We were working on our WP668 caboose all day today.
WP668 Today:
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Other Side:
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Door to Door:
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John finished the ceiling wiring, we adjusted the can light fixtures, put
in bulbs, turned on the generator, and everything worked! The soft row
of new lights down the center of the ceiling look great. They blend in
well with the original lines of the room.
Before Light:
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Fiat Lux:
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Prometheus:
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The next project was to finish tearing off the original fir tongue-and-groove
roof boards, then remove all of the roof nails and tar paper. This was my job.
I sat on the stringers and ridge boards with my roofer’s crowbar, pulling up
nails and prying up boards. I carefully collected all the nails in a cardboard
box but flung everything else off the roof. Of course, I picked
it all up and swept later but flinging is fun. It was clear
that there had at some point been a roof fire on WP668. The wood immediately
around the stove pipe was plywood (not tongue-and-groove) and the tongue-and-groove
around that was charred. I have splinters in both hands and legs.
Caboose Roof:
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Tar Paper, Nails:
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Nails Out:
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John and I put the shop vacuum up on the roof so I could take off all of the
bits of wood, tar paper, leaves, rust, dead bees, scraps of wiring, sand, and
other mess. Vacuuming a 400 square foot surface covered in
wood stringers, nailers, and ridge boards held up by steel joists is a fussy,
filthy job. The joists had deep 90 year old pockets of rust flakes to be
chipped off and vacuumed up. Some areas had a light coating of gritty dry mud
where water had pooled. The 4″ vacuum hose clogged about every ten
minutes and had to be unplugged, dangled off the roof, and beaten against
the caboose wall to dislodge the latest blockage. The cleaning took hours but
the results look great (and a clean roof will be much more pleasant to work on).
After many unsuccessful attempts to loosen the bolts on the edge boards,
John finally cut them off with a grinder. Lots of noise and sparks: we both
wore earplugs. Except for the rotted edge boards and a few rotted ridge boards,
the wooden roof framework is in excellent condition. The steel joists are
also sound.
John on Ladder:
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Clean Roof:
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Under WP668:
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Tomorrow, we insulate, replace the rotted ridge and edge boards and,
if there is time, start to put on the new roof covering. We will put in two
levels of insulation above the ceiling. The can lights we bought are
made to have insulation around them. A moving caboose is naturally cool and
does not need air cooling equipment but we need to plan for very hot summers.
The original Western Pacific colors for WP668 include a black roof, the worst
choice for a hot climate. However, with good insulation and an overhanging
silk tree (which will get planted as soon as it starts to rain), I have hope
of minimizing our need for air conditioning.
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