Robert Forto

DIY

Fortos Fort: Roof Project Complete!

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After nearly three weeks of ring around the collar work, the roof project at Forto’s Fort is complete!

As with any home project, we went WAY over budget–almost a 1000 bucks.

That was to be expected. If you are a frequent reader of this blog you have read my stories about the famed Forto’s Fort.

This place was built in sections as families grew and (I would bet) wallet’s got fatter. With that, it made the roof project a challenge because of the myriad angles and valleys.

I am thankful for the professionalism and eye for detail of my contractor Bill and his friend and assistant Bob. I knew I was in good hands with these two guys. They know their stuff.

I am also thankful to my son, Tyler. We could not have done this project without his help. He was the only one that was brave enough to hang over the edge 30 feet in the air to paint the trim on the peaks.

We only had one little mishap. Well, actually two…

The first one involved a shard of metal trim that sailed down and sliced my scalp open. Luckily I was looking down or it could have put my eye out! After a few minutes gushing, bright red blood and the helpful assistance from my wife, Michele I was back to the job.

The second mishap was Bill falling through the roof on the next to the last day from a rotten piece of plywood.

Hopefully this is the last roof this little cabin will ever need and I sure hope that we sealed it up good enough to keep out all the little critters that were living in the attic: bats, squirrels, ants, and most of the rest of the Alaska wildlife food chain that was small enough to fit in between the rafters.

Now all I need to do is call up the guys from the D.I.Y. Network and have some cheesy real estate agent come out and appraise the place.

Wait a minute, those guys don’t dare come to Alaska.

My contractor says it added at least 25 grand to the equity of the house. Let’s hope so!

Maybe I should put in on the market.

Anyone interested in a cozy cabin the the Great White North?

I don’t think so…

Next up: Starting work on the dog yard.

Should be fun!

Related Posts:

Fortos Fort: The roof–choices, choices

Fortos Fort: Roof day 3

Fortos Fort: Roof Phase 1 complete!

Fortos Fort: New roof porject

Forto’s Fort: Bearing of Crosses

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Ognuno porta la sua croce

Every man has his cross to bear

Basically it means that everyone has to carry their own burden/responsibilities in life.

So with Tyler up in Alaska learning to do things that he has never had to do in the ‘big city’ I think the picture is a poignant example of transforming a boy into a man.

Today we carried and burned at least a 1000 pounds of old, rotten scrap wood that was full of nails and other debris to a huge bonfire. Luckily we had a burn permit and a nice day.

Fortos Fort: Roof project–phase 1 complete!

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“I love it when a plan comes together…” That is one of my favorite lines of all time from a cheesy 1980s show, The A-team.

It took us just three and a half days and a lot of blisters, sore knees and hundreds of up and down treks on the ladder but at this juncture we are complete with phase 1 of the roof project on Forto’s Fort up here in Alaska.

I have to give props to the roofing guys out there. This is hard, physical work. Those packs of shingles are quite heavy, espcially hauling them up on your shoulder while balancing on a ladder on shaky ground.

[Rewind: Fortos Fort Roofing Project, choices, choices]

I will be the first to admit that I am not used to this type of work. I am more of a “desk jockey” type of guy. No disprect to those DIYers and construction workers. In fact I have a new found respect for them. Those guys rock!

[Rewind: Fortos Fort: Day 3 ]

I think I said it best the other night when talking to my wife: This is not white collar work. Not blue collar work. But Ring-Around-the-Collar work! Hard, dirty, exhausting work.

So, phase 2 begins when we all get back from our sojourns Outside (to the Lower 48). I’ll be ready but I do think I will get a cool pair of those knee pads…

Fortos Fort: Roof Day 3

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The roof project at Forto’s Fort is a huge project. We have been working on it for three days and as we go along we are finding more and more “hidden gems” along the way.

Things like bats nests and a bathroom fan hooked up with a dryer vent. Things like that. People up here call it: “Old time Alaskan construction.”

This is where we found the bat’s nest as well as the section of the roof that was seamed together with 10 inch 2×4’s we seemed them together with 4 foot 2×6’s.

Because the people installed the roof and tried to cut corners (by seaming it together with 2×4’s), the roof had a noticeable sag of almost 4 inches or more. We had to use jacks to make it level.

We are to maneuver around the ceiling fan to position the jacks.

Here is the roof at the end of Day 1. The sagging repair is completed and this section is ready for shingles!

Our materials are here from Spendard Building Supplies in Wasilly!

End of Day 3. We had to repair and replace a lot of old wood above the porch and remove a skylight that was above the porch too. The front section has the shingles installed.

Fortos Fort: The roof–Choices, choices

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Forto’s Fort Before the New Roof 

Tomorrow is a big day at Fortos Fort up in Willow, Alaska. It is when we start the tear down and begin to re-roof the cabin.

We knew when we bought the place that one of the first things that we needed to do was replace the roof. Right now it is a mix of tin (what most homes use up here) and rolled shingles that was put on in patches, presumably either when the previous owners could afford it or it just had to be done.

Thankfully there are not too many leaks in the roof. That is a good sign that the under-lying sub-roof (or what ever it is called) is in decent shape.

During the extremely wet, and rainy months last summer the roof did leak in just one place– where the tin met the shingles. That is to be expected with the shotty job the previous owners rigged up.

The roof did hold up to the snow and ice all through the winter and that was surprising. I dont know how many times I thought I would come home to see it caved in!

So even with a tight budget, we knew that this was a job that we had to do so we have been saving and saving.

With a very tight window of just a month or so before the rain starts in mid-June we are ready to get to work.

Today:

Choices, choices….

Our cabin is not your typical cabin by any stretch of the imagination. The roof line has more peaks and valleys than two or three homes combined! We have dormers, abuttments, steep peaks and what seems like miles and miles of trim that is over 20 feet tall in some places.

We quickly learned that it was not in our budget to replace the roof with a new tin one. It was going to cost almost 10 grand just for materials.

So, we decided to go with Arcitectual Shingles. These are a three tab style like you will find on most shingle roof homes but they have a slighlty different pattern on each tab giving it almost a tile effect.

Here are our choices:

Sierra-Blend

Antique Brown

Natural Wood

Michele (she is still in Colorado) and I spent almost an hour over Yahoo Messenger and email picking out the right color. We finally came up with our choice:

Natural Wood. With all the trim to be painted in the barn red color. The only choice seemed to be the Natural Wood shingle.

Follow our adventures of Forto’s Fort up here in the “wilds” of Alaska as I attempt to make this cabin our cozy home and the future home of Team Ineka sled dogs!

More to come…