Balcony Roof Complete!

The roof on the balcony is complete (see Photos #1 & 2 )!

The balcony has been raised 13", close to its original height and can now accommodate a standing person (see Photos #3 and #4 for before and after shots). The next phase of the project will include restoring the balustrade and posts of the balcony but for now it will remain with blocks in place to support the new roof slope.

Before

After

Other work on the Castro Adobe includes finishing the roof shingle installation on the rear overhang and the balcony roof. Work will now focus on the main part of the roof (see Photo #5). The ice & water shield has been installed along with the breather barrier. The next step is to install the shingles on the main part of the roof.

-JK

Balcony Roof

This week, the DCU crew began the task of raising the balcony roof on the east side of the building. In one of the many restorations/rehabilitations in the 1950s, the front balcony was reconstructed incorrectly and resulted in a balcony with limited headroom and a dangerously low balustrade. (Photo #1 shows the roof removed from the balcony.)

Raising the roof involved tearing off the old rafters and sheathing and raising the roof 13". New 4x4 redwood beams were installed along with new 2 x 4 redwood rafters. The balustrade will stay for now but will eventually be replaced in a later phase of the project. (Photos #2 and #3 show the new rafters in place.)

Other ongoing work includes continued work on the east elevation overhang roof (see Photo #4) and completion of the construction and lime wash of the south wall (see Photo # 5).

-JK

Sept 22-26 Even More Roof Work

The cocina roof is almost done...we are awaiting the barn shingles which should be delivered from Washington State in the next week or so. As you may remember from earlier posts:

"The roof on the cocina will essentially consists of two roof coverings which will create an accurate historical representation of the roof from interior and from the exterior. From the interior of the cocina, one will see exposed cedar shingles which were originally visible from inside the room of the cocina. These will be topped by painted black plywood sheathing and then barn shingles will be installed on the exterior of the cocina roof. "

Photo #1 shows the plywood being placed on top of the cedar shingles.

Next the barn shingles need to delivered and installed. After that, the cocina roof is complete!

On the east elevation overhang, the new roof shingles are being installed on the 1 x 4 redwood sheeting. Photos #3 and #4 show the shingles being installed by Chris Barazza.

On the main part of the roof, the plywood has been placed and nailed off. The next step is to install the 30lb. felt. The felt underlayment will make the roof water tight. All of the cedar shingles have been delivered and are awaiting installation (see Photo #5). -JK

Roof Work Sept 8-15

Yes, more work on the roof continues. The plywood (27 sheets of plywood!) have been installed on the entire main building. (Due to inclement weather the plywood has been covered by tarps, but can be seen on the interior of the building in Photos #1 & 2.) Next up is the installation of the roof underlayment upon which the cedar shingles will be placed in the coming weeks. The fascia boards and overhangs have also been installed on the building (see Photo #3).

Other work focuses on the overhangs and balcony roof on the east and west elevations. On the east elevation overhang, the top sheathing will be replaced with new redwood 1 x4 boards (Photo #4 shows the east elevation overhang prior to work beginning on sheathing.)

Work on the west elevation includes reframing the balcony roof to reflect the original roof slope. Photos of this work will be posted next week.-JK

More Roof Work

This week, September 2-5, the DCU crew completed the installation of all the stainless steel and the ridge blocks. The ridge blocks sit in between the rafters (see Photo #1). On the exterior, DCU crew member, Pancho Villa, back filled the void created by the ridge blocks with adobe bricks (see Photo #2).

In the cocina, the all thread rods are being inserted from the cocina wall, through the roof rafters and attach to the exterior wall. This will help stabilize the exterior wall. (See photos #3, 4, and 5). Photo #4 shows the rods on the interior (note steel rod in center of photo) while Photo #5 show the rods and how they are attached on the exterior.

Next week the crew plans to install the plywood for the underlayment of the roof. The new roof is getting closer and closer to completion!

-JK

Roof Construction Continues-August 25-28

Construction on the roof continued this week and last. The idea that a new roof will be on this building in the near future is amazing! We are so happy with the pace of the project and once the new roof is on...we are nearing completion of Phase 1!!

This week, a crane was used to lift the very heavy stainless steel pieces into place on the roof. These pieces will be placed along the rake (top of gable wall) walls and around the top of the adobe walls. On the east and west side some of this stainless steel is 66 feet long! This stainless steel will be locked into the all-thread steel rods which were drilled earlier into the walls of the adobe building. This will serve to tie the entire roof system together and prepare the roof for the eventual placement of roof sheathing and then shingles.

The following pictures show DCU foreman, Chris Barazza, cinching the stainless steel piece down to be lifted onto the roof. The stainless steel is then lifted onto the roof (Photos 2 and 3) and put into place (Photo 4 and 5).

August 11-14, Adobe Walls and Roof

This week the first coats of the lime wash were put on the east side of the building. In Photo #1, DCU worker, Pancho Villa, paints on the thin lime wash. There will be approximately 3-4 coats applied to the exterior wall.

See the extraordinary results on the west side of the building , which is almost complete (see Photo #2).

Photo #3 shows the new adobe bricks installed on the south gable end wall covered with lime wash.

The cracks in the upper east wall in the balcony are being repaired as well (see Photo #4) and will also receive the lime wash.

On the main roof, the 70 new rafters are in place and 70 pieces of steel have been attached to the rafters to strengthen the wood. On the cocina roof, 80% of the first layer of wood shingles have been installed. Along with shingle installation, the north exterior wall of the cocina (the new wall) is being tied to the north exterior wall of the main house (an original wall) to further stabilize the building. DCU foreman, Chris Barraza, is diligently working on this part of the stabilization and hopefully next week's pictures will be able to show how the walls are actually tied together. Stay tuned! -JK