Hello all. I am new to the HouseRepairTalk forums. I generally only stalk forums, and try not to bother others with my issues, but I think this problem is unique enough that I may require some input. If you are only interested in the background of the roof, skip the first paragraph below, as I am just introducing myself and my home.
I bought a home in Sandusky, Ohio about a year and a half ago. The home is in a great location for my family, and we got a killer deal! The home had absolutely ZERO updates since the time it was built in 1980. Just to give a little perspective, every bathroom had calico carpet and every ceiling light was on a switched outlet with the "chain" style wiring run along the ceiling and down the wall. My family and I spent one entire year completely gutting and remodeling the interior to our desired appearance. We knocked out two walls, replaced all of the carpet, tiled every bathroom, tiled the whole kitchen, installed laminate flooring on the first floor, finished the basement, installed a whole new kitchen, rewired every light, and added additional lighting. We did all of the remodels ourselves with the exception of carpet installation. We are true DIYers/penny pinchers, and we cannot be happier with the outcome and money we saved! Now, onto our newest problem....
We have not touched the exterior of the house. It has a flat, rolled rubber roof. The house is 2 stories. It has cedar shake shingles down the second story (I have attached a photo of the outside of our home). The roof does not currently leak at all. However, we are having other issues. The "roof vents" between the top of the cedar shakes and the flat roof never had hardware cloth or anything to prevent critters from entering the space between the ceiling of our home and the roof. We know we have had squirrels in there and even over 100 bats (which we evicted last spring). There are still some bats taking up residence, and really, who knows what else... So, my thought, is to make sure there are no more critters and that there nests, droppings, etc. are cleaned up, we should remove the entire flat roof. Once the rafters are exposed, remove all the old insulation and critter junk, possibly treat the rafters with a mild bleach? Then what? Do we put another flat roof on and replace the cedar shake shingles? Or do we have an architect remodel the whole exterior for a pitched roof? I just don't have any idea what our next step should be, but we can't live with the critters much longer and need to start planning our next move! Any help, advice, etc. will be much appreciated (even condolences, if you think the outlook is that bad...). Thanks in advance!!!
I bought a home in Sandusky, Ohio about a year and a half ago. The home is in a great location for my family, and we got a killer deal! The home had absolutely ZERO updates since the time it was built in 1980. Just to give a little perspective, every bathroom had calico carpet and every ceiling light was on a switched outlet with the "chain" style wiring run along the ceiling and down the wall. My family and I spent one entire year completely gutting and remodeling the interior to our desired appearance. We knocked out two walls, replaced all of the carpet, tiled every bathroom, tiled the whole kitchen, installed laminate flooring on the first floor, finished the basement, installed a whole new kitchen, rewired every light, and added additional lighting. We did all of the remodels ourselves with the exception of carpet installation. We are true DIYers/penny pinchers, and we cannot be happier with the outcome and money we saved! Now, onto our newest problem....
We have not touched the exterior of the house. It has a flat, rolled rubber roof. The house is 2 stories. It has cedar shake shingles down the second story (I have attached a photo of the outside of our home). The roof does not currently leak at all. However, we are having other issues. The "roof vents" between the top of the cedar shakes and the flat roof never had hardware cloth or anything to prevent critters from entering the space between the ceiling of our home and the roof. We know we have had squirrels in there and even over 100 bats (which we evicted last spring). There are still some bats taking up residence, and really, who knows what else... So, my thought, is to make sure there are no more critters and that there nests, droppings, etc. are cleaned up, we should remove the entire flat roof. Once the rafters are exposed, remove all the old insulation and critter junk, possibly treat the rafters with a mild bleach? Then what? Do we put another flat roof on and replace the cedar shake shingles? Or do we have an architect remodel the whole exterior for a pitched roof? I just don't have any idea what our next step should be, but we can't live with the critters much longer and need to start planning our next move! Any help, advice, etc. will be much appreciated (even condolences, if you think the outlook is that bad...). Thanks in advance!!!