Monday, October 12, 2015

roof project

I've not been around the cat blogosphere much lately, been running like the wind and too exhausted to do much other than collapse. There certainly has been a lot going on (too much), so I'll try to post some updates this week.

I usually have energy for one big outdoor project per summer, rebuilding the back porch was this summer's big project. But after watching the garage roof leak like a sieve after a mid-September rain storm, I figured I might not be able to put this one off any longer. Every year I went up there and patched holes, but it was becoming less and less effective. So, with a good looking weather forecast and a bunch of intense emotional energy to burn, I decided to give re-roofing the garage a go! It took only 10 days and it only rained once, on the 9th day!


The old roof was metal sheeting with many holes in it. The problem is the pitch of the roof is too small, so the water doesn't run off very much, especially when all the neighbor's trees shed their droppings. The water just sits and works it's way through the screw holes rotting the wood. In time there are major leaks!

Oliver snoopervised from a safe distance.

And later made sure no one disturbed the ladder.

Snoopervising is a hard job, so Pierre came by to assist his pa. 
I heard rumors around the job site that the snoopervisors might be trying 
to unionize in order to demand better wages.


The old red metal roof was put on top of the even older asphalt shingle roof. I tore it all off and replaced the many rotten wood rafter bits and then began with new sheeting. At first I thought of trying to reuse the old metal sheet roof, but there were just too many holes.




Oliver, patrolling the job site.

Poor-man's truck
I hauled all the materials on top of my car! I forgot how many trips it took, maybe five or six. Seemed like it took longer to haul the materials than build the roof! 


Getting the materials secured on the roof was a bit of a challenge, considering the metal roof panels are 12 ft (3.66 m) long! Thankfully, I'm not far from the building supply store and I figured out how to sandwich the metal panels between the sheets of OSB sheeting, to keep them from sliding around. The red tie down straps go through the rolled down windows, which means with the car loaded, the doors do not open - all entry and exit is accomplished by climbing through the window, just like The General Lee in the Duke's of Hazzard!

Oliver successfully negotiates higher pay for the feline laborers.

And the new roof!
 (notice our amazing 24-hour vet clinic in the background)

It was a lot of work, but it feels awesome to have gotten this project done, especially since I wasn't expecting to get around to it until next year. But, now with this done, I don't know what I'll do next summer! Maybe that greenhouse I've been dreaming about...

11 comments:

  1. Obviously, your snoopervising kitties were fantastic helpers! What a job, and the new roof looks fab! Who knows, next year could mean two projects in the summer...

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  2. wow - we are properly impressed!!! and it looks like Oliver certainly is the master of negotiations :)

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  3. Wow that was a great job on the roof! Well done and you had lots of snoopervision!!!

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  4. Wow, fabulous job on the roof! Of course you'd never have been able to do with without Oliver and Pierre.

    We also see that Oliver is an excellent negotiator. Our biped wishes he would have done the negotiating for the staff this summer, as their union got zip in the first year. Oliver would have done better, by far!

    Oh, and our biped wants to know if you'd like to visit Ontario next summer, for your project. Bring your tools. :-)

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  5. guys....yur dad dee serves a raiz for sure...him did a GRATE GRATE job on thiz roof......it looks veree nice.....we think a green houz wood be an awesum project....yur dad could grown BUNCHES oh catnip & catgrazz !!! ♥♥♥

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  6. Oliver is a extra special helper isn't he!!

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  7. My goodness, that was an amazing bunch of work! Way to go Oliver!!!

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  8. Me, Pierre and Oliver are truly impressed!!!

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  9. wait... what?? you have a 24 hr vet in your back yard!! that you like enough to call awesome?? woh, you are lucky!!

    oh yeah, and great job with the roof ;)

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  10. Oh me cats and kittens yous weally handy and such a hawrd worker. Good job.

    Luv ya'

    Dezi and Lexi

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  11. Great job! Good thing you had lots of feline snoopervisers.

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