This is a wonderful project and your directions are super! I took the liberty of linking your posts with the photos to this thread. Fairy House 4 Fairy House 3 Fairy House 2 Fairy House 1 I considered putting all the photos here, but they're pretty big and might give some of those on dial-up a fit, waiting to load. I decided not to link directly to your photobucket site, either, leaving that up to you. I know there are those who don't like to click and go away from this page. The trick is to RIGHT click on the link, click on 'open in a new window' and see it without leaving this site. Close the window when you've viewed the photo post. Nell

Well, idmd, this is just my opinion...I grew up in a one-storey ranch house built in 1958, the roof was hipped but fairly shallow and my dad put insulation batts in the attic, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't up to modern code. This was back in '61 when we moved in, and lived there until '87. We never had moisture problems and had no ridge vent and I don't recall any soffit vents either, although the crawlspace had sliding louvers every six feet or so. My current house is a 1908 two and a half storey frame house with a steep pitched hipped roof with three dormers and two chimneys. It has box gutters, so no soffit vents, and no ridge vent either. There is not one sign of moisture damage in the attic, which is a finished single room which takes up all the territory except for about 5 feet per side for storage under the rafters. The roof is skip-sheathed which meant original roof was slate, but is now asphalt shingles. My guess is that if it has lasted this long without vents, it will last another 100+ years. Old houses, even ones built in the 50s were not so hermetically sealed that moisture was a problem. The biggest problem with moisture from our ranch house was in winter, when ice formed on the aluminum window frames and the marble sills. We tended to put towels on them to catch the water as it melted--this was in the bedrooms, at the far end of the house from the furnace. :)

A gable fan would be hard to install because the gables are up there behind the ceiling and walls. The only access to the eaves are the kneewall doors and there isn't much space behind them. We'd have to cut the ceiling to get up there to the gables. The extra roof is an interesting idea. Would the sleepers run up and down the roof and create the pathway for the air? Or would they go across the roof? If they go across, wouldn't they then block the air pathways? Would the extra weight of another roof be a possible problem? How could I tell if the structure could handle sleepers and an extra roof? The present roof sheating is 1x4 boards, not plywood. I'm told there are some soft spots and some of the sheating is likely going to have to be replaced. There was a leaking problem in 1998 and roof repairs were done then, but I don't think they did anything to the sheating then. Can baffles be put in from on top the roof after the top is cut off for the ridge vent? Could they slide in from there or do they tear up too easily? Are baffles ever made of anything besides foam? The house has been there 56 years and the present roof has lasted 29, all without roof ventilation except for the gable vents, so I'm wondering why a new roof would start to have problems because of lack of ventilation. It's a pretty steep roof, if that makes any difference in this issue. I'm going to use a light-colored shingle. There are mature shade trees in the yard, and one in particular shades it from the west. Virginia is hot in the summer, but in the winter it seldom gets below 20.

To me, if that is the total proposal, it lacks a lot of information. One assumes it is a tear off down to the deck, but never assume anything. I've seen people tear off one layer, install ice/water & felt over a layer of material not torn off! Unless someone is in your locality, only they would know a guesstimate. This is the world wide web. If torn down to deck, the decking should be broom swept, then blown off with a blower, so no granules/debris are left on the decking. All roof fasteners used on previous should be set (I personally always like to see the fasteners pulled). There is no spec for the fasteners to be used (staples are a no no)or length of fastener. Drip edge comes in different sizes. There's no mention on brand for ice/water. There's no mention for daily clean-up. There's no mention the roof being secured from elements each & every day. There are numerous types of soil collars, which one used should be mentioned. Different styles of vents are on the market, also there are screened & unscreened (you don't want unscreened). No mention of brand & style of ridge vent if you decide to change it up (chances are, no additional regular style vents would be put in, and any existing should be closed off & patched over. Ridge vents need an intake (soffit vents). There's no mention of any step or counter flashing for any chimney or junctures. It should list how these areas are addressed and with type of material, and installation method. Ask the roofer if they have a _brake_, if the answer is no, they are not in the roofing business, nor know how to address flashing issues.The list goes on & on. It appears the quote knows how to mention prices, but doesn't list exactly what is being done and with what materials. If one is too lazy to take the time to detail a quote, I really don't think they will get ambition to detail the actual work. I'd get some detailed quotes. This post was edited by Roof35 on Wed, Sep 11, 13 at 20:34