How Steve Spent His Saturday

Our largest bathroom is like an inside cabin on a cruiser, no windows to get light. Every time we go to do anything in there, piddle or clean, we have to turn on the lights. Also, because there's no natural light, our hallway is always dark as well. So for almost the same time we've been in the house I've needed to fix that problem.


So today started out with cutting holes in the roof. You haven't lived until you cut a hole in your roof.


Followed by holes in the ceiling.


And then as the song goes, "I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in..."


Then, of course, you need to connect the holes.


And then we did a little trick as suggested by Dan (from his install). As an FYI, it's always good to know people like Dan who know how to do things. That's a water heater blanket, btw. The tube is pretty thin, and while any sunlight will keep it warm, cutting holes in the ceiling isn't exactly a way to maintain your R factor, if you know what I mean.


So this is what the bathroom looks like now. Even after it got cloudy today it looked like we left the light on inside.


Actually, after having the sun come out just as I was starting, so it could be nice and hot in the attic and on the roof, as I was cleaning up it got cloudy and threatened to rain once I was in. Fortunately I splurged for the faster curing roof sealer and silicon calk (for the screws holding the dome in place). So I just needed to make it to 7 without it raining (of course, having a full day would be better). So far, no rain.

What would I do different given the chance? Well, besides hiring someone else to do the work (working in the attic nearly killed me, my back still hurts and I had to drink like 3 glasses of water after both sessions in the attic), I would ignore the instructions and put the flashing under more of the shingles (at least one more row).


By the time I really looked at it and realized I could add another row, I was already screwed in. But as you can see, we're halfway down with the shingles. I also used the left over roofing sealant to add more around the sides (as well as 3 rows of sealant underneath, and resealed the shingles just above the flashing install.

So, I hurt. I'm tired. But a job well done.