Thursday, February 16, 2012

Up On The Roof: One Hot Story

A few years ago the roof on the garage of the weekend house started to leak. Now both the garage and house roofs were original and we knew replacement would be needed at some point. When the first leaks appeared in the garage...it was time.

When this happened I believe, was in late summer.  As we usually take off some time in September, I came up with what I thought was a brilliant idea. Why don't we do it ourselves? Even as I wrote those words, I cannot fathom they actually flew out of my mouth. So we thought about it.  A two-car garage, one story...how hard could it be? Mind you neither of us had ever replaced a roof before...hell I had never even stood on top of a roof before.

So we consulted with our contractor, who I'm sure thought we were insane, he ordered the materials and lent us the tools we needed.  Middle of September in the Poconos...weather should be perfect.  And it was, except for the 90+ degree temperature the entire week. The first day of stripping off the old roof wasn't too bad, except for the temperature and the nails and the temperature and the up & down the ladder and the temperature. Laying down tar paper and having the shingles delivered all in one day. A truck with a crane dropped them right on top of the roof, but the bundles still needed to be moved into position. And did I mention they are heavy as hell.

The days went by, the heat never changed. From early morning until late afternoon, little by little we got it done. The end of the week, rain was forecast...we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.  The rain came, the leaks did not. A job well done. And though I am proud to be the only woman I know to have replaced a roof...it is definitely a job I will never do again.

I may be a force of nature and I may be a few shingles short of a bundle...but I am definitely not a roofer.
Anybody seen my nail gun?

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7 comments:

  1. yeah roofing sucks but its an experience cool when the pain is shared

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  2. That is some accomplishment and one for the books !

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  3. Whoa..Nice! I've done the roofing thing...it is a heavy job. Funny thing was...I had such a good time that it became a high light of my summer. Talking with some cool friends and sweating it out on the hot roof.Makes me wonder how much else we could accomplish with a few friends...or on our own that we just haven't thought of yet?

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  4. One man,one woman,one roof...it wasn't pretty. Only good thing, we were way to tired and hot to fight about ANYTHING!

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  5. Good job on repairing the roof! Leaks can lead to problem when left aside. And it is good that you made an action on the first leak you have notice. Although the weather is not on your side, it is better that the sun is up rather than doing the repairing on a rainy day.

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  6. It is good that you had the initiative to fix the roof, but doing it against the weather is bad. The hot temperature can make your health at risk, and it would be a lot of worse if you suffer from heatstroke while repairing it or fall down from the roof. Well just look on the bright side, no one got hurt and the roof is leak-free!

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  7. A leaky roof is very annoying and frustrating. Not only will it damage the ceilings but it will also let moisture in which can attract pests inside.

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