November 16, 2013

The Perch of the Porch

In addition to all of the structural work that has been completed on our porch, another part of this summer's restoration was directed at the porch roof.  For years the porch roof was metal sealed with aluminum paint.  Over time this roof had seen its fair share of wear and tear, and time had taken its toll on the metal roof.  It had been patched and repaired a few times over the years, but it was now in need of replacement.

The hideous metal roof could be seen plainly from space. 
One feature of the old metal roof was a ridge that traveled along its distance, near the edge.  The purpose of the ridge was to collect the rainwater and divert it to one of three holes in the roof that fed normal downspouts.  This probably worked well for years, but through aging, the ridge had weak spots where water was seeping through and damaging the wooden structure underneath.

The old metal roof being removed.
One of the pieces of the ridge was actually marked with the date it was installed.  Pat from Drury Designs snapped a picture and saved the board for us to keep.  It is a pretty neat piece of history from our home.

Rolling out the tar paper and placing the bundles of shingles.
Instead of installing a new metal roof, we opted to have shingles installed.  This way it would more closely match the existing roof on the main part of the house.  Since a portion of the porch roof wraps around the turret, conventional shingles were not a good fit.  With Pat's advice, we choose a line of shingles that provided a more textured look and would allow the roofer to cut the shingles to lay properly along the roof's radius.

Roofing begins.
Since the main part of our roof was already dark shingles, we chose a color that would blend well. When it comes time to repair the main roof we will use the same shingles.  The new porch roof looks amazing, and the eye-sore of the metal roof is like a long lost memory.

After the new roof has been completed.