Roof progress

Remo working on removing the
old chimney cap

Old roof tiles are kept and reused

Ironically, since we are in the midst of a quarantine, we have builders at the house. They had ripped off the roof prior to the ultimate phase of the isolation request, and so they pretty much have to continue until we're weatherproofed. That said, they're outside at plenty of distance from each other (there are only two of them) and we are of course limiting our contact, as well.

That said, things are looking good!

 The steps are as follow:

1. Remove old roof tiles, taking care not to break them (replacements that are beautifully aged are costly)

Not a bad view...

2. Take down gutter supports and gutters

This is the way down from the work site

3. Build up a concrete slab around the perimeter (on top of the exterior walls, essentially)
4. Put up new gutter supports. Put down rigid fiberglass/foam insulation. This is a real jigsaw puzzle, because they have to pay a fortune for discards, so they want to limit their waste as much as possible.
5. Use a handheld gas torch/burner to melt down a bitumen membrane to cover and seal in the insulation.
6. (I'm guessing here, but will correct as necessary) Replace the tiles and cement the lower ones into place.

Since the chimney stacks were in poor condition and we were having smoke intrusion through the exhaust stacks from the bathrooms, we also made modifications to the chimney stacks while we were at it.

New gutter supports. You can see the
concrete edging here, as well.

Umberto while working
on the chimney cap rebuild...
on the phone!

These are the copper gutter supports
called "cicogne" in dialect ("storks")

Rebuilt chimney cap!

Bogdan working with the flame thrower. It sounds like we
have hot air balloons overhead!

The insulation in storage in Umberto's garage

Patrik laying insulation (Patrik is Umberto's son)

Getting there!

This is the bathroom
vent stack, made of terra cotta,
which I find adorable.
Michael, meanwhile, frets about
how waterproof it isn't

Love,

Alexandra