This morning, I finally climbed onto the roof and pulled the end-cap off the doghouse covering the exterior HVAC ductwork that serves the back half of the house, to see what I could do about trying to stop the persistent leak around the duct into the nursery/sewing room. (All drywall work in there is halted until I can get the leak stopped.)
Following a plan L came up with, I cut a strip of roof flashing to make a collar around the duct, riveted the upper edge to the duct itself, and taped the lower edge down with several strips of foil tape, which I then covered with roofing cement. Then I went around and spread more roofing cement over the joints between strips of bitumen (which I personally think is where the problem is, rather than at the duct penetration). I found several holidays where the bitumen had bubbled up and buckled at the seam rather than sealing; those gaps got roofing cement packed up into them, and a thick coating slathered over the top of the seam.
While fooling with all that, I discovered that the ductwork joints aren’t tight and therefore we’ve been dumping cold air into the outdoors for months, so I put more foil tape around one joint to seal it. The second air leak whose existence I suspect is going to require taking more of the doghouse apart, which I don’t want to do until the roofing cement’s had a chance to dry for a day or two, and after that I get to try my hand at re-assembling the doghouse. (Then I can add jake-leg sheet-metal worker to my list of indifferent, self-taught skills.)
After all that was done, and since I was up there with all my tools anyhow, I riveted together the gutter joints we’d set, which should help it hold together rather more than the gutter seal/cement can do by itself. (Reminder to self: get back up there and put a coat of sealer on the inside of those joints to prevent seepage into the joint itself and slow down the inevitable rusting.)
Conditions at 13:53:
Temp 95°/35°, dew point 70°/21° heat index 100°/38°, humidity 44%, wind SW at 8 mph, barometer 30.00”↓, sky mostly cloudy, visibility 10 miles.
11 days . . . .
Emma Goldman invested a talent in the Pharos at Alexandria. Fnord.
