little mrs. fix it...

I am feeling very proud of myself today. I accomplished my first homeowner fix-it project. A few weeks after moving in, I noticed a water spot on the ceiling near our front door. It wasn't something that was noticed during inspection, and in all fairness to our inspector, it could have been mistaken for a paint splotch. Whoever did the paint touch ups did not have a steady hand.

But anyway, I called our inspector and he agreed to come look at it. He thought it was an old spot, but did find the source – a small tear in the membrane of the roof of our front porch.

Luckily, the fix was easy. Fill in the tear with roofing sealant. That meant buying a caulking gun. So now I'm armed and dangerous.

After a bit of a dog and pony show trying to figure out how to use the darn thing, I was ready for action.
I removed the screen and got to work.

I was so excited to use the gun, I forgot to take a picture of the tear. But here I am simulating how I fixed the rip. The tear was located on the right side of an already reinforced square area close to the house. So I just popped my head out the window and started sealing.

I reinforced the entire square because it looked like the old sealant was starting to come apart.

To make sure I got it all, I stuck the gun underneath the siding to make sure I didn't miss any of the tear. Looks like I got some of the siding too.

This is the final product. Looks like I went a little overboard with the sealant, but honestly, it was so hard to pull the trigger on the caulking gun, that I just sort of glopped it on in three layers. The tear was along the right side of the square and was not nearly as big as the cover-up. But better safe than sorry, right?

Now only time will tell if it works, but as of right now, I am pretty proud of my handiwork.