Roofing Layers Peeled Back

jb’s post yesterday on licensing requirements for trades folks in different states got me thinking about a job I worked on last week. It started as an attempt to locate a leak on the front of a two story house near the bay. The family had ants and water coming in near the upper corner of a window on the first floor, just below the porch ceiling. I suspected a bad flashing job where the roof met the building and some exploration showed this to be likely.

Still, there were signs that more was going on, a ton of caulk here and poorly cut shingles there. As I tallied the list I finally suggested to the A’s that we replace the roof shingles and remove the siding on the front of the house from the porch up. Taking everything off and putting it back right sometimes seems like the best choice when dealing with materials applied in layers. The leak demanded we remove some of the material but we agreed to remove it all, right down to the wood.

Missing fasteners Unnailed Rafter TieI am glad we did because the list of things wrong with the porch grew the further along we got. I was seriously taken aback by the mistakes and oversights. Crucial fasteners were missing, plywood was run the wrong direction and the ledger had pulled 1 ¼” away from the house. As it turned out, the skin was holding this thing together. This porch was downright dangerous and we ended up dismantling and rebuilding it from the ceiling up. The work was about ten years old.

The point, here is not to call someone out on a bad job. (and honestly I do not even know if the builder had been licensed in the state of Delaware) It is just a good example of how, often, the things we put together are entrusted with the health and safety of others. Keeping this in mind is a pretty strong motivator to do a careful, comprehensive job.