Thursday, August 2, 2007

Roofing Still Sucks, Day 2

Today was pretty much a duplicate of yesterday with regards to the heat. Low 90's and plenty of sun. Before the guys got here to get working, I took a few pictures of where we stopped yesterday. The front has most of the felt laid down and it's ready for shingles. I have a little bit of clean-up to do as well. Mr. Good-Judgment says shingles and nails do not make a safe path to the front door.




As I mentioned yesterday, I was considering getting a dumpster because loading the shingles into a trailer, taking them to the dump, and then unloading them by hand sucks. I got a couple of prices this morning, and of the two companies in the running, the one I went with was not only $100 cheaper for a 20 yard (they didn't have a 15 yard so I got the next size up for no extra cost), but could also deliver within two hours and I could keep the thing for 60 days. The other place would pick up in 5 days, didn't have anything the size I needed, and cost more. Not a hard decision to make... The car ramps at the door of the dumpster allow me to pull the trailer for my garden tractor into the dumpster so I can fill it from one end to the other. This work still sucks, but it doesn't suck as bad as taking the shingles to the dump. $290 well spent.




By around 10:30 they were making decent progress considering the heat. I think the shingles are a little darker than I had wanted, but it's too late now. It's hard to get a good feel for shingle color when you only have a 3' x 3' display to look at. It's not perfect, but it's good enough.




Anybody who is re-roofing their house or even if you're just having the whole thing done for you, if there is tear-off involved, buy one of these rolling magnets! I was amazed at how many nails I found a few feet from where the shingles were landing. I guess they make a run for it when they're finally free from the roof.




End of day, day 2. The front is done and the right side is about 70% done. Timing was pretty good, because just as we were getting the last bit of material down to protect against the 20% chance of rain, we had about 10 minutes of light rain. It was just enough to get everything wet, but not enough to do any damage to exposed areas.



I'm ending this post with a quick few words of wisdom. Roofing sucks. Roofing Sucks. Roofing SUCKS. Next time you get an estimate for having a roof replaced and wonder why it costs so much, it's because the work sucks. I honestly can't believe people do this for a living in hotter climates than Wisconsin. I'd sooner french-kiss a rabid badger than do this again.