Online Home Repair help for SD members

Question on how best to fudge something.

I have a back porch door with a gable roof overhang. Footprint of the overhang is about 4' wide and 3' deep. It's not big, and it's attached to the house and has two 4x posts on the outside corners.

Needed to replace the shingle roof. My guess is that it's about 50 years old and has finally worn down enough to justify it. They were mighty nice shingles, very hefty by today's standard.

I tore off the roof and found some rotten sheathing. I removed that and found some rotten rafters. So I took off the cardboard like material from the ceiling and was able to sister matching rafters to those which had rot showing at the ends. Simple so far. Then I replaced the sheathing and installed some edge trim (which it did not originally have) and a layer of tar paper and then some 25 year shingles with a ridge of shingles with a 4" exposure. It looks good so far.

My question is how to attach the edge of the shingles to the house. Where it meets the roof there's a combination of stucco and splintering (rotting?) wood trim. And the wood trim, follows old window lines (my guess is the door used to be a window) so there's a 3/4" inch depression leading to what looks like a face of the cardboard ceiling material... even though it's on the wall. So what I'm leading to is that it's not a straight line edge where the roof meets the house and there are different materials.

I snugged the shingles right up to the house and was thinking a hefty bead of Phenoseal in place of traditional flashing. I discovered a layer of heavy, rocklike tar was there originally, placed under the shingles, bonding the sheathing to the house. It held up well.

What's a good way of sealing between the new shingles and the house?

"would entail making a shallow cut in the stucco parallel to the roof pitch. The counter flashing would be bent with a 1/4" right angle to insert into the cut then that would need roof cement caulked to hold and seal it "

That's the black mud, right?

I think adhesive caulk would be neater and bond better to the stucco. And if I cut a 1/4" hole into the stucco, the wire mesh would be exposed and that could only open up a new window of opportunity for failure. I'm thinking a good bead of transparent Phenoseal would be a good compromise. It's a patch whatever route is taken.

So far the roof looks great, the ridge is perfect, replaced the ceiling on the overhang with 1/4" plywood and redid the trim. The sistered rafters fit perfectly. Replaced a 4x4 post that supports the overhang because of rot at the base, and for the fun of it replaced the porch railing which was dadoed into the post I replaced. It's all come out quite well, except for concern about the roof meeting the stucco and the rotting wooden trim.

Thoughts on using a hefty bead of transparent Phenoseal as a joint between shingles and stucco? I think it would adhere better and look a lot better than roof cement, the black mud if we're talking the same material. Would like to finish it this weekend.

(Years back I used some roof coating to do a patch on a slightly pitched flat tar roof, and on really hot days - even years later - it dripped until the roof was replaced with EDPM. What a mess I made!)

Noticed over the last couple of months a few squeaks in our second level floors. We have decided to purchase replacement carpet so I was hoping to rid myself of the squeaks before they install the new carpet in a couple of weeks. Is there any tips or secrets to locating and proper method for fixing the squeaks? It is a plywood base under the current carpet/pad and no access to see the location of joists underneath.

Noticed over the last couple of months a few squeaks in our second level floors. We have decided to purchase replacement carpet so I was hoping to rid myself of the squeaks before they install the new carpet in a couple of weeks. Is there any tips or secrets to locating and proper method for fixing the squeaks? It is a plywood base under the current carpet/pad and no access to see the location of joists underneath.

Since there is no access to joists you can only try screwing the plywood down better. If it's really bad you could pull up the bad plywood and re-glue and screw it better. screwing it down should fix a lot of the squeaks though

We've got the same issue, except we arent planning on new carpet anytime.

Thanks. I will have to work at finding where the joists fall so I can add some screws before the new carpet is installed.

We have this thing being delivered next week, hopefully it helps at least some.
http://www.amazon.com/Berry-Enter...pd_cp_hi_0

And a video as to how it works
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6midQu419Ck

Getting tired of going to bed only to hit the squeak sweet spot and waking the kids up.

Floor joists should be 16" apart.

We had some water leaking onto the kitchen stove from the exhaust fan above it during the last couple of heavy rains. During the last storm it even started leaking through the ceiling light which is about 4 feet away from the exhaust fan on the ceiling.

This is no fancy over the stove exhaust system just a round circular fan that sits flush up against the ceiling and vents to the roof. I can't get up to the roof to see what's it looks like up there due to a recent injury but I'm guessing that maybe the flap is not closing properly. I though that maybe it was the seal around the roof exhaust but I don't see any water in the attic behind the walls so I'm assuming the water is just coming in down the vent and some is leaking onto the stove and with the last storm some accumulated over the kitchen ceiling dripping down through the lighting. Does that sound about right?

I can't fix this myself. I'm wondering who fixes these kind of things. Would it be someone who does roofing work, like re-shingling the roof or do I need to call an appliance guy? Also any idea what this might cost if you agree with what I think is wrong.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have a 16 year old contractor grade (I think) Rudd P-40 water heater. It's really inefficiently rated, but it's working fine. Have never changed the dip tube because of a low ceiling; the 1870's house cellar has a 5'9" or lower ceiling and a sorta cement sometimes damp floor. On the latter, I think someone raked dry cement on dirt and hit it with a garden hose to make a "floor".

Thanks to a home inspector and a double delivery I was told to keep, the house came with a spare still in the box identical heater.

Should I replace it before it leaks? And if it is replaced, am I better off paying for something more efficient or using the free low rated efficiency unit on hand?

I have my AC/Heater at home always in the off position with the Thermostat off. (never needed) My question is does the filter still need changing? Air vent requires cleaning? thanks