Hi new member here

[AngeloM]

Hey all, I found a post concerning plank framed houses here and would like to add to the mystery so I joined up

I have a plane framed house from 1910 and a predominately balloon framed house from 1915. Both were slated for demolition and purchased at city auction 5 years ago. Both are in various states of (dis)repair and I’ve been bouncing around on the worst areas to stabilize them. Attached are some pictures. Can’t wait to post some of my findings and read about other’ experiences with similar situations. Cheers!

Attached are google images of the houses as they stood upon receiving the titles, various stages of roof and framing repair and some stacks of lumber from local sawmills

[Gothichome]

Angelo, welcome to the District. All I can say about the scope of your restoration is wow. You have taken on a project most of us would be scared of. How long did the homes stay empty?

[AngeloM]

As far as I could tell at least 15 years for each. There were remnants of a tarp on the double that could have been 10 years old to give an idea of the state of things to that point. Of course there were multiple layers of asphalt shingle, rolled roofing and cedar shakes on both houses. I suspect the rolled stuff was done twice as a quick fix then various stages of tarping. I purchased them as a tax foreclosure wherein likely dozens of houses were passed down within a family and had suffered severe neglect since that time. I’ll have to see if I can figure out when the father passed because that will give me a good indication of when they ceased to be maintained in any professional fashion

[Gothichome]

A lot of work to just to get it rain tight. What are the long term plans, I see you have changed out a couple of the windows. The home looks like it has had several add ones over the years.

[1918ColonialRevival]

Welcome! You've got your work cut out for you, that's for sure! Looking forward to see how it progresses.

I'm amazed that anyone was living in them as recently as 15 years ago. From the look of the exterior and roof, I'd have guessed it to be more like 25-30 years since they had been last inhabited.

I'd be interested in hearing what you learn about the history of them, as the one in particular has a very interesting styling with its "stairstep" look. Your estimates of construction dates are probably pretty close, though "folk" architecture can be a little tougher to put an exact date on, partially due to styling changing little over several decades and because record keeping in smaller towns and rural areas wasn't always the best. I'd say they are no older than the 1890s, and early 1920s at the latest.

Where are they located? From the styling of the houses, I'd guess the Southeast or possibly Kentucky or Ohio.

[phil]

that's a pretty big project ! welcome to the forum.
You should wear a harness up there though and have someone to get you out of it if you do fall. I'm doing mine slowly by myself and it's about as steep. I found that once I got the rope grab so I can slide my attachment point up and down as I move, it worked better for me. You can also hook to the brackets you have to prevent a swing fall so long as the end is attached to a proper mounting location. I appreciate that you can work up there and I am admittedly a big chicken. One unexpected trip can really ruin even the most fearless guy's life.

[AngeloM]

The houses had newspapers from the year 2000. That was the closest I could get to dating the last time they were inhabited. My neighbor across the street had his house built in 1992 but has lived in the neighborhood since 1947. He said the small house was lived in when he moved into his new house.

My neighbor to the right was gifted her house by the same owner in 2008. At that point the husband had died and the wife could not keep up all the properties. I’m assuming they owned a couple dozen in the neighborhood. Then the wife died in 2012 and the son started to lose them to tax foreclosure. It’s a sad story of property neglect and loss. So it goes I suppose.

The windows I replaced will likely be replaced again with period correct double hung sashes and frames. I’m not required to follow any historic guidelines but am doing my best to keep some of the character as the project goes on. I’ve experimented in sash building so now I’ll be attempting a full restoration of one window on the large house. Every section of each house has been an extremely complicated process from replacing beams, jacking up portions of the houses, digging the sewer lines, locating curb stops, demolishing ramshackle additions, pulling walls in with a come-along, jacking up joists and rafters, tearing-off and reroofing, reframing sections and now the window stuff.

As far as a harness on the roof, I did start by wearing one but became so accustomed to that type of work that I would only use it in particularly awkward situations. I ended up doing about 75% of both houses by hand. Cutting out rot, cutting new rafter tails, hand nailing the framing and hand nailing the shingles so I got very used to crawling around up there. They’re both technically a 12-12 or 45 degree pitch. Relatively steep. I do highly recommend using one for anyone that is new to roofing. Always felt safer with the harness.

This is my current project:
Reframe a wall I had previously done but unfortunately used green/unseasoned lumber so they twisted beyond usefulness
Resheet with solid 1x12
30lb tar paper as simple moisture barrier
Replace siding

The window on the right has been removed and disassembled to be restored

[phil]

it looks like things are coming along really nicely, Just a lot of work.
One thing I found that helped was just tying up my ladders, so I screw some eyelets and run a rope down the side of the house with lots of slack so I can easily move the ladder and tie it anywhere so it can't start sliding out on me. Then as long as I know the ladder is tied down I feel much safer. I dont have ladder Jacks , maybe that helps some.

Your roof looks nice and pretty flat now. closing the water out will afford you time to deal with other stuff without it getting worse. after some time up there I can walk on the slope and carry stuff without anything but the one time I did trip up I was glad to have the harness on although I wasn't too near the edge.
some roofers can work on the edges of the roof and lean over , I find if I can approach the first 4' or so from the ladders then it feels safer to me but it does mean moving my ladders more. The steelworkers have a reel thing with a cable that locks if you pull quickly similar to a seatbelt thing. They are slick but its about $500 or so. I wondered if one could use a reinforced hose and then you could hook yourself up to the hose and the air nailer and not need to drag a rope and a hose everywhere.

I made myself a shingle lifter from a ladder and a little winch. that helped me not have to pack so many up the ladder. It wasn't super heavy but I could send half a pack up every time I went up so it helped a bit. The commercial guys either get rooftop delivery or some have better lifters. walking a roof like that with a full pack of shingles isn't for me. I felt safer once I got using more of the roof jacks , the things that hold planks so i work from those mostly. at least they stop stuff from sliding off. some just make scaffolding and move it as they go.
I've been using this underlayment.

https://www.ftsyn.com/ft-gold/

it requires a lot of and driven plastic cap nails but once I have that on it keeps the water out and that bides me time as it is pretty much weekends only for me. I think the one I have as BASF printed on it but it looks the same. rated at about 6 months UV. I noticed the plastic caps start to turn white after a while in the sun. you can get cheaper or more expensive ones. It helps with walking then because it has sort of a rubberized surface. I kept to the suggested nail patterns printed on it which is a lot of nails and then I follow with the shingles and many nails anyway. I'm putting about 5 per shingle. the ones at the end Ive been sealing down so wind cant' get under. I didn't buy the roofing caps shingles but I doubled up on the cap shingles and just used the flat 3 tab ones for that. doubling them just makes them a bit thicker and I put tar under them to make sure they dont lift. I'm using IKO architectural shingles for the rest. I used a 2" flashing with a drip edge on the gable ends and a different flashing designed to get the water off the sheeting into the gutter. You cant' really see that one once its installed.

at first I stripped the whole roof and then realized I had to put the walking boards and stuff back up there to lay the underlayment and install the flashing. now I'm starting to lay the underlayment and get the flashing on while I'm stripping. of course you put the shingles on from the bottom up but i found I can put the underlaynent on as I work down from the top stripping it then I can cover up from weather and push the crap down as I go. I just dont nail the bottom edge until I get the next row down and then I can tuck it underneath.
In this way If I do get a heavy rain it doesn't become a big issue. some of these things would be so much easier with a helper but I'm just doing it solo so it presents challenges.
Real roofers can go so fast that they can skip a lot of these steps.
I thought of adding a ridge vent. eventually I decided to just add a few more of the square plastic vents. adding more made my attic run a little cooler. I didn't want to complicate things too much as it just increases the cost.
Phil

[AngeloM]

Good call with the ropes ladder trick. All but the first section of roofing I did with ladders and a pick. Highly recommend purchasing enough equipment to do the job then sell it when you know you won’t need it anymore.

I’ve been using felt for almost all underlayment as I’m making an attempt to use traditional materials(unfortunately except the OSB and asphalt shingles). If I could do it all again I would’ve done a tongue and groove deck but next time I suppose.

I managed to rebuild a window frame this week and now won’t hesitate to restore each one that needs it from this point on. All this work is so much simpler when you take it one step at a time.

I talked to my neighbor who moved to this street in 96 and he said the big house was unoccupied at the time so it was empty for at least 20 years before I got it. The small house he said had a tenant which I can’t believe because the whole left side sill beam is rotted out but it is amazing how a house can hide major structural flaws like that when all the finishes are still holding it together. Can’t wait to tackle that project!!!??

[phil]

With a project like that it might be easy to get stuck on the details. I know myself, I'm bad for over thinking and finding better ways, adding to the job as I go and throwing the endless timeline ahead. There is definitely something to be said for tackling the important stuff, like the roof and mechanical stuff, then details like restoring every window later. One thing with old houses, they are patient