What about that Downspout?

In the last days our Marathon, I realized that if i wanted to catch my flight back to NYC something had to wait - something that was not critical (and something that would not leak or cause any trouble) had to be put on the back burner for when there would be more time. I ended up deciding to hold off on installing the downspout for the gutter that would be located over our (now reclaimed) balcony.

The completed dormer...but no downspout for the new gutter

Of course...it turned out that not having that downspout did cause a leak! Before we reclaimed the balcony it was full of debris - and because the downspout was letting water fall onto the balcony, the water ended up pooling as it could not drain properly (with over a ton of debris in the way!). Of course right where it decided to pool, was exactly where there was a hole in the old flashing around the balcony door....so the water leaked into the building's stairway ceiling. Since I was not around, our local handyman came to the rescue (again!!!) He determined what was causing the leak and  cleared a path to allow the water to drain, while "Aglaya" temporarily patched the hole in the flashing...

Because of this little incident, installing the downspout became a priority. We had to order a proper ladder in order to do this task safely, but once it arrived I was pleased to learn that I would actually be able to reach the gutter! The actual work was relatively simple: locating where the pipes would run, setting the angles, cutting the existing downspout to the correct length, drilling holes for the anchors, cutting the new pipes to length and then finally installing the pipes...

After some geometry, the existing downspout is cut to the correct length

Setting the angle for the pipe

Positioning the pipes so they aligned

Reclamation!

After a month in New York "recovering" from finishing the roof and that mad dash we called the Marathon , I'm back in London for more. Happily this trip won't involve too much continuous labor as tomorrow we'll be heading out of town for a friend's wedding.

The Dump: AKA our Balcony

Today's goal was to reclaim our balcony and the loft: the balcony had been our main dumping ground for roof debris over the last few months; the loft was suddenly so completely full of debris in the scramble to clear the scaffold before my flight last month that we literally could not walk through it!

Our poor balcony viewed from the Dormer above

The Loft - drowned in debris

Rather than hire a skip (known as a dumpster in US) we decided to go with a company that brings a truck with two guys to help for roughly the same price as a skip. Considering how much debris we had to remove - and that we don't have a laborer - this turned out to be a great deal. We also had an extra set of hands as our house-guest (AKA my mum) was back, and eager to help.

So we ended-up working in two teams - my mum and I were up on the balcony (one person pulling things off the pile - the other bringing them down to the 2nd floor landing), and the guys from the rubbish removal company brought everything from the 2nd floor down into the truck.

Pulling things of the pile of rubbish

It must have taken about 2-3 hours, but we completely filled their truck with probably 9 cubic yards of debris - that's probably 1-2 tons! So after these exhausting few hours...we had our balcony back!

Look - the balcony actually has a floor!

The view from above

After returning from our trip, we were finally able to enjoy the fruits of our labor...quite literally!

The Marathon: Finishing the Roof!

After six months of hard work - that sometimes felt would never end - this is the last day we'll be up on the roof. As mentioned in the previous post, this is bittersweet moment - but we're ready to move on.

This is also the last day what of we're calling the marathon - our mad dash to get the roof finished so we can take the scaffold down before I fly back to New York. With my flight rescheduled for the end of this afternoon, there's a hard deadline with much to do by then.

The day started with completing the dormer's lead flashing, so once that was done, one of the last tasks involved installing the exterior vents for our boiler, bathroom and kitchen. These needed to be done before the scaffolding came down because otherwise there would be no way to access the portion of the rear brick wall where the penetrations needed to occur. Fortunately these large 4" holes were already done - when the plumbers were doing their initial installation they had drilled the holes at that point. Installing these vents required clearing out the rough holes, removing and repairing any loose bricks, fitting the pipes & vents, and then packing mortar around the opening so they would be fixed in place.

One of the holes drilled through the bricks by our plumbers

Making sure it fits - Testing one of the pipes and vent plates in the hole

An overall view - had to remove the end planks to get to the work area.

Starting to fill around the pipe with mortar. You can see the completed boiler flue/vent in the background

The vents completed

The next task involved installing the railing for our new Juliet balcony. The support posts had been aligned and set when the concrete was poured, so this was relatively fast and easy - fortunately as there were only two hours remaining before heading to the airport! The railings were ordered and delivered as a kit-of-parts, so each railing piece was fastened into place with four steel brackets that bolted into the posts - relatively easy.

Before setting the railings

The first railing piece in place

The railing installed - can also see the completed dormer

With the railings completed, the final task for finishing the roof involved cleaning the scoffolding of all the debris, unused pieces of wood, and the stacks of old, original slates that we'll sell to the roofing company (apparently they can be re-used on historic preservation/conservation projects). With only an hour to clear all the debris, this was truly a mad dash, but was able to get it done. Before leaving the scaffold for the last time, I took a number of final pictures and soaked in the view for the last time...

The completed roof - view from the front

The completed roof - view from front corner

The completed roof - view from the rear

Steel rebars & concrete

With the balcony formwork finished several days ago, it was finally time to install the steel reinforcing bars and pour the concrete. I've been looking forward to this for a rather unusual reason - after finishing architecture school back in 1998, I worked for a structural engineering company overseeing and inspecting high-rise concrete construction in New York City. Having spent a year and a half doing that, I was curious to apply my knowledge first-hand, because I'd never had the opportunity to do the actual hands-on work myself (the NYC unions would not have liked that)...

1998 - New York City - overseeing high-rise concrete & rebar in New York City

Anything made of concrete is always contains a combination of steel bars, know as "rebar", and concrete, all held in place by the formwork. Concrete is actually made up of cement, sand, aggregate (or small stones) and water - these can be mixed in various proportions to achieve different strengths.

June 29th - the empty formwork

After the forwork is made, the rebars are installed - they provide critical tensile strength to hardend concrete which is very strong in compression, but not in tension. The rebar adds tensile and torsional strength while preventing cracking, making the concrete extremely strong and durable. It's probably safe to say that my rebar was overkill for our needs, but it was done correctly! Besides providing strength to the concrete, the rebar also needed to help anchor the balcony railing posts in place. With the help of our Building Control officer, Ron, we developed a great detail for the post anchors which had the rebars woven in-between. When our neighbor and local handyman stopped by, he was shocked by the amount of steel and detail in the rebar - I took that as a compliment...

Adding the bottom row of rebar

When it came time to pour the concrete several days later, I have to admit I was not looking forward to mixing it - particularly after my experience making mortar for the ridge tiles. Sure enough, it was a lot of work and quite exhausting. A concrete mixer would have made the whole thing take an hour rather than a day, but for such a small area, it was probably not worth the trouble to rent it, transport it to the site, and then carry it upstairs.

I only encountered one problem, but it turned out to be a major one - I ran out of sand and cement halfway through the pour! Looking back, it was quite funny - a classic DIY mistake of not calculating quantities - I had eyeballed the bags of sand & cement and figured it would be enough. Fortunately I was able to jump into a mini-cab and quickly buy the needed materials just a few minutes before the supply shop closed...otherwise it wouldn't have been so funny...

Pouring the concrete for our little balcony in London may not have had the scale and glamor of high-rise construction in New York, but it somehow felt like coming full circle...

The first railing post installed with the anchoring system in place

Another railing post installed

The top layer of rebar installed

July 1st - Stuffing wet newspaper into the gap between the brick and the formwork - a trick of the trade learned from my neighbor

Final alignment and leveling of the railing posts before pouring concrete

Mixing the first batch of concrete

After "pouring" the first bucket of concrete

Filling up the remaining area with concrete - the dark wood on the left is intended to remain exposed and act as a window ledge and as a stop for the concrete. Because it's higher than the lip of form-work, the resulting slope will allow water to run down and away from the window, while preventing any pooling of water.

Several buckets later after flattening and shaping the concrete to the final slope

Using a wood stud to flatten and shape the wet concrete

Halfway finished, but running out of materials! Decided at this point to run down to the supply house (before they closed) to pick up several bags of sand & concrete.

Resuming work - this is where the future balcony doors will be

Pouring the last part of the balcony

The finished balcony...just don't step on it yet!