“It’s a roof over my head.” We’ve all heard someone use that expression when the apartment they moved into or the house they bought may not be the one they eventually hope to live in but for the time being serves their needs.
A safe shelter is something we all need — a roof over our heads. Most of us just take the “roof over our heads” for granted. I always did but no more. After watching the job, the danger of working up high and having to scale up and down the roof slopes, my place of shelter is truly appreciated. Common Nails For Framing
Our son, Cort, a competent builder but not a roofer, volunteered to replace the roof on our garage and attached workshop. It’s not too big, so it sounded to us like a fairly easy undertaking. He lives in Maine, and Gerry and I looked forward to his spending several days with us while he did the project.
He got some instructions and a list of what we needed from his cousin, who is a roofer, sent us the list and we purchased the supplies. We were ready. He drove down, eager to go, and Gerry and I were eager to watch and lend a hand where we could. We’d never watched the roofing process before.
First, Cort had to remove the cedar shingles from the roof with a pry bar, which turned out to be a slow, grueling job that took three long days because the roof had been constructed to last with ring shank nails that don’t pull out easily.
The landscaping around the garage quickly changed to a ground-covering of old, rotted moss-covered shingles that were very wet from all the July rain. Our watching-the-job ended. We saw where we could help: picking up and bagging slimy-feeling shingles. Not only did the shingles need to be picked up but also nails, lots and lots of nails. As Cort worked, we picked up and picked up and picked up, hours of picking up. Cort’s arms began to ache from working the pry bar and his knees hurt from kneeling — our backs ached from bending over as we picked up. The fun adventuresome experience was taking on a new look.
Thank goodness for good neighbors. One said we could put the shingles in his burn pile and he sent down his grandson with an ATV to haul them away. His burn pile grew tremendously, and luckily with all the rain he will be able to get a burning permit soon. Another neighbor loaned us a huge magnet to attract nails or our stone driveway would probably have become a bed for making flat tires — it was amazing how the nails blended right in with the stones.
After the old shingles were removed, Cort put down a sealant covering called “ice and water” and the garage was finally ready to be shingled. Our neighbor’s grandson, Matt Rader from Gardner, a college student at Fitchburg State, came to help. Matt had never shingled a roof before either. He is studying to be an accountant. With advice from the internet and calls to the roofing cousin, they established a routine and the work began to proceed quite flawlessly. Miraculously, it was accomplished in one long day.
I was impressed by their teamwork, how smoothly they worked together, almost in rhythm, and the satisfaction they had to be feeling as the work progressed. It was a great achievement. They learned a lot, and all of us gained an admiration and respect for roofers and also for all the people who perform the wonderful jobs that keep us safe and comfortable. Roofers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, all these people with special trades have to learn specialized skills, work hard, deal with hazards and deal with the public. I will look at the work of these people with new eyes. They deserve a lot of respect and appreciation.
The roof is beautiful and it certainly was an education for Cort and Matt. I’m sure someday when a roofer comes to Matt’s CPA office to have his taxes done, Matt will say the man’s salary was well earned.
3600x3 Carole Gariepy is a Phillipston resident and author of “In Isolation.”