area extending the width of the top of garage


Decorative detail on edges of gable

After the trim board was put in place above the garage doors I worked on the design for the edges of the gable where they met with the brick.  I wanted something more than just the 45 degree cut that was there.

So I first made my southwestern step design on cardboard cut to fit and then traced the design onto some 3/4" scraps of birch that I had.  After priming and painting the pieces they were attached on top of the trim board.

I then cut a piece of 1" x 2" trim board to run across the decorative corner to the edge of the wall.
Underneath the top of the garage opening I added more of the ceiling tiles to cover up the two seams that were now underneath the extended section. 

I had originally just caulked and painted the seams where the wood met.  It actually looked just fine.  But the ceiling tiles made it look better.

The next step was to paint the garage doors.  This took a few days of lowering the doors in sections so I could paint the top and bottoms. 

The new garage door weather stripping was painted to match the trim and doors.

After the weather stripping was placed back on the garage doors, I was able to finish making the trim for the center post.  Corner moulding was placed on the edges to seal the dense PVC covers.

The center post and sides of the garage are now protected from any future water damage.


Ceiling tile placed on underside of built-up extension at the top of the garage doors


Center post

The center post and sides of the garage are now protected from any future water damage.

I added a decorative step pattern above the center of the garage door with PVC trim board.

I am still deciding about adding the faux window treatment to the garage doors.

In the meantime, I was also working on the west side of the garage.  The soffit and fascia were primed and then painted.  The ceiling tiles went on the underside of the soffit.  Then the soffit vent covers were put on.

For the window, I noticed that all of the white caulk was hard and chipping off.  I spent half a day removing all of the old caulk, cleaning the brick up and resealing the window with clear elastomeric caulk. 

I then sanded down the wrought iron.   I covered the wall and soffit area with plastic and went loose with the spray paint, giving the wrought iron a good fresh coat of paint.


Finished front of house as of May 2, 2015


Update - May 2016, After painting faux garage windows


Here is the "before" picture, so you don't have to scroll to the top of the page


 Completed west side of garage

Our house definitely has some curb appeal now. 

However, work continues on the parts of the house that you cannot see from the street.

I am almost finished with the backside of the garage pictured to the right.   This part of the garage is much higher than the front elevation.  This is because the house is built on a slope.  The high point is about 14 feet off the ground.  I needed to stack my scaffolding to reach this section.

The old roof used to be at the bottom of the siding.

In addition to the gable and roof sections I am re-painting parts of the stucco wall, that I repaired and painted last year.  The ladders used by the construction workers scrapped and gouged parts of the wall.


Priming the back of garage


Completed back of garage

May 4, 2015 -- The back of the garage is now complete.

The next section I will be working on is the extension over the stucco stairs that connects with the main house roof.

This is another area where different roofs collide.

There is a piece of fascia that was slapped onto the section between the extension and house roof by the construction crew.

Not only does this fascia board show below the decorative wood beam (which is structural), it was not large enough to cover the area, the old fascia board is still visible underneath, and for some reason they attached a 1 x 2 trim board for flashing the whole length.


Roof section that was extended over stucco stairs


Back side of fascia board that extends below beam and has a gap along the upper left corner


Front side of fascia board which shows old fascia board and has flashing trim board running the full length

Oh yea, I removed the stupid piece of fascia board.  I am also trying to remove part of the old fascia board between the crack.  I have to be careful because part of this board is still on a part of the house roof.

One thing I noticed when I removed everything.  I can see little cracks of light.  If I can see light, there is the possibility of water getting in.  So I will need to further seal some areas on the roof where this seam is.


New piece of fascia board removed.  Part of old fascia board removed from inside crack

May 10, 2015 -- The extension over the stucco patio stairs is now complete.

What I did, after I removed the fascia board, was to cover the gaps on both sides with 1" plywood cut to fit each side of the roof transition and used a little moulding.  I then added the ceiling tiles to the ceiling and soffit.  Which was followed by painting everything.
What I have also started doing, now that I am around the main house roof, is to pull out the old flashing / drip edge which is pretty old and replace it with new flashing.  Lowes does not carry 2-1/2" flashing, but McCoy's Building Supply does.

I now know why we had such a problem with our fascia and soffit boards rotting.  The darn flashing was nailed on without using any roofing cement.  Which means, the water works it's way under the shingles and flashing and comes down through the nail holes.  I am gluing the new flashing in under the shingles with roof cement.


House roof with new flashing on the left and old flashing on the right


Extension over stucco patio stairs complete


Inside edge of extension area after


Outside edge of extension area after

May 14, 2015 -- Work this past week has continued along the house soffit and fascia over the stucco patio. 

Tiles were placed on the soffit up to the corner. In case you are wondering, the soffit here measures between 35-1/2" to 36".   For every row of tiles, I needed to find the center. 

Another new piece of flashing was installed along the next stretch of fascia after painting.  I am painting the pine moulding underneath the drip edge to protect the wood in case there is any water touching it in the future.  At the corner I stuck a piece of rigid plastic under the shingles to divert any rain water until I get the next piece of flashing in.


House under roof section over stucco patio as of May 14, 2015

I am now getting ready to turn the corner and work up the west side of the roof.  Before I can put the last two rows of tile on, I need to work on the first of four decorative wood beams.  If I placed the tiles up before working on this beam, I would damage them.

For these wood beams, I am following the same process I used on the long wood beams over the front patio  (see these repairs here...).  Strip the paint, sand down to fresh wood, fill any damaged wood areas, prime with oil based paint, then two coats of exterior latex paint. 

What I am doing extra on these beams, is to add a layer of bondo over the sanded wood to fill in the wood grooves to smooth out the surface.  The reason I am doing this is because of the difficulty of working on these beams at this height.  The lowest beam is about 11 feet off the ground.  The highest 17 feet.  The more work that is put into preparing the surface, the less chance the paint will fail in the future.  If there is a smooth surface, water will glide off. 

Of note, I am only doing this extensive prep work on the heavily weathered ends.  The paint on the beam under the soffit is on there solid.  I am however lightly sanding the surface to smooth it out.


Corner section with the 1st of 4 beams to repair. Temporary plastic under corner shingles to divert water until next piece of flashing is added coming down the roof.

To work on this first beam, I am using my 6" scaffolding on the top level.  The roof is still too low for me to add the next six foot section of scaffolding and be able to set it up close to the wall.  So to work on top of the wood beam, I have a sturdy step ladder to get me up high enough.  When I move up the roof around 5 feet, I will be able to stack the scaffolding.
May 17, 2015 -- The corner of the house roof is now complete as I continue up the west side.  There is about 16 feet of soffit and fascia to paint before I get to the next decorative wood beam which is in worse shape than the beam I just finished.  I need to finish the roof a few more feet before I attach the piece of flashing that will cover this corner.

I was now able to stack my scaffolding to continue working.  To get on the top of the scaffolding I am using a 16' extension ladder.  I tie the top of the ladder to the scaffold with a rope for stability.  I use a rope to lift a bucket up with my tools.


What a difference a little work and paint makes on the decorative beam


Scaffold


Soffits are now finished over stucco patio

May 21, 2015 -- This past week I have continued up the west side of the roof.  About 8' up the roof I stopped removing the old flashing.  The shingles are stuck on real good and  I was damaging the shingles trying to pry them up to get the flashing out, so I stopped.  I slid the new flashing in under the old and went around the corner of the roof where I had already removed the flashing. 

I continued installing the ceiling tiles up to where the second decorative wood beam is.  I sealed all of the siding above the bathroom window and painted the area.  The new soffit vent covers were installed.  While I was up in this area I removed some unnecessary nails that were in the brick that were used for cable.  I also sealed any areas where there were holes in the mortar.


First part of west house roof fascia and soffit complete

The scaffolding was taken apart at this point and then set-up for a flat surface.  The previous section of roof was over steps.  I also raised the top platform of the scaffolding to almost the top level.

After I finish working on the second wood beam, I will continue up the soffit.  The soffit in this section was not removed because it was still in good shape.  The fascia however is new.

The old vent covers will be removed.  I will be placing the ceiling tiles up over the old soffit boards after I do a little cleaning up.  Except for the edges between the soffit and fascia, the paint on the soffit is not flaking.

When I get to the window with the wrought iron, I will need to work on the siding above it.  I think I have enough scraps from the garage siding to cover the old siding.  I suspect that I will need to replace some of the old wood trim boards on the siding.  This will be replaced with pvc trim board.  And.....since it is unlikely that I will ever be up this high again any time soon, the wrought iron will be given a fresh coat of paint.


Next section of the west roof fascia and soffit to work on

May 25, 2015 -- The second decorative wood beam was sanded down and painted.  Work is continuing up the soffit. 

I can only work a few hours a day on top of the scaffolding at this height.  It is a little unnerving.  There is basically nothing to hold on to until I get underneath the master bedroom window wrought iron.  Moving very slow and balancing carefully really wears on you after a couple of hours.  And then there is the climbing up and down the ladder.

I am now working where the old soffit boards are and the old vent holes.  One thing I did not notice before the new vent holes were cut in the replaced soffit boards.....the old soffit holes are positioned more towards the edge of the roof.  Not in the center as I had them cut on the garage soffit.  If I had caught this when the contractors were here, I would have had them cut the new vents so they would line up with the old vents.

To compensate for this, I am moving the edge of the old vents about an 1-1/2" in.  Adjusting the ceiling tiles accordingly.  While the old vents are not in the center, they don't look as far on the edge as before.  From the street you will not even notice this.   

The other problem with the old soffit board is that it has bowed downward over time.  Fortunately the ceiling tiles are flexible enough to glue on the surface following the bowed out soffit board.  In the photo below, you cannot even tell.  I placed extra mastic on to keep the tile in place.

For the third decorative wood beam I can just reach it with my hand.  This is the highest point on this roof.  I may have to bring up my step ladder to work on this beam.  Fortunately only the very end needs to be sanded down to repair.  The rest of the paint on the beam is in good shape.  The fourth beam needs a little more work.


West house roof as of May 25, 2015

May 30, 2015 -- My scaffolding has been parked under the window on the far end of the west roof for a few days while I worked on the third decorative wood beam, the siding above the window, the soffit, the fascia, and the wrought iron.  I am so glad that I have now almost finished this section.  The scaffold is about as high as it goes and I needed to stand on my toes and stretch to reach all of the high spots. 

The end of the third wood beam was stripped, primed and painted.  Scrap siding from the garage construction was placed over the old siding over the window and new trim was placed on.  The wrought iron was sanded and the left half painted.  I will paint the rest when I finish the area above the right side.

To work on the last wood beam I will need to move the scaffolding half way through a wrought iron gate into the back yard.  I will do this after I finish working above the right side of the window.


West house roof area as of May 30, 2015

June 5, 2015 -- Today I  f-i-n-a-l-l-y  finished the west side of the house roof.

After placing tiles on the soffit up to the fourth decorative wood beam, I worked on the beam.  As with the three before it, it was sanded down to fresh wood, Bondo was used to fill the cracks and smooth it out, and primer was placed on it.  Where the paint was still in good shape, it stayed.


 Fourth wood beam sanded


Fourth wood beam Bondo'd and primed

I added the last of the ceiling tiles, caulked the seams, painted the surrounding area, and placed the vent covers on. 

The spacing of the vent holes between the third and fourth wood beam is wonky.  One of the holes actually continued over the top of the fourth beam. I had to dig the old plastic vent cover out.  It appears as if these soffit board vent holes were manufactured this way and the home builder just stuck it on to save on materials. So this is why the one vent cover is against the fourth beam. When looking at the entire length of the soffit on this side of the house, you don't really notice this.

I was done....almost.

The one thing that was missing was the trim moulding that goes against the brick wall and soffit between the second and fourth beams.  Most of the soffit around the house has the trim moulding.  I can only assume, that this moulding had fallen off in the past before we bought the house.  Between the first and second decorative beam, I had the contractor put up the trim moulding because they had knocked out a lot of the mortar when they removed the old soffit and it looked awful.

While I was at the corner I added the short piece of missing moulding between the window and fourth beam

The problem with this moulding is that:

-  it is difficult to attach to the edge of the soffit.  I don't have a nail gun.  Even the contractors had difficulty doing this with mixed results. They used Liquid Nails were a nail would not catch.

- the brick surface is uneven.  You put a straight board up and it lays flush in one area and there are big gaps in other areas.

I needed a material that was light enough to glue in place and soft enough to carve while perched on top of the scaffold to shape the moulding around high and low spots.  I opted for some polystyrene base board moulding. I trimmed off a1/2"on the narrow end so the moulding was the same width as the existing moulding.

The distance was a little over eight feet, so I needed two pieces of moulding to cover this area.  The moulding only came in eight foot lengths.

I stuck it up with Liquid Nails.  Even though the material was light, I still had to stand there with my hands holding the moulding in place until the glue was hard enough.  There was just no way to clamp the darn thing.  Caulk was then added to the seam between the moulding and soffit.  I additionally ran a bead of clear caulk on the underside between the brick and moulding.

I also had to add the moulding around the corners by the window.


Missing trim moulding along brick and soffit between 2nd and 3rd wood beam


First piece of moulding in place against brick and soffit


Trim moulding now in place


Trim also placed around brick corners of window


Completed west side of the house roof June 5, 2015

Before breaking down the scaffolding, I had one more task to do.  I needed to replace the ceiling tile on the corner of the garage soffit where the west side and back side meet.  Somehow I messed up on the cut and the tile pattern did not match up correctly.  I needed to remove the tile and put up a new one.  Unless pointed out, no one would have noticed this.  But it would bug me.

While I was moving the scaffolding back up the side of the house I was not careful while lifting the scaffolding up a step and the top of the scaffolding gouged one of the tiles by the first decorative beam.  So now I had two tiles to replace.

Let me tell you....these tiles are not easy to remove once they are in place and the glue is dried.  Which is why I know that these ceiling tiles will not be coming off any time soon.  You basically have to scrape them off, breaking off little pieces of styrofoam until everything is removed.

Is my work done now?  Oh, nooooooo.  I still need to work on the east house roof soffit and fascia.  Before I work on this, I will be adding ceiling tiles to a short section of the front patio soffit.
June 6, 2015 -- Today I worked on a section of the front patio roof.  I had already repaired and painted this small section last year.  However, this section did not have the ceiling tiles on the soffit and the darker green paint I have been using on the fascia.  So before moving on to the east house roof, I decided to update this section.  This way all of the roof sections facing the street in the front will be done.


Small portion of roof over front patio

Installing the tiles was quick and easy.  Besides painting the fascia the darker green, there were two small decorative wood beams on each side of this stretch of roof that also needed to be painted to match the beams on the west roof.  I had already worked on these two beams last year so paint was all they needed.

For the trim against the brick and soffit, I went with some thin screen polystyrene moulding I had on-hand.  I may go back later and place the wider moulding on over this moulding.  I just wanted to finish this section in one day and did not want to make a run to the hardware store.

The flashing here is not in the best shape.  Changing it will have to wait until the next time we replace the roofing.  Like what I came across on the west side, the shingles will become too damaged if I try to get the old flashing off. 

This was a nice little project to start and finish in one day.  I even finished in time to watch American Pharoah win the Belmont Stakes for the Triple Crown.  Whoo hoo.  Finally!


Small portion of roof over front patio after installing ceiling tiles, painting fascia, and
putting moulding on brick under soffit

The next section is the east house roof.

While there are some bad sections here, this side is not as bad as the west side was.  This side receives less sun and the rain rarely is blown in from the east.  

A section in the front was one of the areas repaired by the construction crews.  So it just needs to be painted and the ceiling tiles installed.  There is also an electrical cord used for outdoor floodlights that I need to deal with.

There are three more of the decorative wood beams that need to be worked on.  (And this is it, for the decorative wood beams)

The fascia just needs to be sanded down to get rid of the cracked paint before repainting.

I will also need to cut the branches of our Arizona Ash tree which is now above the roof.  This tree was only planted about seven years ago and is now a great little shade maker.


East house roof

Moulding will also be placed along the brick and soffit where needed.

The round plastic soffit vent covers will be replaced with the aluminum covers.


First section of east roof to be worked on

June 11, 2015 -- After priming the bare soffit wood and fascia board, I needed to work on the siding above the kitchen window before placing the ceiling tiles in place.  The problems with this area were the big gaps in the corners of the siding and the electrical wire.  When the old soffit was removed, a lot of the mortar and some moulding were removed.  The electric wire was attached to the underside of the soffit.

I still had some siding scraps left over from the garage roof construction. So this will be used here. What I ended up doing with the electrical wire was to squeeze it between the brick and the new soffit board so it it is now behind the brick.  Over the window I removed the small vertical trim boards.  The new piece of siding was placed on top of the bottom and top trim boards.  The electrical wire is now in the gap between the old and new siding.


Gap in corner above window.  Electrical wire moved behind brick and placed in siding gap. 
New siding to be placed over entire area on top of trim boards.

After the siding was installed, I placed new trim over the new siding after installing the ceiling tiles.  Yes, working above and between the wrought iron was a pain.  No nails were used in this area.  There is just no way to swing a hammer in this tight space.  Everything was glued on. 

Small pieces of moulding were placed against the brick in the corner. Clear caulk was used against the new vertical trim board and the brick to seal the small crack.


New siding in place above window.  Ceiling tiles in place above window area. New trim board added on top of siding and moulding placed along brick in corner.

After I finished installing the ceiling tiles on the soffit to the right of the window, moulding was placed under the soffit against the brick.


Moulding placed on brick under soffit on the right side of the window

I finished installing the ceiling tiles and painted the fascia on the section above the kitchen window.  At this time, all of the new construction has now been painted. 

The electrical wire is now concealed behind the brick and siding in this section.  In the corner, I left off the ceiling tile until I finish dealing with the electrical wire further up the roof.  The moulding below the soffit against the brick will be added after I deal with the electrical wire.


Soffit above window area complete except for corner where electrical wire is.
Still need to add moulding against brick.

The next section of the east roof, up to the first decorative wood beam, needs to be worked on all at the same time.  The wood beam needs to be finished so the electrical wire can be reattached and worked down the wall.  Against this section of the wall, the electrical wire will be placed under the moulding that will be placed under the soffit against the brick.  The area between the soffit and brick in this area is too tight for me to squeeze the wire in.

The photo below shows the prep work started on the soffit and paint stripping on decorative wood beam.


Prep work started on east roof section up to the first decorative beam

June 14, 2015 -- The soffit section between the kitchen window and the first decorative wood beam is now finished.

Four ceiling tiles were added in this area.  The wood beam was sanded down, repaired, and painted just like the others.

The soffit vent cover was put in place and the moulding was added under the soffit against the brick, finally concealing the electrical wire that used to be attached to the soffit.

The only place the wire is still visible is along the wood beam where I reattached it.  It is painted the same color as the beam so it blends in a little more.

The flood light fixture will be painted black after I finish the next section.


Soffit area up to first decorative beam now complete


Next area being worked on. New siding in place over window and primed

The next section I am now working on is the area between the first and second decorative wood beam.  This includes the area above the dinning room window.

The old trim was removed on the soffit and siding.  After scrapping down the area, I cut and installed the new siding over the old siding.

The new siding above the window was then painted with primer.

The next steps are to do some sanding of the fascia, where the paint is cracked, install the ceiling tiles, install new pvc trim board to the window siding, and then paint everything.
June 18, 2015 -- Work on this roof section is now going slowly.  Temperatures are in the upper 90's with 100+ degree heat forecasted for the next few days.  I no longer have the shade of my ash tree.  The sun hits this side of the house from 8:00 am until 2:00 pm so working out here is brutal.  Yes, I am wearing sun screen, drink plenty of fluids, and pop inside frequently to cool off.

The section between the first and second beam on the east roof is now complete.  There was a lot of fascia sanding to remove the cracked paint and to attempt to feather the edges of the old paint.
The sanded fascia areas were primed and then painted.

New pvc trim was placed around the edges of the new siding above the dining room window.  While the scaffolding was next to the window, I painted the top half of the wrought iron.

The ceiling tiles were installed.  Where one of the vent holes went under the first decorative beam, I just covered part of the hole with the ceiling tile and installed the vent cover a couple inches away from the edge of the beam.  I will be doing the same with the hole by the second beam.

Trim was then placed against the brick wall and the soffit.  The flood light fixture was painted.


 Section between the first and second decorative beam above dining room window complete

For the next section of the roof, I am now able to stack my scaffold.  I will first finish the wood beam and then the soffit.


 Next section of east roof to work on


Section between second decorative beam and chimney complete June 21, 2015

June 21, 2015 -- The soffit and fascia sections of the east roof, up to the chimney, are now complete.

The last section of the east roof is in a awkward corner for a scaffold set-up.  So I had to tear down the scaffolding and re-set it up over a wall and to a surface that is one foot lower then the side yard.

This scaffolding set-up can be done by one strong person.  If you are not strong it takes a lot longer.  2 hours for me to break down and re-set up.  Oh, and this was done in full sunlight in the 90's.    If I had a helper, it probably would have just taken 30 minutes.

This corner section of the soffit against the chimney had some old branches wedged in between the soffit.  These branches have been there since we moved in. 


Soffit, fascia, siding, and wood beams up to chimney done


Scaffolding set-up for corner section

The cement patio below the chimney was put in in 6/1996 based on a name written in the cement.

So as far as we could tell, the owners had a climbing vine against the chimney which was removed.  We never pulled the branches out because our ladders could not safely reach this area. 

The fascia board on this 79-1/2 inch area is in bad shape and will be replaced.  The demolition in this area will include the fascia board, the drip edge trim board, and the flashing. 

The LAST decorative wood beam is here.  I am so tired of working on these wood beams and am glad it is the last one.


Corner section of east roof before demolition


Corner section after demolition.
Fascia board, drip trim moulding, flashing, other trim, and vent cover removed.

June 29, 2015 -- The last section of the east roof has been completed to the last decorative wood beam. 

While working on this section, I discovered that the fascia wood on the corner facing the backyard was rotten.  Since the scaffolding would have to be torn down and re-setup to repair the corner, I finished everything up to and including the wood beam.  When attaching the new fascia board to this section, I made sure I did not drive any nails into the rotten wood on the very end.  When attaching the new flashing, I only left a 4" piece that will fold over the corner when it is repaired.


Last part of east roof finished to wood beam


Corner of fascia wood damaged. Photo shows wood after some demolition
 to determine extent of damage

The scaffolding was re-setup over another awkward area where the elevations drops about 3 feet.  Fascia board was ripped off to see if the water damage covered the entire board.  Fortunately the damage was only on the end.  The damaged wood was removed and some good wood up to the point where it met one of the trusses.  Four feet was removed.  I then attached some small pieces of 2 x 6 wood to the trusses at the end so there was some new wood to attach the new fascia wood to.

The damaged soffit board on the corner was cut out.  A piece of primed plywood was added to this section.  Since this whole area will be covered with ceiling tiles, I am not too concerned with how it looks.  It just needs to be level with a flat surface to hold the tile.


Damaged wood removed on corner and replaced with new wood.
Damaged soffit board replaced with primed plywood.

July 7, 2015 -- My husband helped me out this past week with the soffit and fascia area.  As we worked along the edge of the roof, we found another section of damaged fascia wood that needed to be cut out.  Which we did.  A new piece of lumber was inserted to replace the damaged. 

On the back of the house there is a section with ten 5-foot long windows.  The five on the top are still the old aluminum frame windows.  While old, they all still work fine.  The five on the lower level were replaced about 10 years with vinyl double glass windows.  The five on top will be replaced when my budget permits it. 

We removed the wrought iron that was previously on these windows.  We did this because the trim around the windows, that the wrought iron was attached to, needed to be replaced.  We have decided not to place the wrought iron back on these windows.


Another section of damaged fascia removed.  Wrought iron removed from upper windows.   

New fascia board and flashing were installed along the rest of the roof edge.

The old trim was removed from the siding above and below the windows.  The old siding was scraped down to make the surface level.  Sloppy paint and old caulk was removed from the surrounding brick.  New siding was placed on top of the old siding and new pvc trim board was added.


New fascia board and flashing added to roof. 
New siding and trim added up and below upper windows and above lower windows.

Trim still needs to added on to the siding underneath the soffit before the ceiling tiles are placed on the soffit. 

A slim piece of trim will be added between the brick and windows on both sides to seal the crack.  There was formally a horrible white caulk job here.

Everything will then be primed and painted the new colors.  The fascia board was painted before it was attached and only needs some touching up.
July 14, 2015 -- Finished up the soffit area above the ten windows.  The new siding and trim around the second floor windows were painted.  I added some additional moulding in the corners of the section between the two sets of windows to give it a southwest flair and to match the step detail on the garage front and storage shed.  The trim was then painted the same color as the fascia.

The old screen was taken out and replaced with new screen and spline.  All areas between the windows and brick were sealed with clear caulk.

The wrought iron still needs to be sanded and painted on the first floor windows.  There is also a section under the first floor windows that needs the new siding and some cement work.  This will be done when I finish the work that requires scaffolding.


 Roof areas complete.  Area around top 5 windows complete.

The old orange soffit and fascia are almost gone except for one small section of the backyard roof.  See photo on the right.

I will first install the new siding above the window and get all of the stupid cable wires under control. 

I will then work on the fascia and soffits.

Before I get to this section, I will be painting the fascia around the edges of the balcony.  And since I have the scaffolding, removing some dead branches from the pine tree that are too high to reach with a ladder.

New siding will also be placed between the two windows and the wrought iron given a face lift with fresh paint.

 


Last section of the roof to work on

July 28, 2015 -- The final section of the main house roof is now finish.

A lot of time was spent dealing with the stupid cables that were dangling all over the place.  If you look at the photo to the right, the cables are now less noticeable.

What I did to cover all of the cable connectors, was to build a box to hide them. I used scrap fascia board and pvc trim to build the box.  I only needed four holes on the box for the cables, but drilled six holes for any future additions.  The holes were made large enough to accommodate the end of the cable that screws onto the connector.  The cover attaches with four screws.


Last section of roof complete

The box did not need to be water tight, but it should keep the rain out anyways.  Hell, these cables and connectors have been here for 15 years exposed to the elements and they work just fine.

The box was then painted the color of the fascia.


 Box made out of fascia board and pvc trim to hide cable connectors

The box was then mounted below the drip edge on the fascia.  Where cables crossed a painted area of the fascia or soffit, they were painted that color to camouflage them.


Cable box mounted on fascia.  Cables painted to camouflage them.

The siding above and below the top window was covered with the new siding and the wood trim was replaced with pvc trim.  The southwestern step pattern was added to the siding between the two windows.

The top window wrought iron was sanded down and given a fresh coat of paint.

Work is now continuing along the floor edge of the balcony.  I slapped a coat of paint on this last year but I now want to address some of the problems with this section which are:

- Some how there are three layers of flashing on the edge.  There only needs to be one.
- The electrical wires were hung nilly willy smack dab in the middle of the fascia.

Starting on the west side of the balcony floor, I started removing the flashing.  The top two layers of flashing came off easily after prying out the short roofing nails. 

The bottom, original flashing was a whole different problem.  When plywood was added to the floor of the balcony, it was placed on top of the flashing.  Which means, there is no way to get the flashing off without removing the floor of the balcony.  STUPID!


 Balcony floor / roof over lower section - see 3 layers of flashing on the right side and flood light electrical cord attached to front of fascia.  Note: bottom flashing is under floor of balcony

I am installing new flashing so somehow, I need to get the old flashing off.  Basically I just need to remove the flashing so it is above the drip edge trim.  I first tried cutting the metal with my Saw Max, but wore down the cutting wheel real quick.  I am now cutting the metal with tin snips which takes a long time and makes for a really jagged edge.

For the electrical cord, I am tucking as much as I can underneath on the drip edge trim. 


 Bottom layer of flashing cut with great difficulty with tin snips. 
Electrical wire moved to bottom of drip edge trim.

I then did not like how the underside would look, even after painting it.  So I added pvc corner moulding over the edge so all of the ugliness would not be visible looking up from the ground.


 PVC corner trim attached to edge to cover up electrical wire and rough cut edges of old flashing.

The fascia and corner moulding were then painted the dark green color.  The new flashing I installed I found at McCoy's in an almond color, which almost matches the light green / beige color I have been using to paint the house.

Yes I know, the pvc trim shows.  But I can live with the appearance of this as opposed to three painted layers of old dented flashing and an electrical cord nailed in the middle of the fascia.  The appearance is a whole lot more cleaner looking.


West side of balcony floor complete.  New flashing installed on edge.  Wrought iron on balcony west side sanded and given a fresh coat of paint.

As I work along the balcony floor edge, I am also working on the balcony wrought iron.  The scaffolding makes this job much easier.

The wood beam under the balcony floor will be painted the dark green color.

Ceiling tiles will be added to ceiling under balcony.


 Work to continue along floor edge of balcony.  Ceiling tiles to be added to balcony ceiling.  Wood beam under balcony to be painted dark green

August 22, 2015

All roof areas are now complete. 

Ceiling tiles were placed on ceiling of balcony and ceiling under the balcony.  Electrical wiring for flood lights has been hidden away along balcony edge.

During this time I also worked on wrought iron on the balcony and backyard windows.

Siding below 5 windows will be done at a later date.


Ceiling tiles placed on balcony ceiling


Ceiling tiles placed on ceiling under balcony.
Electrical wires along fascia hidden away and new flashing added to balcony edge.

 

The Projects
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Backsplash in Kitchen
Balcony
Bench - 2 x 4 Basics Flip-Top Bench Table
Brick Replacement and Brick Accent Painting
Casper Mattress
Ceiling Tiles
Closet Built from Scratch
Column Wraps for 4" x 8" Posts
Concrete Slabs
Curb Appealing Street Numbers
Cut Paper Artwork - Kitchen
Door Knobs and Cabinet Pulls
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Dry rotted wood beam repair and paint
Doggy door installed on wrought iron screen door - Repair of door
Duct Work
End Table / Cabinet - Vintage / Industrial Look
Faux Brick and Tile
- Stucco wall patio and backyard stairs
    using concrete patch

- Painted tile pool deck (Oklahoma)
File Cabinet - Vintage / Industrial Look
Fire Place Hearth Shelves
Furniture Assembly
Garage Closet - Oklahoma
Garage Facelift - Closet, etc
Gate From Hell
GoNanas - Failed Order Attempt
Horrible Man Cave (rec room) Total Renovation
House Entrance Renovation
How to fix holes in a wrought iron screen door and replace screen
How to Make Your Own Door
- Crawl Space Door
How to Winterize a Swamp (Evaporative) Cooler
Kitchen Counter Tops - Faux Granite
Kitchen Facelift
Kitchen Light Facelift
Laundry Room Cupboards
Main Bathroom Repair / Remodel
Master Bathroom Shower Area Stripped to the Studs
Mirror Frames
Oklahoma Home Facelift -- Aluminum Siding and Paint
OMG!  The sink was leaking the whole time we were away?
Raising the Roof - Garage Roof Replacement
Rock Wall Repair
Rolling Cabinet - Vintage /  Industrial Look
Shark Apex UpLight Corded Lift-Away Vacuum - Review
Siding - Exterior
Signage for Pine Ridge Estates
Solar Lighting Journey
Stair Door
Stairs to the Lower Level
Stencils - How to Make Your Own Stencils for Paint Projects
Storage Shed / Closet
Storm Shelter (Elgin, OK 2021)
Storm Shelter (Lawton, OK 2014)
Stucco Wall Repair and Paint
Swamp (Evaporative) Cooler Maintenance
Treadmill Table - Vintage Style
Tuff Shed
Wrought Iron Facelift Outside
Weather Stripping (doors)
Why is My Swamp (Evaporative) Cooler Blowing Hot Air?
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