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

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

The Marathon: Final Flashing

So this is it...the last two days of our marathon to finish the roof and get the scaffolding down. It's been a huge push - working 10-12 hour days and even with that, extending my trip by several days to get everything done. While i have loved being up on the roof (except when we re-framed the joists in the dead of an English winter) and seeing London from this unusually serene perch, I'm ready to finish and move on...

There are a lot of small things to finish before we can take the scaffolding down, but the last "big" item is to finish all the flashing around the dormer and along the edge - again, a tricky detail to span both types of roofing: traditional slates and modern membranes.

So I started up on the flat portion of the dormer by installing lengths of heavy lead - known as "code 4 lead" - to cover the edge of the flat roofing membrane that wraps up to face of the brick wall.

Where the roofing membrane meets the brick wall

Before inserting the lead, one has to cut away at one row of mortar joints, so there's a gap for the lead to go into - fortunately I had done this messy job several weeks ago, so installing the flashing here went relatively quickly. that is (of course!) except for the tricky bits, which were at the various corners towards the edge of the dormer. That proved time consuming, but I had it done in time for a late lunch.

Late morning of July 4th - the rows of lead flashing installed

This area is the trickiest - several corners and an overhang from the coping stone

It's not too clear, but the corner flashing pieces are installed

I then spent several hours working on some of the other tasks (see next post) but by the early evening I was able to start on the final flashing task, which involved installing the lead along the edge of the dormer. This flashing detail was worked out about a month or two ago when I was finishing the slates on the dormer. This is the tricky flashing detail I've mentioned several times: it has to span two very different types of roofing.

My sketchbook where I worked out the flashing details - the one in the center of this page is the final version for the edge detail of the dormer - a wooden drip edge wrapped in lead that works over the slates and the membrane.

 Because we had previously treated and painted the wood structure, I was able to start attaching the lead right away. To further enhance the durability of the detail (and because we had a lot of extra pieces), I decided to add a row of "soakers", which are folded sheets of stainless steel used to prevent water penetration at any 90 degree intersection of slates. These "soakers" helped seal the top of the wood and were then wrapped in the code 4 lead. The lead is held in place by a series of straps that are nailed into the wood, but are cleverly covered by the flashing - a great traditional detail used for hundreds of years.

This work was only completed the following day. The last tasks involved cleaning the roof for the last time, applying a protective patina coating on all the lead, and inserting a special caulk into the open joints where the lead is inserted into the brick. This caulk prevents water from going into the brickwork, and under the lead, while allowing for the naturally-occurring movement between the brick and lead without cracking.

In the early evening able to start the edge flashing - fitting the first pieces

The stainless steel "soakers" with the lead clips awaiting the final piece of lead flashing

The completed assembly - looking up

The completed assembly - looking down. Here you can see the all-important drip-edge taking shape

Morning of July 5th (final day) - preparing to flash the edge along the flat roof

Ready to install the roughly formed lead

Here you can see the stainless steel "soakers" ready for the lead

A detail view of how the clips will be covered by the final piece of lead

Flashing finished - cleaning the roof for the last time!

View of the finished roof & flashing - her you can see the detail where two roofing types come together, with the recently completed edge flashing in the distance

Final view of the upper roof - flashing completed, lead has it's patina coating, caulking done.

The Marathon: more painting

The past week has felt like a marathon; the finish line is being able to make the call to the scaffolding company to say that we're ready for them to take the scaffold down.

We've been working full-tilt – André was in fact supposed to fly back to New York today, but we're not quite where we need to be so he's postponed his trip by a day. It's important that we get the scaffolding down now - mostly because it's very expensive to keep renting it, but also because psychologically, we are really ready to move forward. And I think that at this point we owe it to our neighbours to get it down, too!

Today we finally finished something on the long to-do list for getting the scaffolding down: the rest of the exterior painting. André and I had worked together last weekend to paint the first window, and yesterday I started working on the other windows. In order to get everything done as quickly as possible, I had to do it on my own because André was working upstairs, at roof level.

The front windows before scraping and painting

Like last weekend, the work was quite involved - I had to prep the windows by scraping off as much of the old, peeling paint as possible and fill in any rotten areas with putty before painting.

A detail of the window's condition

It all went a lot faster than last weekend because these ones are in better condition (and my technique got better as I went along). But all told, on average it still took about 3 hours per window!

Meanwhile, André had been spending ages over the previous few days prepping the exterior of the dormer for painting – he had to apply an exterior conditioning treatment and then putty over all the screws. Once the putty dried, it had to be sanded  so that the dormer would have a smooth, even finish once painted..

June 25th - Applying the wood conditioner - will make the wood ready for the exterior elements

June 27th - After waiting 2 days for the treatment to dry, patching all the holes & joints with an exterior grade filler putty

June 30th - All the screw holes and joints had to be filled with putty - turned out to be a huge job

Once the dormer was ready, I primed and painted it in between working on the windows. This was a carefully planned tag-team operation, because we were supposed to wait 16-24 hours for each coat to dry - and we found ourselves running out of time! So the primer went on the dormer early Saturday evening; the first coat of paint on Sunday morning; and the second on Sunday night.

July 2nd - Starting the primer...

André touching up the primer

July 3rd - Starting the first coat of exterior paint

André insisted on three coats of paint, so I had to wait til getting home from work today to put the final coat of paint on! In the evening I also painted the balcony posts and the clips that will attach the railing to the posts (André had painted the balcony railing during the day).

It's been an absolutely exhausting three days. We've made huge progress, and it's an amazing feeling to finally be able to step back and look at something that looks finished! But there are still so many things to be done before I can make that phone call…

July 4th - The painting completed!

Eaves and Gutters

As you may have noticed, it's often the case on this project that things don't go according to plan. Usually it's because something has gone wrong, but today it was the opposite - I was offered a few hours of help by Alan, the local handyman. He showed me how to do the gutters and eaves. I had actually been planning on pouring the balcony concrete today (having completed the balcony rebar yesterday) but with Alan's offer, I did not wish to miss out on the opportunity of an extra pair of hands and the wisdom of a veteran builder. So the concrete pour was put off for a day...

June 30th - the eaves and gutters awaiting installation

We started by putting up a series of plastic eave boards which are nailed onto the actual plywood eaves - these boards are waterproof and unlike wooden eaves do not need painting every year or two. Having an extra set of hands was great because these boards were over 12ft long and very awkward to handle - almost like trying to manoeuvre a 12ft piece of linguine...

The plastic, waterproof eave boards installed over the actual plywood eave

Once the boards were on, Alan showed me how to install the gutters. Most of the work is in determining the high point, and a slope (for the water to run) that looks correct and functions properly. We then used a string line to work everything out and then a chalk line to mark the boards. It turns out that the top of the building is not level - most likely the building had settled over the years, or they had purposely angled the top of the roof. Either way it was quite tricky to figure out the correct pitch for the gutters...that also did not look wonky. Once the line was set, it was quite simple to install the gutter supports, and then clip in the gutters themselves. By the time Alan had to leave, we had fixed the gutters along the front of the building, and I had a good understanding how to the complete the rest.

End of the day...

I only managed to get back to finishing the gutters on July 3rd, which was a Sunday, so I had to be very quiet, which made the work go a little slower. Fortunately it was completed before the end of the day and was able to move onto the many other tasks for this marathon weekend.

July 3rd - turning the first corner

Setting the brackets with a string line

Gutters clipped into place

Turning the second corner (you can see the chalk line on the eave board)

The end piece with a downspout for the leader (the vertical drain pipe)

The completed eaves and gutters

Dormer Trimwork

With the roofing finished, and smaller tasks like painting underway, completing the exterior of the dormer is probably the last major element of exterior work before the scaffolding can come down. As with most things on this project, I originally did not think it would take too long to complete...but of course it did. 

I had never done any exterior carpentry & finishing before, so there was a steep learning curve - and I ended up with a new-found appreciation for, and understanding of, what goes into doing this work well.

By "trimming-out" the dormer, I'm referring to building the part the facade that will surround the windows & doors - this type of woodwork is called "trim", and here, it will ultimately be painted. As the facade is not structural, its main purpose is to keep the water out, which in England is a major task! Normally, having painted wood exterior trim is frowned upon here because of all the rain and dampness - if you use paint, you generally have to re-paint every year or so. In most buildings, one would normally need scaffolding to access these areas for repainting, so more durable (and very expensive) materials such as lead are normally used. But because there's going to be a Juliet balcony in front of the dormer, I figured we could save a lot of money and some construction time by using wood and then re-painting every year.

The base of the trim-work was actually started in between other tasks, and during the roofing and slate work. After finishing the ridge tiles in the early afternoon of June 20th, I used the rest of the day to build-out the vertical portion of the dormers edge.

June 20th

After that, I managed to do a few little things here and there, but it was only on the 24th that I was able to focus completely on it. As you'll see, most of the wider trim is plywood - actually waterproof plywood (18mm WPBP) that is screwed into the dormer structure and edge battens for the slates. Then smaller planks of pine are used to frame the opening for the future windows and doors.

June 22nd

Part of the challenge here is that the design of the trim had to utilize the lead flashing detail I developed to span between the slate roof and the modern membrane roof. Roof and wall systems (whether modern or traditional) are always designed to allow water to drip down without hitting the building face. As an architect, I had always drawn these details, but it was completely different to see these principles in action, while building them.

The final design is basically like a series of overhanging elements - each with their own drip edge until we get to the window. So there are several layers of protection - almost like an upside down wedding cake. After several days, the dormer finally began to take its final shape, and by June 27th with the trim finished, the end of the exterior work was finally feeling close...

June 24th - completed the plywood that forms the roof's edge

Starting the trim that covers the dormer's structure

The main drip edge completed, with the window trim in progress

June 25th - the window trim almost finished

Supporting strips of wood for an exterior piece

The window side is completed

Applying a waterproof chemical to the wood - this is the foundation for the primer & paint

June 27th - Doing the final trim around where the balcony doors will go

Trim around the door opening completed

The finished trim. Now onto filling the holes with wood putty, primer and painting...