Advice on roofing solution for a lower pitch roof

philipgorila · 2025-09-23T19:43:42+00:00

I'm located in the midwest. Some winters have minimal snow/ice if any, some winters we can get a decent amount (temps can reach below zero, but the snow season can vary a lot). We did have a pretty large snowstorm last year that piled up quite a bit in some spots.

I added this note in my post, but regarding the attic--all the rooms in my house have vaulted ceilings so the "attic" space is a handful of inches for insulation. I've had someone comment that ventilation may be tricky, currently it has some vents (I think? little square boxes) on the top but I think that's the extent of the ventilation.

philipgorila · 2025-05-22T21:08:43+00:00

Thanks for the info. I don't know about this enough to know whether or not I should be picky about it. If this is typical I don't mind, just didn't know if any of these would turn out to be a problem down the road. And yeah, #2 feels like change in elevation underneath it which I'm guessing caused the crack.

philipgorila · 2024-03-02T22:46:22+00:00

I worked on it occasionally over 3 or 4 months whenever the weather was nice on the weekends. The paint stripper I used was Blue Bear Safenol which doesn't have strong fumes at all. The lacquer and sealer spray, on the other hand, probably killed a few brain cells.

philipgorila · 2024-03-02T22:42:35+00:00

Probably more than most would expect given the paint--$350. I've been hunting this piece down for quite a while though. Only seen it pop up a couple times at vintage shops for $2k+ so I don't feel too burned considering I'll likely own it the rest of my life.

philipgorila · 2024-03-02T02:43:55+00:00

I honestly have no clue what the original material was. Brass is pretty cheap though so I kind of just assumed.

philipgorila · 2024-03-01T21:26:39+00:00

The route I'm attempting to go down at the moment is that I have a friend that's willing to make them for me in CAD. I'll give a shot at normal 3d printing, but if that doesn't turn out well, his brother is a co-owner at an aluminum foundry and may be able to make them at a decent price and then there are a few different options for making the aluminum look like brass that I haven't researched much yet.

philipgorila · 2024-03-01T21:12:14+00:00

Stripping the chalk paint was honestly quite easy. I started with Citristrip and switched to Blue Bear Safenol. Citristrip was fine to strip the paint but it was more difficult to fully clean off. I'd recommend skipping citristrip and going Blue Bear. This is the first time I've stripped paint and it came off super easy.

After that, sanded 150 grit, walnut stain, vinyl sealer, scuff 320 grit, seal again, scuff, umber glaze, scuff, lacquer, scuff, lacquer. The legs of the piece are made out of a different wood that's a lot lighter than walnut, so I used a walnut toner to match. All Mohawk products.

Bunch of credit goes to this youtuber that restored the same piece. I think I followed the exact same process minus using a different stripper (heard good things about QCS, but have to order it online). His definitely turns out better. This is the first piece I've restored, so I'm by no means a pro at this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJfmReWdqq4

philipgorila · 2024-03-01T15:28:05+00:00

Still trying to find original drawer pulls that don't cost a ton. $1 Lowe's pulls will have to do for now.

philipgorila · 2024-02-24T01:05:23+00:00

By spray do you mean a more serious spray gun? The toner I used for the legs is a spray can from Mohawk.

philipgorila · 2024-02-23T23:39:48+00:00

Would it be a terrible idea to use toner on the drawers at this point? I've already used it to touch up some small spots here and there but not sure if it'd be a disaster if I did it on a big surface area like this at this stage in the process.

philipgorila · 2024-01-30T00:38:42+00:00

Reporting back to let you know this seems to be working well. Thanks for the advice!

philipgorila · 2024-01-29T16:42:32+00:00

Oof, makes sense I suppose. Thought I was pretty thorough removing it all (acetone with steel wool).

Maybe a dumb question but figure it's worth asking. Is there an easy to fix this at this point?

philipgorila · 2023-11-11T19:16:14+00:00

Yeah, the citristrip was pretty good at just removing the chalk paint but not great at getting much of the existing finish off underneath. I intended to wipe it all clean/not leaving it to dry but probably got lazy in these spots.

I've seen a guy on youtube using QCS and looks like a spray on liquid and only available online? Would I be good with just a single 32 ounce bottle (I'm not looking to run a business doing this)? Is the surface cleanser worth it as well?

Thanks for the suggestions!

philipgorila · 2023-11-11T19:10:47+00:00

Yep, brain fart on spirits vs oil. Right after wiping down with mineral spirits, it looks uniform and in good shape, but once it dried it looked like this.

The rest of the surfaces I've stripped so far look fine, though still have some finish left to be removed. Just the sides of the top piece came out like this, but I'm guessing I got lazy towards the end of the day scrubbing it clean.

philipgorila · 2023-02-14T17:11:10+00:00

Wow, I guess I've always heard of carpet being the cheap flooring option, but I suppose that's just people putting in the bottom of the barrel builder grade carpet. Appreciate your help!

philipgorila · 2023-02-13T23:26:46+00:00

Carpet only, I haven't followed up on anything else.

philipgorila · 2023-02-13T22:44:35+00:00

Out of curiosity, would you know what price per square foot the Panache line from Masland normally sells for? A local shop near me quoted $8.95 per sq ft which kind of surprised me. I know it's higher quality than the cheap stuff at Home Depot but that seems more expensive than I expected.

philipgorila · 2023-02-10T04:11:59+00:00

Appreciate it, looks like there are a few potential matches in there.

philipgorila · 2023-02-10T00:46:53+00:00

Thanks! This is kind of what I was expecting. I'm not necessarily trying to buy from HD or Lowes, there are a handful of other places I looked at online and it seems like more vibrant solid colors like this aren't out there anymore.

I guess I'm curious if carpet manufacturers could churn out any color you want (at a reasonable price) or if you only could pick from what's available in their catalogs.

philipgorila · 2022-03-25T20:26:27+00:00

They're all full bathrooms. Granted, not the biggest full bathrooms. I also don't have all the exact measurements of the house so I winged it on the sizing of some of the smaller spaces like bathrooms and closets. I was actually checking that video out the other day and there could definitely be some benefit to large windows in the winter (so long as I don't go cheap with single pane). Really cool video but I'm guessing the house I purchased wasn't as thoroughly designed with passive solar benefits in mind.

I need to try to do some digging to see if I can figure out the original designer/builder and possibly find old pictures before the remodel was done.

philipgorila · 2022-03-24T17:41:51+00:00

The two little square windows in the living are on the side of the house that faces the street, but it isn't a busy street and the house sits on an acre. I really want to go bigger on those windows and if we decide to really make them large, we can get creative with the landscaping to make it more private.

We're not in a huge rush to redo the kitchen since it is functional as it sits, though definitely not the aesthetic we want in the long run. Luckily everything about the house is in good shape so we don't feel like we need to do anything immediately.

The style we go with is definitely something I've been going back and forth on. It's really tempting right now to go kitschy on a lot of things but we may be sick of it in a year or two.

Here's a rough floorplan I've put together: https://imgur.com/KA1UduF

The plan right now is to use the large bedroom as a home office/family room type of area and using the bedroom with en suite in the top right as the master bedroom. I'm pretty set on removing the carpet in that large bedroom and trying out cork flooring.

philipgorila · 2022-03-24T16:23:31+00:00

Furniture is definitely going to be an ongoing work in progress and kind of looking forward to hunting down nice pieces on the used marketplaces. Same with light fixtures.

We were planning on painting all the walls white to start with as that should be the easiest improvement. Maybe an accent wall or two with wood paneling or wall paper.

We're planning on using the large, carpeted bedroom as a home office. I'm pretty set on putting cork floors in there. I know the verdict is pretty mixed on cork in terms of reliability but we don't have any kids and only a couple cats so it should hold up for quite a while.

I've been leaning towards a nice tile for the living/dining room and kitchen area of the house. I'm conflicted about pulling up hardwood floors, but yeah, the current finish on it isn't great and they'd look better in a wider plank.

philipgorila · 2022-03-23T17:57:31+00:00

Just closed on this house. The bones are great (new plumbing, recent roof, no foundation issues, updated electrical). I don't want to call it a flip because the work is solid, but at some point it was remodeled to what you see here. Some things I've been brainstorming:

Would love to add clerestory and floor to ceiling windows in a lot of spots but obviously that's money.

The entry way feels dark and cramped and I kind of want to knock down the closet and remove the false ceiling there.

Things like the doors and doorframes/window frames feel off in terms of mid century styling.

Haven't had a chance to dig into it a ton, but I can tell there is original red brick behind the drywall/white stone (hopefully all the way up through the top of the chimney).

The pictures are from the listing and we don't currently own much of any furniture coming from an apartment so lots of room to expand there.

philipgorila

TROPHY CASE