Ok, in fairness, my roof has leaked for about a year now. The home inspector told me that the roof was fine. The handy man said that the roof was installed terribly. I made the home inspector come back to look again, and he said that the problem I was seeing in the ceiling was a result of "capillary action" pulling the water under the shingles. The roof, he insisted, was fine.
Except that it leaks....and I have the little stain on the ceiling to prove it. Grr.
So this weekend, E and I decided to take a trip to the roof. I was brave and climbed the ladder first...hoisted myself over the gutter...and immediately decided that I did *not* like being on the roof. E held the ladder til I could get down...then spent 5 minutes making sure my heart rate was going to return to normal. (note to self: I'm a roof-wimp) He climbed up while I held the ladder (and panicked on the inside). Then he did a little jig. Show off.
First, we checked to see if the raccoons I spotted a few weeks ago had actually taken up residence in the chimney. Thankfully, my stern look and tone of finality must have said serious business because they weren't there. E replaced the chimney cap and then started hunting for signs of roof damage...but he couldn't find anything significant.
We brought the ladder inside and climbed up in the attic. I'm good in the attic. It's a little like playing Twister (left hand on plywood...right foot on ceiling joist), only a whole lot itchier. I inched around until I found the spot where the roof was leaking (as evidenced by the wet rafter and crossbeam) and measured the approximate location of the spot. We later went back on the roof (ok, "we" = E) and found a broken shingle, but I rather doubt that's the source of the whole problem. I'm amassing a list of good roofers in the area. Feel free to pass along your favorite, if you have one.
Since I was there and itchy anyway, I decided to liberate the attic of the random stuff left behind by previous owner(s). I had hopes of finding some treasure along the lines of JBro's basement gift. It wasn't looking promising...mostly empty boxes. I did discover a Compaq pentium II computer from some law office in DC...here's hoping I don't go to jail over that one!
But then... There it was: the box that wasn't empty. I made a little excited noise. I handed it down to E. He opened it carefully. I climbed down to look. And we three stood around admiring the historic treasure that my darling little house had imparted to us:
...not even a Stickley toilet seat. Hmpf! Although, in fairness, it does have some lovely embroidered-looking shells. I'm sure it was a highly fashionable toilet seat at some point in time. Or maybe not.
The Monkey would disagree that the toilet seat was the best treasure I found in the attic. Without much prompting, he discovered something far better...and figured out very quickly how to get the most fun out of it...
Thanks for the early Christmas gifts, little house!
(p.s. For those of you with kids: does every kid video end with some version of "I wanna see!"? I think so...)
7 comments:
Sorry about your roof....but I was in tears just thinking about you on a roof. Good thing E is brave!
Seriously, how unfair is J.Bro's basement? And how jealous are you?
Glad I could amuse you, Chris! :P The height didn't bother me nearly as much as the lack-of-things-to-hold-on-to. Then again, you probably recall that I am pretty much famously uncoordinated...
It's ok...E was far less brave in the attic. He saw mouse leavings and wouldn't venture past the access panel. Everything balances out.
And, TOWWAS, I'm actually more jealous of JBro's skills and aptitude for all things houseworky... I'm still trying to develop that knack!
Wow. Shells. Hmm. I don't know the era when that was fashionable but I am going to take your word for it.
And to answer your question, yes! Every single one! "can I see it?" "lemme see" "can i see it now?"
How about you let me take it first...
I'm sorry I can't help with your capillary action, whatever it is and whether or not its a real thing! I have (and I'm loathe to admit this) a healthy dose of roof-fear myself. I dread the year our shingles need to be replaced, but I *know* I'm going to refuse to pay anyone else to do it. At least I've done it before, so it's a terror I'm familiar with.
Ahh.. Everyone gets a fair share of roof leaks! Hehehe. Well, I'm glad the raccoons did not reside in your chimney. That's a pretty toilet seat, btw. :)
Ugh. Leaking roofs are such a pain. I have had my share of leaky roofs before I found a trusted roofing contractor. Now, I don’t worry about leaks anymore, but to make sure, I always check up on the roof every month, especially before the rainy season starts.
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