My House :-(

[Tdoggy187]

My house was built in 1890! I should have known before I bought it that "drop down celings" couldn't have been a good thing. :-(

The roof is so old it doesn't have plywood? Looks like all wooded frame inside and 4 layers of shingles above it? How can that be?

It has a few leaks. Has damaged 4 rooms upstairs and now leaking into the bathroom downstairs. I ripped down one ceiling which was old sheet rock "from only god knows when" and sand and very thin wood. Looks like the "wooded fram" up there looks water damaged. What can I do add more wood? Should I take down that wood? I don't know what to do. :-(

I have installed a new furnace and a new hot water heater so far. But the roof and the damages ceilings are just terrible. :-(

The kitchen ceiling is all drop down ceilings. I took a peek to see an old ceiling that is wrecked. Instead of ripping it down and putting up a new one they just covered it up with a drop down ceiling. :-(

[Wgoodrich]

When repairing or remodeling an existing house you should always start at the top then come down. Anything you do inside will be destroyed by the leaking roof. Without a good roof you have nothing but horror and more damage in your future. Start by stripping the roofing off the house down to what I understand to be lathing. Lathing under an old house roof was installed for wood shank shingles. You may still have those old wood shank shingles under one or more layers of asphalt shingles. Best move it to contract with a roofer to have this roof stripped to the lathing leaving the lathing. This lathing should be 1 x 6 native boards with gaps between teh boards. Leave those boards and nail 7/16 plywood over those old lathes but only after all the layers of roofing including any old wood shank shingles have been removed. This new plywood nailed over the old wood planks will become you new roof decking. Then have new asphalt or fiberglass shingles of your choice installed so you have only one layer of new shingles now. Be sure to install new step flashing and chimney flashing and rubber roof boots around all cuts in the roof. I advise installing roof edging also. Before you install these new shingles and after the roof decking is installed check to make sure you have at least minimum roof and soffit vents installed to vent your attic properly. Then install you new roofing.

Once you have a new roof then you can start inside with repairs.

First after the roof is to install at least the minimum insulation for your area in your attic.

Suspended ceilings are not a bad thing and the tiles can be easily replaced to make it look like a new ceiling.

This should give you a good start.

Good Luck

Wg

[Tdoggy187]

Thanks. Yeah the whole upstairs ceilings are all damaged. They have to come down I suppose. I tore one bedroom ceiling down already. The ceiling was dis colered, looked like Black mold possibly.

A Good roof done correctly sounds like a good plan. For a Start.

Do you think it could have leaked inside the upstairs walls possibly?

[Wgoodrich]

It could leak anywhere on an outside wall. Fist concern is the roof. New roof properly installed sets it so any work inside is then protected from damage. Then if you suspect leaks on the walls look around windows and doors. Look for any siding on the outside that is damaged or broken. Look to see that rain shields are installed where they are needed over brick and around windows and doors. Then look for any large cracks that need caulked to help seal out the weather.

Once you have the inside protected from the outside then before you start inside go into your crawl and look for signs of seasonal high water tables that is flooding your basement or crawl. Install a perimeter drain to cure that flooding problem is needed. Then make sure you ahve to proper insulation around the perimeter of your basement or crawl walls and a vapor barrier was installed either under your basement floor or over your crawl space floor.

After that then you can work inside feeling that what you do inside is no longer at risk of being damaged.

Good Luck

Wg

[scuba_dave]

My last house was from 1905
Gotcha beat - 5 layers of roofing!!
The only thing holding the roof on was the weight of the shingles
I figure I took off 15,000 lbs of shingles

Bad roof will ruin everything
I had leaking ceilings, broken roof rafter, poor insulation
New roof, actually raised it up to have 6' walls in the attic
Then I started on the rest of the house

[Tdoggy187]

Sounds like the same situation I'm in. Yeah 5 layers wow. Yeah it doesn't look like the roof rafter is completely broken but damaged for sure. I see a lot of damaged beams and wood up there. I have an open attic with no floor. I would love to put a floor up there. All that is currently up there is wood and insulation from years ago. And the insulation was just thrown up there. Looks bad. I have 5 damaged ceilings so far. May I ask how much did it cost you overall to repair everything?

I'm really in a tough situation. I also have no heat upstairs. How did people before me live with no heat? It is cold on the 2nd floor. :-(

[scuba_dave]

I spent somewhere over $10k putting the new raised roof on
The original roof was only 3' high at the peak = just barely able to crawl around.
I went up 6' with walls, then put a new peak on
The peak went up 8.5' at the middle over the 6' walls
So I went from a 3' peak to a 14.5' peak
Uninsulated, bare electric - just lights, 1 outlet & power ventilator
I did all the work myself - about 2 months of steady work

That was just for the roof
I then had to redo 2 ceilings on the 1st floor & repair most of the others
I then gutted & renovated the kitchen, then the bathroom
912 sq ft house, 3 bedrooms, I heated mostly w/wood

[Tdoggy187]

This is not good news for me. I have a 2,200 square foot house. Its needs a new roof for sure. And I have an open room upstairs and 2 bedrooms upstairs that the ceilings were damaged. They all need to be replaced. Plus my bathroom downstairs has a damaged ceiling and needs to be replaced. Then all new carpets also. And by the looks of the beams I'd say I'm going to have to remove some or put new ones up. Then the upstairs doesn't have heat. So eventually if I want to use the upstairs "in the winter" I'm going to have to get that done also. Assuming we can even do that :-( Man this house is going to cost me....

I'd be happy with putting up a new roof and fixing the ceilings upstairs. But I can't do the work myself because I have an injured back :-( So its going to cost me...:-(

[scuba_dave]

I can't quote prices on roofs, but my Mom had estimates around $3k
Roofing materials were about $700 I think? And I did the work
I'm thinking her house was around 2000 sq ft - Dormered Cape

Price goes up if they have to replace beams and/or plywood
They also have to figure in the cost of removal of the layers of existing shingles. The dumpster we rented was round $600 I think

My last house was sold to avoid foreclosure, so I bought it for a deal - $23,600. My 1st Tax bill assesed the land at $36k & the house at $30k

The roof has to come 1st, water will possibly destroy any other work
Just re-roofing & proper insulation will keep a 2nd floor fairly warm
We only have one radiator on the 2nd floor at the new house & it's useable
Quite a bit of heat will go up the stairs

[Tdoggy187]

Iv'e had one quote done so far and it as for 7,400 for the roof. I wasn't happy :-( I wish I could do some of the work. But with my back issues I can't. I haven't got a total quote for the roof and new ceilings. I'm afraid to get one:-(

Where I live gets really cold in the winter. And it gets cold upstairs. Running Ducts would help but probably double my heating bill I would imagine :-(

[Tdoggy187]

I love my house. I got a contractor coming Wed to see if we can stop this bleeding. Then I'll repair the rest slowly hopefully. Its only wood right? How bad can it be? Hoping to get the roof done for less then 5K. :pcguru:

[thumbnail]

well yeah. it's only wood. so how did it go?? how much did you pay for it too??

[Electrician Wannabe]

I know this thread is a little stale now, but I wanted to note for Tdoggy that if and when you eventually start ripping down the old sheetrock/ plaster to be sure to wear a proper mask (not the simply cheap dust mask), becasue there was a lot of sheet rock manufactured back in the day with asbestos used as a binder (same with the plaster), so you want to try to keep the dust down and take it out in big sections if you are going to tackle the project yourself. You can also pay to get it tested if you want (the testing isn't too expensive) and then hire abatement people if needed (abatement part is very expensive IMO).

[RobertLangDirect]

The roof is so old it doesn't have plywood? Looks like all wooded frame inside and 4 layers of shingles above it? How can that be?

Do the math, using a 20 or 30 year roof, five layers, that's 100 to 150 years. So now, to answer the question, how can that be, is easy.

Extra long roofing nails.

Hey, if you ever go to Potlatch Idaho, look at some of the older roofs. They are original turn of the century roof, built lathe on rafters, layers five or six times now.

But all is not bad. Strip the roof down, replace any rotted rafters or lathe (or both as I suspect you will find, and go to town with the roofing.

[Moonlight24]

If you have an old top roof that is leaking into your older roofs, why not fix it. Once you notice a leak, this leak will have to go through all of these roofs. Once you have a failing top roof, you will have to maintain it until you wish to replace it.

Sometimes you will be up on your roof once a month, or sometimes it will be twice a month. Back in the 18th century, roof maintenance was a daily thing. You can put off replacing for your roof for as long as you want. At some point, you will have to decide how many times you want to be up on your roof, replacing failing shingles, shake, flashing, etc?

You can maintain a failing roof forever. No one can argue with this. It will get to the point to where you have to decide where it is a good point to save up enough money to rip off whatever is on top of your house and replace with 21st century technology. This will put a cap on your house that will last 20-40 years based on what you install.