Eichler - ish in Mass ?
anyone out there with an eichler-ish house in massachusetts?
we live in a modern house designed by a local architect, built in 1965. we have a flat roof over the garage, kitchen & dining room, and an a-frame roof over the living room & family room & bedrooms. the house is on a slab, has 4 arcadia over-sized sliders, wood ceilings, a courtyard, high transom windows and single pane glass a-frame type windows. can't believe how much like an eichler AND how many similar eichler issues we have! the big difference is our house is built entirely of brick, interior AND exterior walls. the only interior non-brick we have are some interior walls that separate the rooms.
we will be replacing the roof, and single pane windows as it's COLD here! we have architectural hardware - hinges, knobs - that need repair - and having trouble finding replacement parts. i've been doing a lot of research on the web and did find that i could buy replacement parts for the arcadia sliders thru their website.
nothing at the local home store pertains to our house - and many contractors scratch their heads. they don't know what to do...so we won't let them touch anything. as i suspect with an eichler - people either get it or they don't. we're surrounded by lots of "don'ts"...folks in repro colonials.
thanks for the terrific site - i think we'll be able to use lots of info for our house too - even if it's not a true eichler - we're doing our best to be modern in massachusetts!
kara
PS: if there is anyone out there that has info any Mass experiences with this sort of thing, please let us know...we'll share info we find in our modern-house-restoration research that we think will be of interest.
Out of curiosity, how much trouble is the flat roof with snow? Do you end up clearing the roof at all? Does the roof drain like California Eichlers (with drain holes in the roof leading to drainpipes) or can water somehow drain into gutters or pour off an edge?
As a Californian who lived through a few winters in New York, the combination of snow and flat roofs scares me...
Robert
we end up having to clear the roof when it snows...
we don't have gutters, but the previous owners installed a drain hole with an attached pipe in the garage which drains down a pipe on the back of the house.
we do have a natural "drain" off the edge of the house in the courtyard designed by the architect, in the form of a natural waterfall. we have copper flashing around the edge of the roof. if it rains enough, the very very slight pitch of the roof forces the water off the overhang, through an opening in the flashing )_________( that looks like that, and forms a waterfall which splashes into a "pond" designed to pool the water. it's truely an amazing thing to see.
the roof is sagging in the garage, causing water to pool when it rains, so we have to also sweep water off the roof after a big rain. we're going to fix the sag this spring, and hopefully replace the roof this year.
it's great design, but tough in the winter 'round here. this house really comes to life in the warmer months when the inside and outside blend into one.
it's been a long, cold winter!
thanks for the reply - we envy you california eichler owners!
> we end up having to clear the roof when it snows...
> the roof is sagging in the garage, causing water to pool when it rains,
> so we have to also sweep water off the roof after a big rain. we're
> going to fix the sag this spring, and hopefully replace the roof this year.
And to think I complained about only having to shovel the driveway during my brief time in New York...
Don't think that those of us in California are immune to these problems, though. Eichlers in California can also have problems with sagging around the garage leading to water pooling on the roof. Occasionally, you'll see a house with small hoses leading onto the roof so that the owner can siphon water out of the usual locations where ponding occurs. I've heard that some owners have added an extra post in the center of the garage to avoid a pond above.
While we don't have snow, I find myself climbing on the roof a couple times each winter to clear leaves and seed pods away from the drains.
Robert
yup. snow is fun - that big blizzard, we already had about 10", and got another 24" in two days. THAT was exciting!
we're are intending to put another post in the garage, and raise it slowly over time until the sag is corrected. we are the 3rd owners, the first being the architect and his family. the 2nd owners didn't like to pay anyone to make professional repairs, so we've spent much of our time fixing their "fixes". the roof has been let go so long, the only option is the additional post we think.
how did that work for the folks you know? are they on this list?
i've learned so much from the posts here - it was amazing to finally hear about people dealing with similar issues. i spend way too much time reading the boards.
and try asking someone at home depot about our flat roof!!
kara
> we're are intending to put another post in the garage,
> and raise it slowly over time until the sag is corrected...
> how did that work for the folks you know? are they on this list?
I've only heard about this problem (and solution) second-hand, so I don't know any details. Maybe someone else can give concrete details about removing sags above the garage with an extra post?
Robert
