The gift that keeps on giving; Part 2

So, when we left off I had just found a cancer lurking in our house.  A cancer in the form of water damage that had penetrated a large area around the fireplace.  Immediately I suspected the culprit was at the roof so I dragged the ladder out and went to take a look.

Sure enough I found the problem.  Despite having a roof that was only 4 years old the roofers had done nothing to update worn out and twisted flashing that was pulling up from its anchors and just inviting the rainwater and snow melt inside.

Back inside I used the crowbar to start ripping down the damaged lathe and plaster.  In the process soiled and compressed insulation began to hang from between the joists and a mix of blown fiberglass and vermiculite showered down (more on that later).  What I found around the fireplace inside the house was not at all good but at this point I was really happy I had decided to tear down that drop ceiling.  I could only imagine sitting in our neatly arranged living room some evening only to look up and see a water stain forming.

 

Luckily the dry rot did not extensively affect the floor joist though it had essentially destroyed the cross support that abutted the fireplace and tied the joists together.  This would need to be removed and replaced with a new 2 x 6.  In addition the joists were not level and would need to be jacked back into position and re-tied to the 2 x 6. 

The other thing I found here was that there was no insulation in the space around the fireplace and I could see right outside through gaps in the external clapboard.  This would need to be sealed and then have fiberglass insulation stuffed into the space as this is fire resistant, though we plan an insert with a new liner so there won't be much heat conduction.

It's rather amusing how in the past they would stuff old insulation into a crack and crevasses to insulate.  If you look closely you can it stuffed along the top plate of the outside wall where the rafters meet (Left).  It comes right out but it literally crumbles in your hand and rains down onto the floor. Our electrician found at least a half-dozen old intact newspaper magazines from the 1930's as well in the knee wall spaces of the attic too.  At some point we plan to frame up and display a copy of the Saturday Evening Post from March 1931!
 

So in the next installment I show how we tackled the issue of the dry rot support and tied the joists back together.