Spring has come to Juneau. The transition comes slowly but arrives suddenly, when the nightly lows begin to stay just above freezing rather than just below, and the weather forecast changes from intermittent snow to intermittent rain.
While some areas of Juneau are already almost snow-free, there is still a lot of snow on the ground on our property, nestled as we are in the northern end of the Mendenhall Valley, less than two miles from the glacier that gives our valley its name. There is snow on the ground. There is snow and ice filling the basins of East and West Creek. There is snow and ice on our rooftop too, over a foot of it in many places.
I [Michael] mentioned the ice dam problem back in February. Not only did we have leaks in places I expected, we developed some new leaks that were unexpected and very unwlecome. All of them manifested themselves by draining into the cavity of the exterior wall, and the ones I noted emerged through the top of the windowsill. Those were the ones I noted: I have no doubt that other leaks flowed where we have no windows, causing troubles unseen but no less problematic.
And so I spend parts of my days now tracking around the house with tape measure in hand, looking at the existing structure and reasoning out details of the new construction. I'm also working with pencil and paper, drawing rough (and some not-so-rough) diagrams of new components, getting an idea about the scope and design of the coming project, and making materials estimates.
And until the snow melts and the ground thaws, there is really very little else I can do towards the project.
This summer's project will be scaled back from our original plan. The addition will not be possible, but the remainder of the work is still pretty much the same. We will be changing the roof from composite to metal. We will probably modify and extend some of the eaves. We will replace some windows. We will insulate and reside the walls. We will more properly insulate the attic above the east section. All that, plus some other little changes.
More than enough to occupy a summer.
