The Roofing System is Going On .................

HI!

It looks like the outside framing is just about done. There's a skin of 3/4" manufactured "plywood" over the whole outside, and the framers have given the home over to the roofers.

We're installing a roof "system." First, a layer of shaped styrofoam is placed. Backing up a little ...... when the framers created the parapet walls for the roof, they cut in what are called "scupper drains." These drains are holes in the walls low down, square and placed in the center of one of the walls. The roofers use the styrofoam to create slopes from the outside walls to the scuppers so that the water will flow off of the roof and not pool up.

In this picture, small steel discs about 4" in diameter are used to hold the styrofoam sheets securely down on the roof decking. The styrofoam may be 3 layers on the edges and 1 layer near the drains; but these layers of styrofoam cannot stand up to foot traffic or to the elements, so they have to be covered up.
Once the styrofoam is placed correctly, it's covered with a thin layer of cement board - actually a board with cement poured over a fiberglass mesh. The boards protect the styrofoam from being squashed by foot traffic.

The lighter grey colored section in this picture shows the cement board. An overpayment of EPDM is then placed.

EPDM is a fairly common roofing membrane in Colorado. EPDM stands for ethylene propylene diene monomer (M-class) rubber. It looks like a black rubber sheet that's thick enough to line an in-ground swimming pool. The roofers lay it over the styrofoam and up the walls and the look is of a swimming pool.

So, the roofers started on Monday and is supposed to be done on Friday .... of the same week. So far (Wednesday PM), they have about 80% of one section done. They have another section partially done and three sections untouched. We'll see if they make it!

Next comes the windows and doors. The windows have arrived in town, and the doors are going to be made locally, so they should be on time. After installing them, the home will be weatherproof and work begins in earnest inside.

Cheers!