We have a roof that actually keeps water out!

Thr first picture is of the roofing that will, one day, be under the deck.



The second picture is of the new roof, including a new skylight over the 4th floor bath!


Although the new roof is wonderful, the project is not without a few snags. The top 3 feet of brick on the wall with the windows (1st picture) is crumbling and will likely fall down if we push it! While we're still deciding between repairing or simply removing the 3 feet of loose brick (removing them would allow for better city views but may not be the desired action by the historic conservation board), we know we'll need to brick in those 2 windows for additional stability.

The irony of seeing the deck come together in the last post is the 3 inches of rainfall we had last night, only one day after the roof was peeled back to allow for the new roofline's construction. The first picture shows the water causing the massive bulge in the roof tarp. Reid and I arrived at the property after work yesterday to discover a waterfall running down the central staircase! It was a disaster! We quickly pulled out the green tarp pictured to catch the water streaming through the roof tarp.

The only thing that seemed like it could stop the water was to install the drain for the roof deck. Fortunately, we had already purchased the supplies, we just hadn't thought we'd have to install the drain in the dark & pouring rain.

Reid drilled a hole through the brick on the side of the building and then drilled a hole through the newly laid plywood. This allowed us to connect the PVC pipe to drain the roof deck to the outside.




Hopefully, the weather will clear soon and the sun will help to dry out the new mess. Although I'm certain the building took on more water than this before we purchased it, I'm a little bit concerned that we'll be replacing more rotten floorboards than originally anticipated.

The carpenters and roofers really got a lot of noticable work done today! The old roof was peeled back. The new roofline was built and it's really looking like a deck and like a place we could live in!!!!

The carpenter started today! We have the start of walls and a plywood floor for the roofers to roof over. Today was like a real construction project at 1700 Vine: the mason was fixing the brickwork, the roofers were working away and the carpenters were building walls!

This evening, Reid and I ran over to Vine Street to install four electrical boxes and wiring for future ceiling lights. We had to get it done before the roof is laid over the back room since it will be so much more difficult to access the area once the roof is completed. Thanks again Sam, for the anniversary gift of 50' of electrical wire! We used a lot of it today!

The roofer reinforced the roof beams in the front building. Some unknown number of years ago, there was a significant fire on the 3rd floor front of the building and the fire department had sawn through a large section of the roof. Over time, those weakened beams sunk and had to be pushed back up and sistered with new lumber.

As you can see, the roof has shingles and gutters! and is nearly completed on the back building.

The structural beams were rotten and failing under the old roof, so salvaged lumber from the demolition was used to reinforce and strengthen those beams.

We found the perfect-sized window for the dormer at Building Reuse Center on Gilbert Ave. The carpenter will install it next week! THen we'll be weather tight and ready for winter.