Enter the professionals! The first team of contractors (the roofers) just started on the house: they are removing the old roof to prepare the terrain for the second team of contractors (the electricians) who are about to start laying out the new wiring.
I do not have much to say on that phase of the work. My input wasn’t really required at any point - it’s only demolition work after all. It took the crew (two persons) about 3 days to complete the job (removing the foam was fairly easy but some of the tar on the garage gave them a little resistance).
Oh yes, we found some intriguing duct pipes under the foam, connecting the living room to the kitchen. Their purpose seems to elude everyone. My theory is that it was an attempt at facilitating circulation of cold air from the AC unit in the kitchen to the rest of the house. But that would be a very inefficient way of doing it. Anyhow, if still unanswered, the mystery is now gone: ducts have been removed and holes patched!
Thankfully, the wood that has been exposed is in very good shape overall, except for one plank above the entrance that had to be replaced.
The race against the clock is starting for the electricians: they need to complete their job ASAP. They have one week. The weather is perfect right now, but we cannot afford to get some rain on this exposed roof. It would just go right through the ceiling and damp everything. Tarps are on hand but we’d rather not have to use them!
I don’t seem to have any picture of the roof before, but here are some of the exposed wood. The metal channels contain the original electrical wiring - as you can see there aren’t many of them: we had ceiling lights in only half of the rooms (typical in Eichlers I believe). This is about to dramatically change!
