Now that the stucco was complete, the roofers were next, but they were coming first thing the next week. The stucco folks had to remove the scaffolding, and we had it planned for a Saturday, but the scaffold guys were behind on another project and they had to delay. They promised they would come out on Monday to finish. Sure enough, when Monday rolled around, I had roofing guys having to work around the scaffolding guys to strip the roof. As the general contractor, I had to get this deconflicted in a hurry, so told the scaffolding folks to push the scaffolding back so the waste truck could park and then everybody was happy. The scaffolding guys came by the next day, removed the scaffolding from the front, clearing the way for the roof loader to load the shingles, and then they went about taking everything else down while the roofers worked on top. My experience in managing construction and maintenance in a shipyard on a submarine paid off in this case. (Actually, it was quite simple in comparison.)

Stripping the roof. These guys have this special truck which allows them to throw the junk directly from the top of the roof, making it much easier to clean up later. That process did not, however, work for the back of the house and the workers had to lug around a bunch of old roofing material around the yet-to-be-taken-down scaffolding by hand.

After the old roofing material is torn off, the next thing that the roofers do is to waterproof with the roofing underlayment. Although not usually a problem here in Southern California, the reason that this is carefully coordinated is because if the home is left without at least a minimum amount of waterproofing after the roof is stripped, than any amount of precipitation will likely cause significant water damage. So the contractor usually plans on stripping the roof and waterproofing the same day in order to minimize his liability in case of rain.

Loading the roof. The shingles come in packages of 33 square feet each (1/3 of a “square”, which in the roofing business translates to 100 sq. ft.). This portable conveyor belt is indispensable in getting these heavy hogs on top of the roof.

Roofing was proceeding apace, and the roofers had to replace some of the fascia boards. I was looking around and then thought about the back of the roof, which had no fascia board (none of the houses in the neighborhood to — a bunch of cheapskate builders!). The roofing company owner came around to look at the job and then explained to me that the wholesaler had run short of the shingles we were using, and they were going to have to stop the work until the following week. We then started discussing the missing fascia, and we agreed it was a good idea to put new fascia on. So, I was back in the carpentry business, with a deadline of Monday to get some new fascia boards up. Fortunately, I enlisted the help of my work crew (my generous co-workers), and we had it up in good fashion. I also took the opportunity to rip off the old patio cover roof and put up a proper deck with 5/8″ T1-11 siding facing upside down to make a nice pattern on the “ceiling”. I had to do this job anyway, but I figured it may as well be now so that the painter can come in, finish the exterior trim/fascia/vents, and then my roofing guy can come back and put in a proper low-slope roof and gutters.

The first shingles are up!

Shingles are going up. The color of the roof was much lighter than I expected, but the color matched very well with the new stucco color. Having said that, we’re going to have to reconsider the color scheme for the trim painting. This is where work essentially stopped because the workers ran out of shingles.

My own roofing project. I had to rip off the whole sheathing and roof assembly because it was all rotten.

The detritus of my own roofing project. I’ll get rid of it eventually….

The boss has a look. See how hard I’m working?

My roofing contractor recommended that I use T1-11 siding for my patio roof sheathing. The idea is that you put it on upside down, and it instantly makes a nice overhead pattern for a minimal extra cost. Looks WAY better than CDX plywood! Truly a great recommendation.

The roofers came back but again they had a supplier delay. This time it was the ridge caps. So, a 4 day job ended up taking 2 weeks. Quite honestly, I’m not the least bit bothered by that, especially since the delays gave me some time to respond to emergent work (back fascia boards) and replace the roof on my patio cover, which I knew I need to do. All’s well that ends well!

House with new roof — well, almost. The supplier did not order the ridge caps so we had to wait another week to finish the job. This stuff happens all the time, so you need to know how to accommodate if you’re the general contractor.

New roof with ridge caps. Really looks nice and we’re getting a lot of compliments.

The back of the house looks nice. This shows the improved roof vents, as well as the new fascia on the main roof and my new patio roof structure. The patio roof will be covered with a special “low slope” roofing system after the trim and fascia boards are painted.

The next thing I have to do is to schedule the painters, get the roofers back for the patio roof and gutters, and get the HVAC replacement done. I’d like to get it done in the month of December, and I think that so long as the painters finish on time, I should be good from a schedule standpoint. We’ll see….