Finally tackled that roof issue

Finally tackled that roof issue, a spray foam odyssey

As many of you may remember I have had issue with my roof having intermittent minor leaks and possible major air and heat loss issues.

My latest post was looking for thoughts on the plan for repairs.

Well we finally took the plunge, spent the money and did it right (we hope).

We all love pictures so I made sure I got some along the way. In addition I know some will be asking about the whole thing so here it is.

We decided to order the roof of the the US from Menards as they beat any local price by over $1000 including the $600 delivery charge

It was also decided to spray foam while the roof was off to solve the air and heat loss issue. To recap we have a cathedral ceiling with knotty pine so working from the inside was not a option.

The delivery of the roof was to the house and that is a little story unto intself. The delivery guy arrives while I am at work but my wife is home with our infant son. The roofing came in two large crates equally of course the size of hte metal roof panels. That means 20 feet long. First off he would not drive down our driveway to unload stating there was no room. We live in the country and have a large driveway. For a competent driver this would not have been an issue. There is no forklift with this operation but instead the driver has to unhook the truck which has forks that fold out from the back. Two issues here, one he could not bring the crates down the driveway as the narrowest part is 19 feet. Two he picked up both crates at once, leading to the top one rocking and eventually dumping on the road in front of my house

My wife called me at work to tell me happened and that the driver claims nothing is damaged other than a couple scratchs and he is lifting the lot and dropping it in the ditch in front of our house. I of course scarmble to get someone to cover my classes and head home to stop him. After a phone call to Menards to confirm they will replace any damaged pieces (turns out 8 panels and other trim pieces). I then inform the driver that I am going to borrow a car trailer for him to lift the load onto so I can bring it into the yard. At this point he tells me he does not have time and needs to leave. I then explained that he can pick it up and load it back on the truck as I reject the load. Of course he does not want to do this as he cannot bring it back across the border. I once again explain the car trailer and tell him those are his two options (remember he dumped the load and would not bring it in the yard, it is on township property now, not mine). He reluctantly agrees and the move goes smoothly.

When the new parts arrive 5 weeks later it has damage pieces before we even unload the crate Another call is placed and they offer a small refund and I keep the pieces. Since I can hid the damage easy enough I bargin up to a little better number and take the load.

Good time, good times.

On to the roof. In the picture below you see my old roof, which was originally nailed down. I took all the nails out and screwed it down when I bought the house and sealed up all the little holes (mostly elongated issues there).



There was the metal roof, 2 X 4 strapping (held down will 3" spikes and some 6" WTF) and then a layer of plywood. It was hell to peal it all up.

Underneath I found what I expected, moist insulation, that stuff is like a sponge and never gives up the moisture. The black you see is from air movement depositing dirt and dust. Not to mention the mouse tunnels everywhere.





Nasty stuff and doing nothing to keep the heat in! You will also notice the next issue, the vapour barrier does not wrap around anything or taped or continous. That is the open beam to the inside of my house. This of course allowed dirt and mouse poop to drop into the house. Damn!!

Continued in the next post . . .

Re: Finally tackled that roof issue, a spray foam odyssey

The major reason for choosing spray foam was to fix the vapour barrier issues, and there are many. It does not wrap over the walls, continue over the beams, has rips from mice and on and on . . .









and this at all boxes



Everything was taped up prior to spray foam. We had to so it did not blast through into the house!! There were some minor infiltrations but an easy clean up there, not like the roof before spray foam. On to the next post . . .

Since the VB was not continous I could not just sweep the mouse **** and dirt down to the bottom. I had to vaccuum the entire roof are prior to taping. It cleaned up well and I went to work taping, this meant a very late night with taping and vaccumming into the darkness with a headlight on.

On to the fun stuff, the guys showed up to start the foam and one of the sprayers was a buddy from back in highschool. Nice to see him again and catch up.

Here he is starting the spray.





He and his partner were off to a great start until the rain started, no seriously, down it came from out of nowhere. Did I mention I stripped one side of the roof Sunday night (0% chance of rain) and covered it with a tarp just in case. Yep it rained, and leaked into the house. So I was up on the roof in my underwear pulling the tarp taut so that it can run down and off better.

Anyway, undaunted, they continued spraying, under cover that is . . .



They did a nice job buttering at the last rafter where the wall protrudes slightly past the rafter.



The final product will eliminate all air movement, up my attic space to R 36 (in an 8 inch space) and should keep any water that may ever get underneath running down and out the eave instead of into the house.



A nice seal over the peak and the main beam



one more post . . .

keep it coming.

The roof we picked is a hidden fastener type so no exposed scews for possible leaks, nice set up and went together easy.





and a nice ridge vent to vent well and look clean



Well that's all. It was a three day thrash as the weather changed and called for heavy rain on Wednesday. I was on the roof until after midnight on the Tuesday only to have it not rain on Wednesday after all

Anyway, I have some minor stuff to do still (bend and instal new facia as we changed the height by not adding 2 X 4 strapping and instead just decked it.

What a rough three days but I really think it will be worth the time and money spent. Especially after seeing the lack of VB underneath. This winter should tell the tale. The house already stayed cooler during hot days so heres hoping for much lower heating bills

Well done!!!!! You won't ever regret using the foam. I suspect you'll find a good chunk of the money you spent on the insulation will be earned back in lower heating costs this winter. Update us when you have some findings.

I like it. The wood seemed in great shape. You must have been pleased about that.

Yes, you can see the water staining on the wood but it was solid and dry. No repairs to do there.

It looks like you busted some serious *** over those three days, sit back, relax and have a beer.

NickD said:

Well done!!!!! You won't ever regret using the foam. I suspect you'll find a good chunk of the money you spent on the insulation will be earned back in lower heating costs this winter. Update us when you have some findings.

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I would think with both the lack of a seal in so many places as well as only R 19 ? Insulation that was damp in many place with mouse tenets compromising it's R value further.

NUTTSGT said:

It looks like you busted some serious *** over those three days, sit back, relax and have a beer.

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Ya it really sucked and showed me how out of shape I really am. It was very hot and by the end of day one I was completely wiped out. By lunch on day two I was wiped again. My young cousin (helping out) asked what I am going to do when I told him and I said "keep working, it has to get done." Some of these young guys need to learn about hard work and commitment

I lost 8 pounds over those 3 days!

With this big one out of the way the next step for us is finishing the basement so we can double our living area in the house and add a second bathroom. The basement was semi finished when we bought the house but it was so poorly done and had a minor flood that I gutted the entire thing, cleaned the block wall and painted it with kills primer. I have a stack of R 10 2" foam in the basement ready to start the rebuild. First off is a tidying up. Including dismantling a piano that I could not even give away! They don't come apart very easy either!

You did a heck of a lot of work there, must have been stressful with the weather not cooperating, you were probably thinking at times "should I be doing this?".

Good times, good times indeed haha