Sunday, March 23, 2008

Shed roof woes


clout nails
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.
On Saturday morning I looked out of the window and noticed that one of the sheds had lost its roof. Closer inspection showed it wasn't lost exactly, just misplaced. One bit was at the side and the other had impaled itself on a fencepost and dangled in the pool.

Quite how this happened is a mystery. It was very windy but no worse than the shed had seen before. The wood was mostly OK at the roof line.

Anyway, three of us managed to haul the roof panels back into place. The impaled one needed a bit of violence to persuade it off the fencepost but otherwise that stage wasn't too bad.

Some hurried work with 6 inch nails secured it a bit. Trouble was the best solution - long screws needed a powered screwdriver and this was low on charge. It hadn't occurred to anyone that we might need it in a hurry.

Over night with fingers crossed, the repairs held. Next day found me climbing around on the roof with a newly charged Bosch screwdriver/drill and some good sharp decking screws from Homebase - hand hint the Focus ones are rubbish whereas Homebase screws go in like a knife through butter.

Satisfying as it is to do proper building work I prefer to be on the ground. I don't have a head for heights when perched on a ladder or trying to get a grip on even this low roof. The movement of the building while I was on it didn't help either. It certainly made me wish I was't so fat. Oh, and did I mention the light hail I was working in ?

Anyway, with the roof secured more solidly than it ever has been, we waited for the wood to dry. Unlike the one on Dorothy's house, this roof hadn't fared well when flying through the air and the felt needed replacing. Not fair really as I bet they don't have as much rain in Kansas.

With an hour of daylight left I'm back on the roof pinning felt down. I like clout nails as they go in easily with a decent size hammer. By this time I was getting more confident about the roof and reasoned that if I did fall through, it would just be less to cover.

An added fun element was the use of roofing felt glue. It's a black mastic substance that you smear around at the joints between the sheets. Then you (or at least I) smear some over the joints to stop the wind getting in under the sheets. As the kid next door commented - it smells like caramel but I'm not sure I fancy tasting it.

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