More outside things

Today we continued our quest to tighten up the house. We decided to start with the easiest roof area to reach, above what used to be a porch

It's relatively low and there is a window to the bathroom up there that we could pass stuff back and forth into the house. However, we quickly realized that the ladder we have is slightly too short, even if you put it on the porch. So we went back to menards to buy some more supplies, including a ladder that folds all sorts of ways. Then, we got back up on the roof to take stock and quickly realize our work was cut out for us. One of the molding pieces under the roof had rotted out, so Matt took it down.

And our our trip to menards we got as good of a match as we could, and put it back up (caulking the entire thing, of course)

I'll have to post the pic tomorrow, because we forgot to take one, but trust me, it looks way better.

While he had the caulk out, matt also caulked around the bathroom window, down the corner, and up under the roof overhang. Then, we turned our attention to the windows in James's room. One of the things that turned up during our inspection was the fact that these windows have no flashing, and, in fact, have exposed foam jammed between the sill and the roof. Not pretty:

So, we bought some aluminum flashing, cut it to fit, and installed it around the window.

I'm proud to say, I cut the aluminum and it fit pretty darn tight if you ask me. Matt was very pleased. We used some special nails with rubber washers to tack it down, and then, of course, we caulked it (and by we, I mean Matt, he's the king of caulk). Also, fun fact, it started to get dark at this point, so poor Matt was finishing up on the roof in the dark. But it turned out great and now we don't have exposed foam and I'm pretty sure there's no way any water is getting in.

In fact, we used three different types of caulk today. We're getting to be real connoisseurs if you ask me. Kind of reminds me of our love for paintbrushes

Now we just need to do the same thing for the other window. Luckily, while I was cutting out the aluminum, I checked and the other window was pretty much identical, so I used the first one as a template. I know, I'm a genius. Ok, maybe that's pushing it a little, but I did at least save us some time and effort.