New House Blog: Episode VII - Dish And Diswhasher

Welcome to Episode VII.  In this Episode we will be taking a look at some rooftop items (this is where the dish was), seeing what the space behind the dishwasher looks like, and learning about yet another surprise.  A roof can be an interesting place.  It's up high, it's slanty, it gets really hot to the touch, it gives good views, and sometimes you can find things that have been lost by other people.  Our roof is an asphalt shingle roof with an estimated remaining life of about 30 years.  It is one part of the house that doesn't need any work at all at this point.  We assume it doesn't leak, but we won't know for sure until it rains again in 6 months.  The first parts of this episode deal with repairs that took place on the roof, but not to the roof itself.

Before we get into the actual events we would like to take a moment to note that although the events are presented in generally chronological order (we can't very well post about things that haven't yet happened) some events may not be in specific chronological order - sometimes they are grouped by type or alliteration.

Dish

Despite being over 40 years old our house came with a dish on the roof.  No, it was not an actual DISH brand dish, nor can we be sure it was even a satellite dish, but it was a dish of some sort, and it needed to come down before the termite tenting could commence (remember how we said that termites are very popular in the Silicon Valley?).  Our friend, Dave (mentioned previously in this post) was at the house helping us with some of the work, and he assisted in the removal of the dish.* (that asterisk means you should check for further explanation at the end of the post)  He didn't actually get up on the roof, but he did act as a spotter, and he did hand up tools and things and take them back down.

Below is a picture of the dish as it was when we took possession of the house.

The dish, before removal

With Dave acting as spotter and ladder stabilizer we climbed onto the roof and trudged up the semi-steep incline to the chimney, for this is what the dish was fastened to.  After some serious wrenching with an 11mm box wrench, the mangled metal mess was free of its harness and the entire assembly, including cables, was handed down to Dave.  The straps that were wrapped around the chimney were hurled unceremoniously to the ground.  Here is the chimney after the dish removal.  Note the unpainted stripes where the straps used to be.

Yup, it's a chimney

Caulking

Also done while we were on the roof was a bit of chimney flashing caulking. What is chimney flashing?  Basically, it's metal plating at the base of the chimney that helps to....well.....we're not really sure what it does, but we think it has to do with sealing the roof and keeping rain and other stuff from entering into the house.  Perhaps someone with more chimney knowledge can leave a comment with a better explanation.  Our chimney flashing needed a very minor repair - some of the caulking had cracked, which left a nice opening for rain and other stuff to enter the house.  We used some roof-flashing-specific caulking and sealed up the crack.  Since this caulking is on the roof and no one will see it, we didn't feel the need to make it look pretty.  As long as it keeps things sealed we're happy with it.  See it below.

It ain't pretty, but it should keep stuff out

Dishwasher

Another item Dave helped us with was the removal of the old, non-functioning dishwasher.  Actually, he did the majority of the work on that while we were outside clearing out excess vegetation.  We're not completely clear on everything Dave had to do to prep the dishwasher for removal, but once he did whatever he did it seemed to come out without too much hassle.  We had to disconnect 1 rubber hose and 1 copper tube, and we had to cut the power cord (yes it was unplugged first).  A lot of interesting things were discovered behind the dishwasher, and by, "interesting," I mean filthy, nasty things.  Fortunately, the house will be cleaned in a couple of days, so we're not too concerned about said "interesting" things.  We put the dishwasher out in the driveway area and a company picked it up and hauled it away for a small fee.  Here's a picture of the hole where the dishwasher was.

Note the copper tube

How many different things can you identify in the picture?


















Surprise Again

This house keeps surprising us.  Well, not so much the house as some of the things the previous owners did or didn't do.  As we were clearing out excess vegetation (and Dave was wrestling with the dishwasher inside) we discovered some wood planks buried in the dirt right by the front door (did I mention yet that there are termites around here).  This was not the surprise, although we do wonder what the wood-buriers were thinking.  Also buried by the front door was a kitchen knife of some sort.  How it ended up there, and why, we don't necessarily want to know.  Sadly, it was too beat-up and unsharp to be of any use to us.

Rusty and dull

Despite the impressive-looking pose, the knife really was not sharp.












New Team Members

And now for a special bonus before we end this Episode.  Today we introduce two new team members - Sweepy and Scoop.  Here is a picture.  Can you tell which is which?  Both of them availed themselves nicely on their first day of use.

Left to Right, Scoop and Sweepy

That wraps it up for this Episode.  Be sure to join us next time as we discuss termites, tenting, and some other stuff (you might even read a short dissertation on broom-choosing in 2012).

It has walls and a roof.  What more could you
   bIsh

* Side Note: In case you're wondering, although he has been mentioned in two episodes, Dave has only been to our house once, so the events in which he appears all took place on the same day.