Fun with Dormers

Since last I wrote, I've been busy repairing, sanding and patching the dormer. It's taken a long time because of the vagaries of weather, and the sheer difficulty of reaching the back and top of the dormer. To sand the very top, I found it easier to climb up on top of the dormer and reach down.

The view from the crow's nest.

Complicating matters further is the fact that the level of the new roof is over an inch lower than that of the previous roof. The old roof consisted of wood shingles sandwiched between layers of sheet roofing on top and substantial redwood slats underneath. The new roof is one layer of plywood sheathing with three-tab dimensional asphalt shingles on top. The receding roofline left in its wake lots of wounds and irregularities where the formerly submerged dormer cladding was uncovered, and an awkward gap underneath where the cladding ends and the underlying structure is exposed. I'm still not sure how that gap will look when the dormer is painted; in fact, I'm not sure just how much detail will be visible from the ground, so I'm uncertain just how detailed I need to be in my patching. I may have to do another round of patching after I prime.

Here's what the dormer looks like right now:

The push broom is there to provide a handhold when working on the furthest extent of the sides (the broom head is securely attached to the handle and well-braced).

You can see that the sides are pretty messy, but I'm hoping that a good coat of paint will take care of that.

One more detail remains before I can mask everything off and start to paint. There's a gap at the back of the right side between the eave trim and the roof that opens up to the inside. This is just the kind of thing rodents use to get into attics, and it needs to be plugged up. We did have some hardware cloth covering the gap, but I'd like to replace it with something more permanent, and more presentable.

Here's a picture of the gap:

It's larger than it appears here, but in any event, you can see a bit of shiny copper material peeking out from inside the gap. This is copper mesh. Gardeners use it around planters to keep snails out; pest control people wad it up and stick it in gaps like this to serve as a backing for insulating foam filler. You will recall that I used a foam filler to fill a gap underneath the new window in the south side; the foam I will be using here is similar, but is specifically designed for this kind of situation. It's completely weatherproof, paintable, and impervious to rodents.

It's also a big mess, so stay tuned. This should be fun.

* * *

"I don't see why you don't just let the rodents come in, you spoilsport."