The Roof

Before getting up on the roof to do the hard work, I spent a few minutes walking around with my camera to find a few pristine bits of snow.  They don't last long in the city so they're precious.  These were two drifts along the fence just off my back porch.  Despite the hassle caused by so much snow in one night, it's nice to stop and see the beauty that nature can create.

At the back end of my attic there's a little trap door that provides access to a flat roof over my bedroom and the bathroom with the claw foot tub.  The door is about 1-1/2 feet above the roof and the opening was almost completely occluded with a snow drift.  So there was about four feet of snow on the roof.

It's always scary getting out there with so much snow already there.  All I can think is that I'm

going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back.  But with rain in forecast, I can't risk letting any additional weight sit up there. 

There's just no graceful way to get out there.  It's usually kind of dive.

Just as a safety measure, I try to stay in the middle and throw the snow into my

yard on both sides.  

As I get within six feet of the edge, I kneel down just push the snow over the edge.

And it's nice to take a few minutes to enjoy a view of the neighborhood

that I otherwise never get to see.

 

I signed a contract a few weeks ago to replace the roof.  It's an expense I wasn't

anticipating and unfortuantely the bathroom budget is being partially reallocated.

I've known the roof was at the end of its life since I moved in.  It's never leaked until

recently and as you can see there are shingles missing.

I had a few shingles missing but the winds from Hurricane Sandy tore off several

more and I had a leak in the middle bedroom upstairs.

I was hoping to avoid this job because it sets off a chain of events that I just can't tackle 

all at once.  This old chimney that goes through the edge of the roof will eventually come down to make way for new kitchen windows.  But taking down the chimney to do the roof means work on the siding and new kitchen windows.  To add new windows, I need a variance.  The variance also includes plans for a new window outside the new bathroom and new french doors on the back porches.  If I apply for and get a variance, I have one year to complete the work.  So until I have the savings for all that, I've not wanted to do it.  But the roofer and I debated the problem and we agreed that the chimney will be lowered just enough to repair the eave and finish the new roof.  It'll look stupid until I can finish the job but what's wrong with looking a little stupid?

I'm going to be using architectural shingles--the roofer uses

Certainteed--and they dropped off the samples so I could pick a color.

There are several nice grays so it was harder than I thought to pick one.

I chose Colonial Slate that has little bits of both red and green.

I think it'll look nice.

A few weeks ago, I had a second leak during a heavy wind and rainstorm so

I'm glad this is a project that's going to get taken care of in the short term.

 

I just need the weather to cooperate.