Home ownership is all-consuming. The problems can't be ignored so my life has recently leaned in the direction of servant to a house. I waited for the rain to show me the leaks and it showed me 4 leaks that I attacked with asphalt cement and fabric tape.
I also finished the laundry room project that involved finding some kind of pipe about 1 inch below the surface of my lawn. I didn't hit this one with a pickaxe because I suspected it was there. I have no idea what this pipe contains or if it is obsolete. I was sure it was cast iron but it changes into some kind of yellow plastic. (EDIT TO ADD: This is FLEXIBLE YELLOW GAS LINE. Most definitely active. buried 1 inch deep, connected to black pipe. They flexed it under the alley)
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| Very practical solution to avoid dealing with black pipe. Can be connected to black pipe with a transition adapter. BUT CONSIDER BURYING IT DEEPER THAN 1 INCH! |
The garage door wasn't too complicated. A box rail, hangers, some finesse with a drill and then a basic frame to hold the corrugated metal. I need some ideas for painting something on the door because it reflects the sun into my face and blinds me to the point I think it could start a fire.
I'm trying to win the award for ugliest roof but there are some very ugly roofs in this neighborhood so I won't even get a ribbon for participation. But in the race for worst conceived roof, I stand a chance. My neighbor's roof pitches down into my roof, which is a very slight arch. They meet like two bull Elks fighting for mating rights over a harem. But there is no slope horizontally so the water puddles on top of the seam and drains onto my motorcycles underneath it. This is going to be very interesting to solve but I have an idea for something called a "Hog Valley" Now I can call it an asphalt cement valley because I covered it in asphalt patch. Believe me, when I was roofing the area I stood on to that this picture I knew that valley would be a problem, but if I even breathed hard on the neighbor's roof, the material tore in shreds. But the house was vacant so I didn't know what to do, spend money fixing a neighbor's house, or fix my roof the best I could and deal with problems when the house next door was purchased and I could talk to the owner.
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| The worst decision was connecting the two garage roofs into one seam. With no horizontal slope so the water doesn't drain fast enough. Such is life. |
My plan to solve the drainage issue with the roof is to build a false, upraised valley on top of this valley using roof decking. Then cover that with tar paper. I plan to use trapezoidal cut pieces of decking that will create an artificial slope in the direction of the yard. It's too complicated to explain and I'm sure any experienced carpenter would advise against it, but my mission with this house is to learn the hard way and possibly create new solutions to old problems. I want to know why something failed. For instance, I learned that any exposed nail head, even if it was obviously nailed down, will probably leak if the roof was installed using zero asphalt cement on the overlapped seams. That's how my roof was installed and all the nails leak. The asphalt cement on the seams at least gives a chance to seal around the nails, but there's a blind nail method that's even better. None of those effective methods were used so they basically laid a roof down and nailed it down, which doesn't last at all. I only want to limp this roof along until I can pay for the metal roof that I will install to the top. That's all.
Clear day between late fall storms.
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| A view of the man cave, metal door, illegal electrical subpanel, utility sink draining to god knows where, etc. etc. One day there will be a plaque....Oggy Bleacher Worked Here. |
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