We completed the first major milestone today. The first phase of the electrical upgrade: addition of circuits and service panel upgrade is done! We doubled (or quadrupled? I don’t remember…) the electrical capacity. We added dedicated circuits to the bathrooms (left the existing one; added one for the new space heater and one for the outlets), 3 or 4 in the kitchen (see left picture) and spread a few others throughout the house. All rooms have ceiling lights (original Eichlers had very few of these). And all outlets throughout the house are now grounded!

The roofers have already started installing the insulation - you can see it on the right picture. Some rigid insulation, on top of which they will lay the Duro-Last, a single-ply membrane, also called “pool liner” (because that was the first usage for that material).

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!

As the roof has to be replaced I started investigating about my options. The best source of information for this is, once again, the Eichler Network. They have a great article about roofing.

This foam stuff sounds like a very funky 1970’s option. I think I’ll go with the single-ply Duro-Last (also known as “pool liner”) - checking with some flat-roof owners in the area, but also in Europe, this seems to be the most sensible option. I have identified three companies and will get bids for the job.

An interesting thing that emerged during my quest for the best roofing option was the electrical question. Indeed, Eichler homes have no crawl space and no attic. So the electrical wires run straight on the eaves, under the roofing material. Obviously a nightmare when you want to upgrade - you need to open the roof to access the cables; provided you know where they are! This explains for the mess of wires you can see on some Eichlers: people just take a shortcut and run the cables around the walls or on the roof. Bottom line: if you remove the roof you have to take this opportunity to upgrade the electrical..

I guess I also need to find an electrician now…

Note: you may wonder why this blog is subtitled “Adventure in DIY remodeling” if I’m going to get contractors to do everything. Well, Duro-last requires a professional installation, and the re-wiring will have to happen very quickly while the roof is off. I need help here! My turn will eventually come…