Bugger the Roofing Contractors

We decided to hold off on getting a new roof until we can sell one of the other properties. Twelve to sixteen grand is more than we're willing to pay this year. This crappy housing market has us in a holding pattern. The rental income keeps us from hemorrhaging on the condo, and when we rent out Mom's house that will take care of expenses there, but none of us are willing to do major work on The Box House if there's a possibility of putting it off.

We had a few lower-end estimates for some simple patch work, but after investigating that further, it turns out all they were going to do is stuff cement in a few holes or add an extra patch of bitumen. And nobody was willing to guarantee the work. It didn't seem worth spending $800 for a temporary fix that might not even work. The contractors weren't all that excited about such a small job, anyway, and when I called one back to try to schedule him again after the heavy rains we've had, he didn't even remember who I was or what house I meant. Arggh.

So we read up on what would be necessary to fix our type of roof, and decided to do it ourselves. Really, it's already leaking, what can we possibly do to screw it up more?

We have a low slope, built up roof. I found an excellent article on Old House Web about low-pitched roofs. It's not cheery news, overall:

Built-up roofs are composed of several layers of roofing felt lapped and cemented together with bituminous material and protected by a thin layer of gravel or crushed stone. Built-up roofs vary greatly in life span, but those used in residential buildings usually last about 20 years, depending on their quality, exposure, number of plies, and the adequacy of their drainage. Because built-up roofs are composed of several layers,they can contain moisture in the form of water or water vapor between layers. Moisture not only accelerates deterioration, it can also leak into a building. Look for cracking, blistering, alligatoring, and wrinkling, all of which may indicate the need for roof replacement or repair.

Yeah, our whole roof is alligatored. And it has more wrinkles than I (thankfully) have. Although mine are laugh lines.

The roof of The Box House is built of a deck, felt, bitumin, some kind of coating, and a silver coating on top. Where the previous owners failed at some point is when they took the roof membrane all the way up and over the back of the parapet wall. You can see previous repairs that look like someone just dabbled cement on with their fingers.

It's not really adhered to the wall, so it forms a big air pocket behind it, and a place to catch water. A few more tears developed since we spotted this one, and one of the roofing contractors created a big ol' hole when he ripped out a chunk to get a closer look behind the curtain. Grrr.

We went to Lowes for a little consultation and advice on what to do. What we came home with was roof fabric and three cans of Black Jack Roof Patch:



A roll of Peel and Seal Self-Stick Aluminum Faced tape:

A Roofcoate Three Knot Brush:


And aluminum roof coating, similar to what's pictured:

The area we were most concerned with was around the chimney. It was just to the right of the chimney that water was leaking into the tenants' unit below. None of the roofing contractors could say with certainty how it was getting in, but planned to patch all the way around it. So that's what we did.

Ted put down a layer of roof patch cement, and then reinforced it with strips of patch fabric. He then did another layer of cement on top of that. At the top, he used aluminum tape and cemented around the edges.

It wasn't leaking on the opposite side of the roof, but there was a spot on the plaster ceiling below that was soft, as if it had taken on water in the past. Water had been getting in through slits in the membrane, so we patched those up with aluminum tape as well. This stuff is amazing--very thick, very durable, very sticky.

Some of the strips we used were long, about two feet.

Afterwards, Ted cemented the entire area above the soft spot, and around each of the strips of aluminum.


We left the cement to dry overnight. In the morning, we found pools of water on top of the patches on the parapet side of the roof. (Sorry, no photo.) The water had washed away some of the patch material.

We assume that there is still some moisture trapped behind the membrane, working its way out. Ted soaked up the water with paper towel and I started silvering the roof with the waterproof aluminum coating, starting from the top of the slope.


Yeah, I thought the picture of me throwing sticks at hornets' nests looked awkward; this isn't any better. Notice I'm wearing my good (okay, better) shoes, which are now flecked with silver.

The smell of the roof coating was very reminiscent of the tar my dad once had to apply to our asphalt driveway. This job was fun for about the first 15 minutes, until the heat started zapping me. Eighty degrees and unrelenting sun. But the silver-colored coating does fill in all of the alligatoring nicely. With luck, it will help get us through another winter or two.

I had hoped to silver coat the patches near the parapet today, where the water had pooled, but there was more water working its way out through the cracks this morning, in pretty much the same area as yesterday. Again, it was just enough to wash away some of the patching compound. It's going to rain tonight, so there's not much else we can do for the moment. However, now that the big tears in the parapet are covered, and much of the rest of the area is patched and silvered, I can't imagine much more water will get to the felt underneath--touch wood. Our theory du jour is that with all the patches we've put on the roof, we're channeling what moisture is left so it's all coming up in one spot. We'll see.

So, for less than two hundred dollars, we patched a wider area of the roof than any of the contractors bid for, and silvered (or plan to silver) a great deal of the roof surface, when the contractors didn't plan on doing that at all. So what if it's taken us two full days so far, at least it's not costing us more.

We'll see how our patches will hold. (At least we'll guarantee the work, and fix it for free if it leaks again.) Cross your fingers, everyone, that this does the trick until we can take on the full expense of a new roof.

Yesterday Was Chicago's Rainiest Day. Ever.

With folks suffering some serious losses due to Hurricane Ike, and my own brother affected by the storm, it seems just wrong to complain about the weather here. But it should be noted that yesterday broke all records for rain in Chicagoland:

After the rainiest day in recorded Chicago history, residents across the area faced more storms, closed roads and flooded basements Sunday as the remnants of Hurricane Ike were expected to arrive. Saturday's rainfall, as measured at O'Hare International Airport, was at least 6.63 inches, breaking the city calendar-day record of 6.49 on Aug. 14, 1987. Records have been kept since 1871. The storm, which was blamed for at least one death, also clogged dozens of roads and stranded motorists from Evanston to Schaumburg to Naperville. The Edens Expressway was closed for hours, and access to O'Hare blocked by both road and train... (Full story here.)

This is not a great time to need roof repairs done. After trying to schedule in contractors to examine it, and wait for them to get around to getting us estimates, we can't even schedule a day for repairs until the rain clears and the roof dries out. And in the meantime, it's been the rainiest weekend in Chicago history--nearly eight inches fell in some areas and another three to four inches are forecast for today--and the water continues to drip, drip, drip into the tenants' unit. There's not much we can do, but I'm feeling like a crappy landlord.

Roof! Roof! Roof! Roof!

Welcome to the Money Pit.

We were hoping to not have to replace the roof of The Box House until we can sell the other house(s), but I'm not sure it can wait. We first noticed a tear in the membrane in July, when we were up on the roof in order to take down the grotty old TV antennas. We put a temporary patch on ourselves at that time--a large contractor construction bag held in place with duct tape. But two weeks ago the tenants reported water was coming into their bedroom on the opposite side of the building during a particularly bad thunderstorm.

Well, we decided to have a few contractors come in to give input and estimates. One by one, we took them up onto the roof today. Yesterday was a real soaker, a non-stop rain of about 24 hours, with more water coming into the tenants' unit, although not as much as before--a good time to have contractors see it, I guess.

There are several more tears in the roof membrane now. The ballpark estimates so far range from $85 to $12,000. Yup. You read that right. For eighty-five bucks, one of the contractors would cement the patches and hopefully get us through a winter season, but with no guarantees. He suggested it was time for a new roof. The second contractor said $6,000-$12,000 for a new roof, but will write us up a quote for some more extensive patches. Again, no guarantees the patches would solve the leaking. The third guy said maybe $12,000 for a new roof, but he'll write up a quote for patchwork, too.

*Sigh* I'm not sure how we'll proceed, but we do need to quickly find a solution for the leak in the tenants' unit.

And now for a bit of levity...

Up on the Roof -- Throwing Stuff Off, Patching it Up

My earliest memory of tossing anything off of a building was at my grandmother's apartment. She lived at Wheaton Center in downtown Wheaton, Illinois, in what I considered a high rise when I was a kid. She was up maybe 10, 12 stories. Along with my cousins Jason and John and my brother Ed, I threw ice cubes off of the balcony to the sidewalk below. I remember having this lengthy conversation about what would happen if we accidentally hit someone--after all, someone at school had just told me that if you threw a penny off the Sears Tower, it could kill a pedestrian below. (It was much, much later that I learned this is not likely.) Despite the risk of embedding an ice cube in someone's head, we did it anyway, and had a blast.

I've always loved to toss objects from heights, whether it's a pebble from the rim of the grand canyon or my teddy bear from my uncle's barn roof. So when Ted and I were standing on the roof of The Box House this afternoon, debating how best to get the old TV antennas to the ground, I said, "Let's toss them off."

We had actually climbed up to check on the roof membrane and to test out our new ladder, (which worked very well--two thumbs up). During our inspection, we found a hole in the membrane, which the previous owners patched for us prior to close. So far, it seems to be holding.

But we discovered a long tear in another spot.

This might explain a soft spot we found in the tenant's dining room ceiling, which is plaster. It wasn't wet, but perhaps was at one point recently. So we decided while we were up there to put on a temporary patch until I can look up the proper way to patch the membrane. We used duct tape and a contractor's garbage bag.

Ugly, but it will work. What you're looking at in this picture is the back side of the brick parapet, which runs the length of the front of the building. Our inspector had indicated the membrane should not have gone up the back like this, because of the possibility of trapping moisture against the brick. Eventually, we need to pull it all off, but we can't do that until we're ready to deal with whatever brick issues we may find behind it. At the moment, we are not. So for now, patching the holes will have to do.

But, while we were up there, we decided it might be a good time to investigate how to get down the old TV antennas. They are big, ugly, and very visible from the street. The wires cascade down the front of the building. This is the photo from the original listing. More than anything, I thought the antennas said, "This building has not been updated," and was one of the reasons why (if only subconsciously) we had written off this house months before finally deciding to go see it.

Up close, we found that the pole of the first antenna was made of several pieces, so it was easy to pull up 90% of it just by lifting. The base is still on the roof, but not visible from below, so I don't care too much.The second one, while it didn't lift up and off, did fold up like an umbrella. The metal shaft is so flimsy that Ted just twisted it once to break it.

After checking all four directions of the intersection to make sure there were not any pedestrians, bikes, kids, or cars...

...we tossed the antennas into the side yard below. It was just as satisfying as when I was kid.

(While you're still up here, look how pretty our elm tree is! I transplanted those hostas from my mom's house, and with all the rain and cool weather we've had, they've taken pretty well.)

We took the antennas to the alley where we leave the trash. They are extremely light, hardly weighing anything at all. I'm not kidding here, they were there all of five minutes before a tinker came and took them away. God bless the tinkers.