Got a lot done on the workshop over the August long weekend. After being plagued by drips, leaks, and floods for a number of months, I had bitten the bullet and ordered steel roofing. The task ahead of me was to strip the old shingles, fix up the guts, and button everything back up before it rained. I took some pictures so, I’ll use them to describe my reno, since people seem to like pics (including myself).
View media item 32310The before shot shows the tired, aging shingle roof; and even though this is the good side, it’s begging to be replaced. It hadn’t formed as many leaks as the other side, but still was past its prime.
View media item 32309I broke out the chop saw and started building the roof extension, since I planned to elongate the non-existent rear overhang to about 18”, thus covering some stuff I don’t care to store in the garage like tires, skids, etc.
View media item 32311The rough extension clamped together for measurements. It will get screwed and then lagged to the building frame.
View media item 32318Standing on the fence to install this, leaning to counterbalance myself, this was actually pretty awkward to put up.
View media item 32313Here’s the frame in place, should give me some much needed extra storage space.
View media item 32312Now for the fun part. Armed with nothing more than a free pitchfork, I rolled the old roof off fairly easily. Proper foot protection was used here, and I’m glad I did, as I sunk a 1½” long roofing nail all the way to the steel plate.
View media item 32314View media item 32320With the roof now bare, I rolled out and stapled Tyvek across the whole deal (I found a huge 9’ spool in the rafters of the garage, probably a good 100’ of the stuff). I then nailed down strapping that the new roof would screw to. I could have nailed this down over the old shingles, but I wanted to get that moisture and weight and rot out of there.
View media item 32316Used this vintage Estwing I acquired from a family friend for the roofing. Although I have over a dozen hammers, this quickly became my favourite. I swung it all day long and it was comfortable the whole time. It was quite rusty when I found it in his garage, but I cleaned it up and oiled it to preserve it and hopefully get years out of it. The gentleman that gave it to me is almost in his 90’s now, and I like to think this was his favourite hammer, sort of silly and nostalgic, I know.
View media item 32315After lining up the first roof panel, I started laying sheets down along the roof. This goes pretty slowly, but the last time I did a steel roof, I learned that pre-measuring and marking/punching the screw locations while on the ground speeds up things on the roof, helps line up the self tapping screw, and makes things look more precise. Also, I can't say enough about the knee pads I didn't have... next time, I'll basically wrap my knees in bubble wrap. The ridge cap had special foam liners to seal it up, otherwise it becomes home to many many wasps.
View media item 32317This is my roof as it sits now. I still have to finish the end trim, and cut the last piece of roof to fill the last 9” of the extension. Otherwise, eaves trough and trenching the back are in order. Most importantly, this will keep things inside dry for years and years, shrugging off rain, snow, and tree gunk without rotting like the old roof did. It also has more of a rural feel, so much so that my wife has taken to calling it “the barn.”
I do count myself very blessed to have a wife like mine. She helped me the entire 3 day marathon from sunup to sundown, cleaning up shingles, scouring for nails, pulling staples from the strapping boards (reclaimed from skids), passing me all the supplies I needed while on the roof. In fact, she did a lot of the jobs I don’t even relish doing, and for that, I’m very thankful.