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Wouldn’t it be great to always have an umbrella handy?
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No more rooting through the nightmare that is your hall closet or under your lost french fry infested car seats.
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Every time it rains?
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You just flip your built in umbrella up over your head… and the problem is solved.
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Last weekend my husband installed the downspout on our new back deck guttering.
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For some reason (Far be it for me to question his process. But I did… and was told to go back in the house) he decided to reroute the water’s path and secured the spout to the side of the corner post instead of the front.
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He was proud of how it turned out.
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And while it passed the water test as far as leaks go…
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With liquid gushing out the end freely….
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I did take issue with the placement.
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Because, call me crazy….
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But unless the rain is going to hook a 90 degree turn and drain into the pipe as it’s supposed to…. we’re going to have a mess.
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Day two of roof repair was not without its pitfalls.
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And Lord Dudley Mountcatten kept a close eye on the progress.
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Yes that’s a giant copper and silver cicada on my coffee table. You mean you don’t have one…? How strange.
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The weather that morning was awful.
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Rain, wind and colder than average temps. Work didn’t even start until 10:00am.
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At times it seemed like the black clouds were aiming right for them.
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But progress was made in between the showers and I was glad to see the gap in the problem corner was tightly covered with ice and water shield. A gerry rigged solution to be sure, but an improvement none the less. Had this been done the day before (as I requested, repeatedly) our ceiling wouldn’t look like this:
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But I’m just a woman. What do I know?
😡
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I don’t claim to know everything, but I do know if you’re going to strip a roof for repairs during a weekend when rain is predicted? You postpone or make damn sure you cover that sucker completely.
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My husband on the other hand, likes to gamble.
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And as you can see by what I woke up to Saturday morning…
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He lost. ( Unplug the tv and move the table? Why… when you can just cover it with trash bags? It’s times like these I question my love for that man.)
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And while I would normally enjoy a good I told you so and being right….
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The utter disaster that is our ceiling took the joy right out of it.
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Roof section stripped, ice and water shield in place, drip edge nailed down.
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The problem corner was recognized and discussed.
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I checked periodically and enjoyed the view from up high.
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You’d think all the hammering and noise would scare off the wildlife…
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But it didn’t stop Chuck from having a little nosh.
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No, the husband wasn’t asleep… but they’d been on the roof since 8:00am and apparently he can strategize just as well lying down.
I repeatedly asked what he was going to do with the bad corner…. and I was repeatedly ignored. Please refer to the complicated diagram below to understand how and where the water was getting in.
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They finished for the day at 7:00pm and the tarp was redeployed. But when I went back out and found the section over the door (you know.. where it was leaking!) hadn’t been covered, I suggested something might need to be done due to the forecast of imminent rain. But once again, I was ignored. Because really, what do I know?
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Remember last week when I posted about the giant tarp and a high wind storm coming our way?
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Well, it came.
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And the tarp went.
Sailing off the roof, across the lawn and down into the woods where it rolled into a large ball and sailed right back up to the house.
How well did those grommets hold?
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Not very well as it turns out.
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Sadly along with the wind came rain. And with the tarp protecting nothing but snow covered ground, our ceiling leaked again.
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And the water broke through my previous patch job on the beam.
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So today I’ve been spackling and sanding trying to fill the hole.
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And bleaching the numerous stains on the ceiling…. which is getting quite ridiculous. Every storm brings a new stain in a slightly different spot.
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I’m seriously thinking of painting the damn thing in polka dots until spring.
And if you’re wondering what Lord Mountcatten was doing through all the excitement?
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Trying to ignore it of course.
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When your roof is leaking in the middle of a Maine winter and you have no idea why…. there’s really only one solution.
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You chip the ice and snow from around the door, set up a ladder….
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Climb up on the roof where you have to chip away more snow and ice…
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And lay a giant ass tarp. ( We’ll be the envy of all our neighbors now, so stylish! ) Then if you’re my husband, you leave a large part of it flapping in the corner.
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What?
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With a storm moving in, I had to fight him to secure the damn thing before it blew halfway to the next county.
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One little string, through one little grommet was all he would do.
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The snow came, turned to rain and miraculously the roof didn’t leak. But we’re due for strong winds in a few days so things are apt get interesting.
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This store has my name written all over it.
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My husband would tell you we don’t need any more sarcasm here, but I beg to differ.
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And maybe that’s what was wrong with this month…. I didn’t make it my bitch.
Snow, rain, freeze, ice, melt, repeat.
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And by repeat…. I mean I keep repeating fix the damn gutter! to my husband so I don’t have to listen to this all day long.
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And in case you’re wondering what kind of weather we have in Maine?
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That sums it up nicely.
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It rained again, in January, in Maine. That’s not supposed to happen. Most years we’re positively buried in snow.
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And I have to say I’d much rather be doing this…
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Than dealing with this…
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It rained…. and our roof sprung yet another leak.
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In yet another brand new spot. Every time the husband thinks he’s fixed it? It leaks somewhere else. And while the temperature has been mild (for us) it’s still not warm enough to strip and replace a roof. So while we wait for spring and pray for snow, our ceiling is being ruined. I’ve bleached this 3 times …
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And it still bleeds through.
Kill me now.
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While all the frenzied work in the barn has been consuming my husband’s mind and time?
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This was happening inside our house.
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Yet another roof leak.
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We have walked the roof.
We have climbed into the attic.
We have replaced our chimney insert.
We have tarred, caulked, shingled, flashed and yes, swore repeatedly…. but still can’t figure out where it’s coming in.
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Back in ’94 before we owned the home, a bump out addition was added to the living room…
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And what I’m assuming is a load bearing beam… is where the rain always breaks through.
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It’s beyond aggravating.
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Not to mention ugly.
So back in the attic crawl space we went. Of course this means all the husband’s junk must be vomited from the den closet first.
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And there’s a lot of junk.
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Anyone need some slightly dated reading material?
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This time the attic investigation revealed two possible spots on the roof where water could be getting in. Husband is guessing 3 squares of shingles will have to be replaced. But winter is upon us, and it’s not going to be a pleasant task.
Wish us luck.
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