At Home In The Woods

[dcyrilc]

Please do come visit Cyril. If you are right about the city enveloping your land, you will have to hunt a new place.

I have a neighbor who raises some beef cattle. Don't know how profitable it is here. He is getting old and not well, so the operation is declining. The better farms here are on river bottom land where the soil is a lot richer. There are some upland hay fields that do okay if well tended.

I was looking where Woodlin, WA is to have some understanding of your experience. Noticed US 2 runs through there, so of course I had to wisecrack a little. Looks like you are between Puget Sound and a Natl. forest area. That probably has an influence on the situation. Maybe your county envisions McMansions everywhere. What a dream

It is odd that zoning and master plan approaches really don't change the eventual outcome in most cases. It's sad to see good farmland built on.
Dave.

Yea the houses are comming. I can sit in the north pasture and watch the people comming and going at Cosco. They went in about two years ago.

 

[Pops15]

Looks great Obed, now if I were you I would talk to your roofer and be sure they will use a good quality underlayment prior to the shingles and then nail in the roofing nails by hand instead of using nail guns. When we built our house 5 yrs. ago I made sure the roofer I used did not use nail guns and he told me he never did ..too many problems later..I watched the shingles go down and it was all by hand. Also special attention to the valleys..are you going to have ridge vents. I would suggest you do..Really looks great !

There's absolutely nothing wrong with using a roofing nailer.

 

[brin]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with using a roofing nailer.

Maybe it has just been my experience Pops but it is like anything else...it all depends on how good and skillful the roofer is using the nail gun. My roofer on our new house stressed the importance of hand nailing for a good job and I watched his crew..my roof was all hand nailed, so there were no misfires, no hung nails, no nails half way in and no tears in the shingles to allow leaks later...but each to his own, I was just passing on my experience.

 

[shane]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with using a roofing nailer.

I would agree as long as it is used correctly, like any other tool.

One of the problems I often see with guys hand nailing these days is they have a tendency to skimp on the nails. Friend of mine had a whopper of a house way up on a hillside. Shingles kept blowing off. Come to find out the installers, who had hand nailed, only used two nails per shingle. After the roof was replaced with the same type of shingles properly nailed per specs (and using guns) no more problems.

The flip side is some guys with nail guns act like machine gun Harry over nailing, not setting nails up, and blowing holes completely through the shingles.

Either method can be done right or wrong.

 

[brin]

There ya go Shane...I agree, but it still makes sense to me that when guys get going with nail guns and they are in a hurry to get off that hot roof they can have many misses and nails not set and do more damage that is hard to find later when you have a roof leak and have to trace where it is originating.

 

[Pops15]

Maybe it has just been my experience Pops but it is like anything else...it all depends on how good and skillful the roofer is using the nail gun. My roofer on our new house stressed the importance of hand nailing for a good job and I watched his crew..my roof was all hand nailed, so there were no misfires, no hung nails, no nails half way in and no tears in the shingles to allow leaks later...but each to his own, I was just passing on my experience.

I've installed 300 + roofs without the problems you mentioned. Out of all those I probably hand nailed fewer than 10 or 15 roofs. The people putting the nails in are more important than the method of driving the nails. A guy hand nailing can #$%!!! a roof too.

 

[brin]

Pops - we will just have to leave it that we have different opinions and I a bit of experience myself !

 

[dcyrilc]

I've installed 300 + roofs without the problems you mentioned. Out of all those I probably hand nailed fewer than 10 or 15 roofs. The people putting the nails in are more important than the method of driving the nails. A guy hand nailing can #$%!!! a roof too.

I prefer hand nailing, but I have to agree with Pops on this statement. There's no arguement that good labor is hard to find!

I usually end up doing almost all my projects myself because I can never find someone who will build to my standards without being micromanaged to death. When I was growing up, I was taught that you do what the boss wants - how he wants! Nobody seams to remember that theory any more. Everone wants to do it their way and it doesn't matter that you're paying the bill. Try convincing a builder that you want 3/4"ACX for the roof sheathing. They'll argue with you for hours! The funniest part was that I knew that I didn't need it...the point was that it was what I wanted and was paying for.

 

[TheGoose]

Had my roof redone several years ago. Some of the roofers made a big deal about being hand-nailed, and charged extra for it too. I opted to go with a local guy who used nail guns. Here in Coastal Tx we have to have our roofs done to windstorm specs and inspection etc. Went through a near direct strike by hurricane ike with not one shingle lost.

As stated, I think it's more about the proper use and the person using it.

 

[jinman]

Here are the latest pictures.

Obed, all details aside, that house is gonna be spectacular. I can easily envision the look and feel of it as you drive up your driveway. You must be very excited despite being stressed and tired. It will all pay off for you very soon. I just hope the weather gives you a few breaks and doesn't beat you up too badly.