Home Improvement Today?

I'm sure there will be more to do in the future. The back side of the house had flooding up to about an inch from the sill last month, and who knows how often before it was purchased.

 

Prepping for a new roof this summer. Replacing 40yo cement tiles. Is there anything new going on in the world of roofing I should be watching out or asking specifically for? Going to be doing more efficiency research but thought I'd also check with the brain trust here.

 

I had the roof redone at the last house in AZ. Single story, fairly low pitch roof, roughly 2k square feet. A bit different climate than PNW. Get several quotes and find someone reputable and insured. The peel and stick underlayment is more popular in colder climates. I used Fontana Vulcaseal G40.

I think I paid around 13k to peel the old off, replace a few sheets of plywood, resurface with fontana vulcaseal underlayment, new batten strips, all new facia boards and reusing most of the clay roof tiles. The roofing company was able to find several close match tiles and blend them in, so we saved a few grand not having to buy all new roof tiles. 10 year transferable warranty. (I would have preferred to replace them as they were ugly terracotta red, but hoa had stupid rules on color choices).

I did hire a second roofing company to add a solar roof mounted attic fan for a little under 2k. That paid dividends helping to keep the house cool, dropping attic temps significantly and keeping the load off the ac.

Pay attention to flashing around chimney's and valley's and make sure you've got adequate flow in the attic with intake and exhaust vents, ect.

 

I did hire a second roofing company to add a solar roof mounted attic fan for a little under 2k. That paid dividends helping to keep the house cool, dropping attic temps significantly and keeping the load off the ac.

Who did you use for the attic fan? I'm in Chandler and was thinking about having this done

 

McMillian Brother's painting and roofing in Chandler did the majority of the roof work. Lyon's Roofing did the solar attic fan. I forget the brand of the solar attic fan, but I believe it was an AZ company that manufactures them.

 

This is the way I also never want to go back to the store after going the initial time.

 

I have the issue of being less than 3 mins away from home depot...

 

Hah, I just wind up keeping the stuff. Nearest store that really keeps anything is 25-30 minutes away. I have a DeWalt storage box full of PEX and copper fittings now

 

I go there all the time for stuff and always end up wandering around looking at all the materials and getting idea's for renovations.

 

Have you checked with your insurance to see if they have any programs available or discounts for certain roofing types?

 

I dig a stump out of the garden tonight, so glad it's out. That hole was like 3' deep, sand is easier to dig than clay for sure.

 

Unfortuneately, previous owner painted the soffits and the vent holes are more than 75% covered. What a moron. What would anyone recommend, replace soffits, or, install soffit vents here and there? It's really hot in my attic and the AC runs quite a bit in the summer.

 

There's a formula for determining how many intake and exhaust vents for your attic online somewhere. A roofing company would know. If it's not balanced you'll have issues.

Soffits are installed from the inside of the attic, so unless you have a way to crawl up there...

There's lots of companies that make solar attic fans and different types. There's lots of types of roof vents as well. Maybe contact a roofer and see what other type of intake vent they can install?
https://quietcoolsystems.com/

 

You're thinking of the insulation baffles. Those still need a ventilated soffit to work.


The soffit still needs to be ventilated for the baffles to work, but the baffles are only needed if the insulation is high enough to restrict airflow to the soffit.

 

Yes, this is what is painted over on my home, and was thinking to either install vents as shown in that above pic, or replacing some sections of soffit which do have plenty of venting.

 

I'm in what I call 'traffic dependent' areas. If there was no train or stop light traffic, I'm within 5min from 4 large, and 2 small hardware stores.

But 3 are on the other side of two sets of railroad tracks, and the main shopping district.. and the other 3 stock only common parts. So oddball stuff is an issue.

It's not that odd for any of those trips to take at least an hour on a weekend between trains, traffic, and non-stocked surprises that require a second stop at another store.

 

It really comes down to the costs. You've got the right idea, there's just a few ways to do it.

 

It's less the want to return, it's all the hassle in between. Traffic, idiots, and time. It's not abnormal for me to start a project at 8:00am, realize I need parts at 9:00, and not actually get back home to finish the project until after 12:00 pm.. and plumbing is one of those things that parts either work or don't work at all. But there's no great way to measure for it before starting the project.

 

I was thinking of a different type of soffit vent as shown below...




This kind I believe you could pop the vents out and replace...

 

Yes, mine are more like this, with punched deflections acting as venting, which are now painted over.