The ruined carpet is hauled to a disposal facility. ($55.00)

Plumbing for the laundry tub is roughed-in.

The silcock shut-off valve is connected to the household water. One of the two faulty silcocks are replaced.

The roof is still badly damaged from winter’s ice dams. This same area of the roof is missing some flashing. This allowed the ice to open a hole in the siding which lets daylight (and rain water) into the attic and through the bedroom ceiling.

It appears that the flippers partially dealt with ice dams by using heat tape installed on a dedicated circuit. This winter past winter I learned that the circuit works, but the heat tape itself is shot. The ongoing damage to the bedroom soffit during summer months leads me to believe ice dams are only part of my problem.

Today, carpenters begin repairing the damaged roof.

This is only a part of the solution to this ongoing problem. Additionally, the eves will need to be cleared of any insulation that may have fallen into the soffit, and new heat tape will need to be installed.

Repair work continues on the roof. Over the front door, one of the fascia boards was completely rotten, and has been removed for replacement.

I begin demolishing the bedroom soffit, as the water-damaged drywall needs to be replaced. The soffit is stuffed with insulation, plugging up the eves. The lack of cold air flow is promoting the ice dams.

I continue demolishing the damaged bedroom soffit.

There are two drywall sheets which have been installed with different fasteners, indicating that one of them was installed as part of a separate project. In this photo, the older drywall and insulation is on the left, and the newer drywall is on the right.

The larger pieces of newer drywall show evidence of this past year’s water damage.

When I remove the insulation, I discover that a large portion of the roof sheathing has been replaced with overlapping older, damaged sheathing from previous ice dams. Portions of the original sheathing are rotted and caved-in, with its original shingles still visible from the underside.

This date stamp on the new sheathing proves that this was recent work, completed shortly before the home went on the market in late 2012, and only a few months before I bought it. No permit was ever pulled for this work. This shoddy roofing project is likely the source of the shingles we’ve found buried throughout the back yard.

Frequent trips to the attic have raised the chances for an accident. I decide to build some simple “rat runs” to make navigating the attic safer and faster.

I continue work on the attic rat runs. Despite the cooler weather, the attic is still sweltering hot when wearing long sleeves, a dust mask, and other protective gear.

I complete work on the attic rat runs ($89.45). I will feel much safer working on the insulation above the ceiling.