Rebuilding “Ms. Merry”, the Amerigo–Merry Raises the Roof–Part 1

Well, we just keep jumping around to different tales, now don’t we? 

This is really because in order to get to a larger end goal on Ms. Merry, we have to do a little of one thing so we can do alot of another. 

In this case, we had to do the first half of the bathroom demolition in order to get to the rest of the roof.

As you saw in the Last Demo chapter, the roof framing above Ms. Merry’s bathroom was in pretty rough shape.  

Since the gang and I are going to change the bathroom a bit anyway, we decided to change how the roof vents and everything were as well.   This is going to add a little work for us, but the end result will be a bathroom big enough for Big Matt to stick his big round tuchus comfortably for a shower or a quite bit of contemplation with a book . 

The bathroom isn’t the only reason we’re reframing alot of the rear third of the Ms. Merry’s roof. 

A big reason is the original open for Ms. Merry’s Air Conditioner was turned into a nice skylight by her last owner, which is wonderful because it gives Big Matt a nice place to stick his head when he’s working in the kitchen and wants to stand up good and tall, but now we needed a new home for Merry’s new A/C unit. 

So, we first removed the first two roof joists directly behind the original area where the skylight was:

Then we built a new frame using 2x4s (Merry’s original A/C vent roof rafters were just 2x2s glued together, basically making a 2x4), so we used a couple 2x4s for the main load bearing area, then laminated the two 2x2 roof joists we’d removed (there was nothing wrong with them) and put them back into place and anchored them back into the top wall beam.

Once the glue had set on those new joists, we started removing the last couple in the rear that were in really bad shape from where water had gotten to them, enough so that it left a permanent outline on the inside of the fiberglass ceiling from where they were.

Before we took out the last beam, we cut the new five millimeter plywood to glue in on top of the new roof joists for the A/C so that there’s an even platform for the A/C to sit on and to give the roof a little slope so that water runs away from the A/C unit. 

We left it like for the night so that the pressure from the fiberglass could act like a clamp on the plywood to secure it via the glue we had squeezed in between the frame and it to bond the two together. 

When we cut the opening out for the new A/C, we’ll drive some flush fasteners in around the perimeter of the open to help secure the layers together. 

Once the glue had dried on the plywood, we went about framing in the new roof joists for the raised skylight area and the new 14x14 Vent-line Power vent that was also going into the bathroom and would be situated above the sink. 

We plan to reuse the section of roof where the new roof vent is going to fill in the original rear vent’s hole.   More five millimeter plywood is going to be installed across the areas where the old vent openings and new vent opens are to give us something to help re-glass the altered areas.

Once the holes are fully edged with roof material, the new vent frame will be installed on top of the roof and then made into a water proof permanent component onto which the skylight dome will go.

We’ve got one more vent open to frame in to replace the original 14x14 rear vent that’s being shifted towards the door a little to accomodate the expansion of the bathroom.

We’ll cover its installation and the plywood install in part 2 .

Not your Standard Burger Joint II–Longfellows Inn

Well, since we’re on a roll with Burger Places that don’t fit the normal image, I’ll take you this time to a place with a bit of history to it’s building, The Longfellow's Inn, in Scappoose, Oregon.

Longfellow's Inn

View Larger Map

 

Originally constructed for Farmers State Bank in 1912, the building in which Longfellows Inn resides has seen many changes.  It was the only structure in the Scappoose business district erected chiefly of cement at the time of the 1915 town fire, and thus is one of the only surviving buildings.
Over the years, it has served as a meeting place for the Scappoose City Council and the Masons, as well as housed the First National Bank, a meat market, and doctor and dentist offices.

Nowadays, she’s pretty close to being your run of the mill tavern, with a fairly basic menu (roughly one page long).  What makes it a bit out of the ordinary is how your food is cooked.

Set right in the center of the main dining space is a big grill, on which the host or hostess cooks your meal or if you choose to you, could can cook it yourself to however well you’d like it done. 

A simple variety of seasonings are available at the grill to add a little extra flavor to your burger, including a couple of Webber’s grillmates mixes (I have no clue which ones, exactly), garlic powder, and of course salt and ground black pepper. 

The meat is rather high quality and not too fatty or lean and grills up well.  I ended up having them bring me double patties as I was rather hungry that evening.

The prices are also not too bad, you’ll leave full and without feeling like you were taken for a ride.