THE RESTORATION OF JABEZ NEWHALL’S TAVERN
CHAPTER 5 -- NEW ROOFS
____________________________________________________________________________
1. OFF WITH THE OLD
____________________________________________________________________________
The roof was covered with ugly diamond-shaped asphalt Tilex,
____________________________________________________________________________
which had been nailed over the existing slate roof, puncturing almost every slate, making them unusable and valueless.
____________________________________________________________________________
Under the slate we found two layers of white cedar shingles, held in place by hand-wrought roofing nails.
____________________________________________________________________________
Removing the cedar revealed wide oak and chestnut boards - the original sheathing for both house and roof.
____________________________________________________________________________
In the process of removing the four roofs, we found what we had hoped for: a ten-inch, circular-sawn extension running perpendicular to the roof sheathing.
As we had suspected, this overhang had been added in the 19th century, before the "modernized" version of the house illustrated in the 1879 print.
More than any other single feature, this overhang had robbed the house of its proper profile,
explaining at least in part why the local historical commission had given the house a date of 1824!
____________________________________________________________________________
We removed the four layers, the Victorian extension, and re-framed the second-floor wall in the back house, . . .
____________________________________________________________________________
both to raise the windows from floor level and to simulate the roof of the original structure - a cape.
____________________________________________________________________________
We next gave the front house a similar haircut . . .
____________________________________________________________________________
constructing a compact cornice appropriate to our eighteenth-century dwelling.
____________________________________________________________________________
Our roofing work generated a steady stream of nails and scraps of nail-saturated wood.
Throughout the summer, our aging Datsun pickup rarely survived more than a week without at least one flat tire.
____________________________________________________________________________
2. THE NEW ROOF
____________________________________________________________________________
In these days, John was still teaching, enjoying the luxury of long and frequent vacations, while Jan had less liberty in her position at Smith College.
Nonetheless, even the longest vacations must come to an end.
____________________________________________________________________________
We had planned to finish the roof and a few rooms and move in before the opening of school in September.
Our "schedule" allowed one month for the roof.
As we were soon to learn, even working twelve to sixteen hours a day, seven days a week,
simply removing the old roofs and restructuring the roofs, cornices, and returns took us amateurs - learning as we went along - the entire month.
____________________________________________________________________________
Next came the painstaking process of applying wood shingles - one at a time.
____________________________________________________________________________
This laborious and demanding process dragged on for weeks.
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Our roof had consumed the better part of the summer.
____________________________________________________________________________
Click here for Chapter 6: RE-SHAPING THE EXTERIOR
____________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 1: AS FOUND: SEPTEMBER 1985
Chapter 2: SEPTEMBER 1985 -- THE OUTBUILDINGS
Chapter 3: PHASE I: DEMOLITION
Chapter 4: NEW FOUNDATIONS AND CHIMNEYS
Chapter 6: RE-SHAPING THE EXTERIOR
Chapter 7: PREPARING FOR OUR FIRST WINTER
Chapter 8: SPRING 1987 -- CLAPBOARDS AND PAINT
Chapter 9: OUTBUILDINGS: THE CARRIAGE HOUSE
Chapter 10: OUTBUILDINGS: SHED, MILK HOUSE, AND BARN
Chapter 11: RESTORING THE CUPOLA
Chapter 12: GARDEN AND FRONT DOOR