The roof saga begins

In summer 2008 we decided that it was high time to get our roof replaced.  It was in sorry shape.  IT was basically hanging on with some tar that Steve had slapped on it when we first moved in to avoid leaks.  When we moved in, we were told that it (along with pretty much everything else on the house) needed to be replaced sooner than later.  Since we had re-done all the siding on the house and had it painted the previous summer, we decided to embark on doing the roof.  We knew that replacing the roof ourselves was out of the question, but thought that replacing the rafter tails and the tongue and groove were right up our ally-an easy project after the he** of replacing siding.  So our journey began first with tearing our our old chimney that was used for venting the furnace.

After Steve removed the bricks above the dormer-notice pulley system rope

Steve, the smartie that he is, decided that a summer day where I think the temp was somewhere in the 90s was the perfect opportunity to spend the day shimmy-ing himself through the inners of our house.  Of course, we really hadn't discussed it, it was more like I take a break from whatever I was working on to find Steve on top of the roof and some the bricks from the chimney missing. insert Skye's thought bubble:  hmmmmmm, guess that's what we're doing today as there is no stopping Steve once he starts a deconstruction project.

We had one problem....how would we get those bricks from the chimney to the ground (of course we had no dumpster or pre-plan)?  I can't remember the order of events, but at one point he was actually able to throw them down and they landed (or at least 90%) in one of those yellow recycle bins that had an old piece of carpet in it-mostly intact as well.  I would then run-in between throwing fits of Steve's and empty the bins so that he could refill them.  We also tried using an old army surplus bag.  Steve would fill the bag with bricks, clip it closed and lower it down using a rope tied to it.  I think that is what we did first and then resorted to just throwing them when the whole army bag method got old and we saw just how many bricks we had to move. 

On his way into the house-he is sorta in the chimney/wall/cabinet at this point

Then came the point when Steve had removed all the bricks from above the roofline.  He was able to reach into the house (quite a site) to remove and throw down a couple more feet of bricks.  That is when my husband started to disappear.  Next thing I knew, he started to maneuver himself down through the house.  He braced himself on some of the bricks (not the smartest idea being that the mortar was so loose that 90% of the bricks could just be lifted off) while removing bricks and thowing them out to me. 

Well, probably around an hour later and several hours into the project, Steve found himself well into the main floor of the house and no longer able to get rid of the bricks by throwing out the roof and to the ground, and, well, frankly committed to finishing the removal of the chimney being that he was stuck in the innards of the house and what goes in must come out (isn't that how the saying goes?).  Luckily, we had an opening in the basement that the furnace had been connected to (a whole other story in itself) so he was able to drop the bricks down the chimney.  Once the hole seemed pretty well blocked, I would holler at Steve (a project that I apparently committed to as well without even knowing it, being that I did want my husband back and not stuck in the wall of our house-come on, there were projects to be completed), he would stop and I would remove the bricks so that the cycle could start again.  Like a record on repeat-FOR HOURS.

Finally (I think I was getting hungry for dinner at this point), we had moved enough bricks gone for Steve to come out of the chimney and hop down into the basement.  Well, what were we left with?  A large, and I mean large, pile of bricks (which was awesome as we had a brick patio planned, see finished product here) and hole in our roof.  woo-hoo, right?  Well, fast forward close to three years, ok, maybe 2.5, and now we have a new roof (that was completed just a month or so after) but we have a nice hole in the back corner of one of our kitchen cabinets that is prime real estate for cabinets once we start planning our kitchen remodel.  We are currently discussing (as we have for a couple years) our kitchen layout and collecting pictures.

Small stack of the bricks removed, wish I had a picture of the mess in the basement but note how intact they are

Even went to the tour of remodeled homes this weekend and found some great ideas of what we DO and DO NOT want to do with our remodel.  I was also fortunate enough to meet fellow house blogger and bungalow goddess Sharon over at Laurelhurst Craftsman Restoration, her husband Jeff and their pup Shasta.  They already have an amazing home but have amazing restoration plans and a remodel due to start the end of this month.  I can't wait to see the results and follow their progress. 

More on the roof saga in the next several posts