The house next door...or how to NOT build a house

**jdurand** · Mar 25, 2020, 01:31 PM

A roofer asked for pictures of the tar they're using and if they have mops or brooms. No mops or brooms seen.

He said a self-leveled roof is good for 3-4 years before it leaks, a bit longer with a seal top. He hasn't done one like this in over 20 years since there's much better ways to cover a roof.

The house next door...or how to NOT build a house-img_20200325_111314.jpg

The house next door...or how to NOT build a house-img_20200325_111339.jpg

The house next door...or how to NOT build a house-img_20200325_111549.jpg

**Frank S** · Mar 25, 2020, 11:28 PM

Back sometime around 1982 I was helping a guy build a floating boat house He and I both owned dock building companies only I mostly drove steel pilings for the boat storage and docks that I built Rod had installed a steel roof on the boat house then his customer decided that he wanted a party deck above it instead of the sloped steel roof. So we ripped the roof and rafters off replaced them with 24 foot long 2 by 12s on 12 inch centers over the 2 slip dock the longest unsupported span the rafters had was 8 feet over the slips with 4 foot walkways on both sides and down the middle then we screwed down 3/4" treated plywood for the sub decking of the roof/ party deck mopped adhesive over this then installed a second layer of 1/2" treated plywood transverse to the sub level we rolled as layer of polyester resin then put the first layer of woven fiberglass on that more resin a second and a 3rd layer of fiberglass each layer being laid transverse to the previous we finished off with a 1/9 to 3/16" thick layer of gel coat then covered that with outdoor stadium quality turf carpet I seriously doubt that that roof has developed a leak to this day unless someone had driven nails in it

**jdurand** · Mar 27, 2020, 11:27 AM

There's a guy on the roof in The Tar Pit with a leaf blower. It looks like he may be pushing water towards the drain. Sounds like another day of tar fumes coming.

So, how many weeks does it take to do a little roof like that? Should I be worried that they have 500 pounds of tar still on the pallet next to the tar kettle?

**jdurand** · Mar 28, 2020, 03:47 PM

Regarding The Tar Pit,*assuming they actually have a roof drain (but no visible emergency scupper), where is that water going? *They have those sump pits *around the basement but the house doesn't have power for pumps yet. *Also, where would they be pumping it? *There's no outlet into the street and I doubt you're allowed to pump into the sanitary sewer, that would overload it.

**jdurand** · Mar 30, 2020, 06:24 PM

For those following our house as opposed to The Tar Pit, I have an unlisted YouTube video of the most recent walk-through. The red stuff is fire and bug proofing for the roof lumber.

I caught the beginnings of an error with the fence in the video and they'll fix that when they get back to work...one week stay at home orders.

**IntheGroove** · Mar 30, 2020, 07:12 PM

I must say i have never seen the Door and a half before. I like it...

**jdurand** · Apr 17, 2020, 11:21 PM

The Tar Pit next door is sitting idle. Some stops by now and then, walks in, walks out, leaves.

The tar kettle has a flat tire.

On to our new house

Our workers got a hall pass so they can go back to work 2 weeks early. Roof materials arriving, will start putting ON roof over the weekend and should be sending more pictures soon.

**Toolmaker51** · Apr 19, 2020, 10:48 AM

We've followed this awhile. It started looking questionable on Day 1. Various crews put materials in place; some get modified, removed or shoddily ignored. We can question the owner, designer and contractor for who has worst comprehension of construction.
In other words, it was born funny looking and same trait endures. Only bigger. Not better... Sitting on untold cubic yards of concrete only makes it worse.

**jdurand** · May 4, 2020, 11:54 AM

The Tar Pit has activity, I smell tar so I'm guessing we're in for another round of tar smoke. I thought I didn't like tar smoke until the day they turned the kettle up to 11 and filled the neighborhood with a choking cloud of scorched tar smoke. I sure hope that was a one-time, I couldn't go outside without coughing and my eyes burned from it.

Last I looked they only had 200 pounds of tar left out of the original pallet load, maybe they'll stop when they run out? Of course the last thing they did was put down the base roll material after two weeks of daily applications of pure tar. That's got to be a really thick roof by now!

In contrast, here's our new roof.

**Frank S** · May 4, 2020, 01:27 PM

Originally Posted by jdurand

The Tar Pit has activity, I smell tar so I'm guessing we're in for another round of tar smoke. I thought I didn't like tar smoke until the day they turned the kettle up to 11 and filled the neighborhood with a choking cloud of scorched tar smoke. I sure hope that was a one-time, I couldn't go outside without coughing and my eyes burned from it.

Last I looked they only had 200 pounds of tar left out of the original pallet load, maybe they'll stop when they run out? Of course the last thing they did was put down the base roll material after two weeks of daily applications of pure tar. That's got to be a really thick roof by now!

In contrast, here's our new roof.

Are those resin and fiber bonded cement roof tiles?