THE CHALLENGE
Woodland Meadows Elderly Development are wood frame residential buildings that were constructed in the 1970’s. The sloped asphalt shingle roofs had reached the end of their useful life. In addition, the fascia boards had areas of rot and gutters and downspouts were not in good condition.
CBI’S SOLUTION
Included in the project were four (4) of the twelve (12) residential buildings. CBI first evaluated the existing asphalt shingle roofing systems and wood trim, including test cuts to view the condition of the substrate.
The asphalt shingles lost a fair amount of granules due to their age, were brittle, and some shingle cupping was observed. Test cuts revealed that the roof deck was sound and dry and we did not observe any evidence of water damage or deterioration to the plywood. Skylights, part of porch roof additions, were found to be producing mildew because of inefficient flashing and sealing allowing water infiltration. Wood trim was found to be in relatively good condition for its age but the exposed wood was missing weather protection and deteriorating. This condition would likely be a continuing maintenance concern without remediation. Gutters and downspouts were in satisfactory condition, however since aluminum products are easily damaged during the removal process for the repair of the roofs, we recommended they all be replaced.
The aged asphalt shingles were removed and replaced with lifetime architectural grade asphalt shingles with an underlayment of building felt, as well as ice and water shield along the entire roof area. Small areas of roof deck around the skylights that were rotted and severely warped were replaced. We recommended that the skylights be removed and infilled because they didn’t add value to the porch environment and were a chronic moisture infiltration concern. Wood trim was replaced with PVC and vinyl to reduce maintenance costs.
Ventilation needed to be brought up to code so perforated vinyl soffit vents were installed along each eave edge and ridge vents were installed along all roof ridges. The existing 2” wide vent strip between the original roof soffit and the porch addition roof was removed and replaced with a perforated vinyl soffit vent of sufficient width. New insulation was added where the existing wasn’t thick enough to meet code and new batt insulation added where none was installed. Foam baffles were also installed along the eave edge to maintain air flow from the soffit vents into the attic space.
