2008_03_10 Gutter system, metal roof, Charli's boards

The first picture is one of Kathy's favorites. On the day that Clay, KC, Clarli, and Jasper were here, Clay was taking some of the larger boards from the scrap pile and putting them in the basement in case I wanted them for something later. Most of them were either logs or larger boards that were 4"x 8" or so. Charli wanted to help so she made 2 trips. The ones she saved were the two little pieces of 2x4s on the right! How cute is that?



Also, you can see the gutter system that we bought from Dixie Homecrafters called Gutter Guardian. It allows water in, but it doesn't allow any leaves, pine needles, etc. First there is a row of tiny holes that are small enough to allow some small amount of water to go through them without being large enough to allow any leaves, debris, etc in. They also tend to slow the speed of the water down a little bit as it passes over the holes.

The picture below shows the gutter as well as the interior support system that is screwed into fascia board through the gutter. It supports the upper guard and locks it into the proper position in relation to the roof and gutter so that it stays where it needs to be to optimally allow water in and keep leaves out and also make sure that it doesn't get bent out of shape by wind or limbs that might hit it, etc. The supports are not as close together as the ones in the picture. This is just a sample section to show how they go together. I think the supports are just every 30 inches or something like that.



However, the main design feature is that the top part of the gutter completely covers the gutter itself, but allows water to still go into it while not allowing leaves, etc to do so.



It does this using the surface tension of the water to allow the water to flow down over the top of the gutter and then take a turn over the edge and back into the gutter since the water "sticks" to the surface of the metal top much like water "sticks" to the side of a water glass and run down the side and drip from the bottom if you pour it slowly rather than all at once. The water will stick to the gutter and follow its curve back underneath the top cover and then go into the gutter itself.


One thing that we'll have to remember is that it will take the roof a few weeks (usually over a couple of months of sun and after it has rained a few times) till it works as well as it will eventually. That is because of a coating of some kind on the surface of the metal, but once it has weathered a little bit the water will "stick" to it better and the roof will function more efficiently.

The gutters will be 6 inch gutters because with metal roofs the water comes down the roof at a faster rate than with shingle roofs and since the steepness of the roof is fairly steep. Steve (the guy doing the building) supported what they told us about the gutters needing to be 6 inch gutters with metal roofs. He said that nothing smaller would work.


The gutters haven't been installed yet since we're waiting till the final grading is done on the property so that the downspouts won't have to be moved later when the dirt is being moved around the house.


The gutters are designed so that leaves and debris can't get in, but water can. The example is shown on a regular shingle roof. Ours will be screwed to the fascia board in a different way since they can't go up underneath the metal roof which is screwed down.

The gutters are also designed so that the downspouts do NOT have to stick up inside the gutters. That is so that there won't be a portion of the downspout sticking up inside the gutter to create a lip or little wall that water inside has to build up around before it will go down the downspout. They believe that any amount of downspout sticking up can result in water remaining in the gutter and that allows mosquitoes to breed or any debris that might get in (pollen, dust, etc) to not get washed down the next time it rains.

They have a patented way to attach the downspout to the gutter that allows them to have nothing sticking up into the gutter at all. See below:

The above part is attached to the gutter with the left side in the above picture fastened to the gutter. The hole in the gutter that is cut above where the downspout is to be attached therefore has nothing sticking up into it. It simply empties into the large end of the above connecting piece and then goes down through the smaller end of the above connecting piece into the downspout.

Then there is one shot of the new metal roof.

The gutter company is going to install gutters on every place where the roof would otherwise dump water onto the deck or ground. Although the decks or balconies and sides of the house will, of course, get wet when it rains, the volume of water that would otherwise hit the deck or ground and splash back onto the logs would both tend to wash away the deck stain faster than desired and cause the logs to stay wetter and be more prone to mildew, mold, etc.

The gutters are warranted for life on materials and workmanship and for 20 years on the paint itself. The guarantee is also transferrable when we sell the house. They also guarantee that if the gutters ever clog for any reason they will come and clean them out for free. They are not cheap, however! That's the only disadvantage I can find in them so far. :-)

2008_03_06 Metal Roof finally being put on

St. Clair Metal Roofing company in Ashville, AL started putting the metal roof on this week. I believe that our builder said that he was buying the metal itself from A&E Metal Roofing Supply. Their web site is www.aemetalroofing.com. Although I don't know for sure if that's where he ended up getting it their factory is in Alexander City, AL and that's where the builder lives. The metal is 26 gauge metal if that means anything to you. The smaller the gauge the thicker the metal. For example, 26 gauge metal is thicker than 29 gauge metal.

They started working on the section of the roof over the great room and dining room.

Another view.

Here is a view of the way the ends and corners look. We'll have to get some other company to put the gutters we want on after the roofer's are done. We went to the Birmingham Home and Garden show on Friday.

There were at least 3 different gutter companies there who offer some system that prevents leaves, etc from being able to get into the gutter. The design of the metal that completely covers the gutter allows water to go past the gutter and then because of the water's adhesion to the surface it's on allows it to flow over the edge and then back in toward and into the gutter. They are guaranteed to never need cleaning. If you are interested in looking at this type of gutter you can check out the web sites of the following: LeafGuard at www.leafguard.com, Gutter Cap at www.guttercap.com, and Dixie Home Crafters who have GutterGuardian gutters at www.dixiehomecrafters.com (click on clog-free gutters).

We'll have to see whether their systems will work well on our particular roof since it is both metal (which allows water to run faster than traditional shingles) and also a couple of sections of steep roof (over the great room) and each of those things (and maybe especially since both exist for us) sometimes cause the water runoff to travel so fast that it overcomes the surface tension of water that allows all these roof systems to work.

It may be that we end up putting this system on part of the roof and a more traditional system on sections of the roof that might not permit this system to work. I think that some of the areas that might not work well with these systems just might be low enough that I could clean them without risking death, but we'll see.

Below you can see the ladders that they use. They have a hook on the top end that hooks over the top of the roof to keep it anchored for them to use to walk up the roof.

Here you can see the roof, the sky, and guy. He's waiting on another piece of metal to be cut to fit somewhere around the dormer behind him.

They lay the metal out on the deck and then mark it to be cut with the metal snips or shears. This piece is just over 23 feet long.

When they cut the angles they use another scrap piece of metal that fits over the ridges perfectly as a guide to make their mark on the metal to show where to make their cut. Below you can see how that is done. Once the line is drawn, he then cuts it with some large metal snips or metal shears if you prefer that term. You may call them tin snips or tin shears. Whatever you call them they are like big scissors that but metal.

They worked on the metal roof on Wednesday and Thursday and planned to try to finish on Friday, but I don't know if they did or not because it rained on Friday and they wouldn't work when the metal is wet. It's dangerous enough when it's dry. I didn't go up there on Friday. The gas bills have become pretty bad with the prices now up above $3.00 and we also wanted to go to the Home and Garden show in Birmingham on Friday anyway so we could see many of the products we may want or need. If they didn't finish up on Friday they plan to show up on Monday to continue working so hopefully by this next week the roof will be finished.

2007_09_06 Ceiling started and spider

The ceiling (tongue and groove 2 x 6 pine) is now being put over the rooms of the first floor that have ceilings. Well, they'll all technically have ceilings, but the great room ceiling will be up at the roof level and that isn't there yet of course. The "hole" in the front part of the ceiling is the elevator space.

Below is a spider that now resides in the basement. He's about 2 inches across and has an impressive web although you can't really see it in the picture. The only part of it that you can see is the spiral or spring shaped white part that goes above and below the spider. It's goes about 6 inches above and below him (or her). The spider has yellow markings. If you get too close, the spider begins causing the web (and spider of course) to vibrate rapidly back and forth. I believe it to be a Black and Yellow Argiope (or Argiope Aurantia). The other side had larger portions of yellow on it, but I couldn't get a good picture from that angle. I'll have to get rid of the guys' pet though since she produces 300 to 1400 eggs and they hatch in the fall!

Below is a shot I took from on top of a stack of beams in the front. I like the view from up there. During the winter when the leaves are gone we may have a nice view even without taking out any of the trees below.

Here is a view of the ceiling over the foyer and sort of over the closet in the entry way and the half bath just beyond it. You can see the first of the wires in any of the pictures. There is a wire hanging down (for a light) from the center of one of the beams.

Here you can see the new view into the master bathroom with the ceiling going in. No, there won't be a hole between the wall and ceiling! :-) That gets covered up later. However, you can see that this space is where the tops of the long screws and the springs go.

Looking into the bathroom to the right from just inside so you can see the other end where the toilet will go. My Jeep is out front on Scenic Peak. The timbers you see are what I climbed up on to take the pictures of the house from the front so you could see the ceiling better. Yeah, dumb. When I was up there a couple of the boards started to slide down toward the house an inch or two. I got down carefully! I'll take pictures from the road next time!

Below you can see a close up of the mechanism that goes on top of each of the log support posts. This is for the purpose of allowing adjustments to be made later to keep things level once log settlement takes place.

You can see the large nut that allows you to turn it to lower the support beam above it, if necessary, to adjust it downward whatever distance the log wall may have settled over time. According to Steve, these spaces are covered up by a cylindrical piece that covers up the metal piece.

He said that in a year or so after completion he'll come back and check everything with their laser levels to see what settlement has taken place and make the necessary adjustments. He also said that his experience is that logs such as ours (6 x 12 rectangular logs) don't seem to have as much settlement as round logs. He said he has no idea why that is, but he's convinced of it.

Steve and I discussed several things on 09/06:

Kathy wanted to make sure that he understood that we want lighting underneath the cabinets in the kitchen. He said that was no problem and can be provided for later. In the kitchen they will put up another "wall" behind the cabinets, etc to allow the cabinets to be attached to it and

the wiring can be in between the two walls. I guess that the second wall is attached to the logs with screws that are allowed to "float" in vertical grooves in the second wall so that as the logs shrink a little the screws in them just slide down through the grooves in the wall material as opposed to actually trying to push down on the wall itself causing it to bow or tear up, etc. That's basically how everything is attached to the log walls since they WILL move over time.

Steve also said that after they apply the wood preservative to the outside of the logs they will go back and caulk any of the cracks in the logs that are large or that slant downward toward the inside so that any rain water will not tend to run down toward the inside of the logs which would eventually cause damage. He said that small cracks that would only allow water to enter if it were to go UP may be left as they are. I'll be more inclined to caulk whenever possible.

Steve did (before I got there) recognize that they had inadvertently not provided for a door at all in the storage area in the laundry room (or pantry if you prefer) and they had removed the studs that were inappropriate.

We discussed whether we might want to switch some of the French doors (dining room and master bedroom) so that the primary door would open whichever way (right hand or left hand) is best for us. He said that's no problem, but we haven't determined yet which way is going to be best based on what furniture goes where.

We also talked about lighting outside. We want to have flood lights outside (both up on the deck and down at ground level and we want to be able to turn them on all at once if desired or at least all in front or all in back. Steve suggests that we also allow for them to be motion activated. That sounds good to us.

I asked him how the gutters would be routed from the roof to the ground. I didn't know at what points he expects that the downspouts would make their way down through the deck to the ground below. He thinks that there will probably be a couple of them that will come down from the front of the front porch roof to the ground in front of the house and there will be at least one on the back side that might go down the corner of the screened room, through the deck, down to the ground at the back of the house and then out and down the hill away from the house. I hope that the ones in the front of the house can be routed toward the outside edges of the house and away from it so that the water coming off the front will not just be left to drain down to the front of the basement wall. I'm sure it will be.

I asked Steve if they could please be sure to save the left over round logs for us. He said that they could. He asked what we had planned. I told him that we weren't sure, but if nothing else comes to mind, Kathy said they could be used as seats out in the yard for grandchildren, etc. Steve said that if we want him to he could use them as supports for a mantel above the fireplace (or fireplaces since we also will have one in the master bedroom). I actually like that idea. I asked whether mounting them on the wall (sticking our lengthwise from the wall) would be a problem and he said not.

I asked Steve if he had an idea how much longer his part might take. He said that he hopes to be finished with the dry-in (with the felt on the roof) in possibly as soon as 3 weeks! That isn't with the metal roof on (which someone else must do), but at least the inside will then be protected from the weather.