Spring Fling
I took 9 days off work to try and sort things out. As much as I wanted to jump start a few projects at home, I also wanted to get out of the environment and see how my stress levels fared.
My main project was to get the garage roof done; the shingles were failing and it had developed a leak somewhere. I got several estimates for the one surface, none were less than $2500 to do something that would cost $500 in materials. I had previously done some roofing work when I was younger, so I wasn't too daunted by the prospect of doing it myself. I decided that's what I was going to do.
The weather would not cooperate. In fact, it snowed 2 days into my vacation time and rained for anther 3. Winter was not done, it seemed. I used that time to get the brakes on the car done, and Friday I pretty much spent all day with Bella at her "Grand Day" event, which was sweet. She was so excited to have me there, it warmed my heart.
On Sunday the sun finally came out and I got to work ripping off the old shingles. This part went easily in most respects. One thing I had not factored was that I am actually much older, and had spent a large part of the winter being rather sedentary. So began the first day of an arduous reawakening of my physical being. I ripped off the entire roof surface, as well as a few portions of the skin on my hands.
On Monday I got some better gloves and had the supplies delivered to the roof via boom truck. This much I remembered- I did not want to carry the shingles up a ladder. It was sunny and 70s and I got a lovely sunburn. I had never before dealt with ice & water barrier, so that was a learning experience. It's like trying to wrestle with a hot, wet, angry, 40-foot-long blanket that's trying to throw you off a cliff, in a nutshell. That took a good portion of the day. With the rest of it I replaced the flashing and found the leaking area under the eaves of the house and repaired that, then got the first 2 courses of shingles down.
This was pretty amazing for me, I felt my body in a way I haven't in a long time. Painful yes, but strong and able. After the work of Sunday, Monday was even more arduous as I was warming out the soreness of long inactivity. It was a long 12-hour day in the sun but oddly, I went to sleep on Monday night without anything hurting, the first night I have done that in a long time.
On Tuesday I learned about roofing jacks, which I had never used previously. They helped immensely and I got the lower half of the roof shingled up, though I didn't have a whole lot of time to work on that day. This was good since apparently I had pushed myself too hard the last two days. I was having issues with things not working. Not weak or painful, just... not working. Like, I would try to stand up after squatting for a while and I would find out that I simply could not make that motion happen, I had to turn to the side, sit, and then straighten. It frightened me, but I realize that this will happen more often as time goes on. I had also shredded the better gloves.
Yesterday I got another pair of gloves (actual roofing gloves this time, reinforced knuckles FTW) and had a productive morning, getting the eaves shingled and weaving the garage surface into the house roof before being driven from the scaffolding by rain. I tried several times to get back up during the course of the day, but the sky had other plans. I'd be up there now despite the dampness, but I need the sun to dry out the tar paper before I can shingle over it, so I'll have to finish up around my work schedule.
I still have to pick up the old shingles and with the resurgence of Spring it seems I'll have to get the lawnmower up and working sooner rather than later, the back yard already looks like a kelp garden. Plenty to do, but somehow doing all this at home has given me a more peaceful perspective of what I'll be dealing with at work, which is more an exercise of the mind.
I think my body has had enough of this for a bit. Balance in all things, I have to keep that in mind.
My main project was to get the garage roof done; the shingles were failing and it had developed a leak somewhere. I got several estimates for the one surface, none were less than $2500 to do something that would cost $500 in materials. I had previously done some roofing work when I was younger, so I wasn't too daunted by the prospect of doing it myself. I decided that's what I was going to do.
The weather would not cooperate. In fact, it snowed 2 days into my vacation time and rained for anther 3. Winter was not done, it seemed. I used that time to get the brakes on the car done, and Friday I pretty much spent all day with Bella at her "Grand Day" event, which was sweet. She was so excited to have me there, it warmed my heart.
On Sunday the sun finally came out and I got to work ripping off the old shingles. This part went easily in most respects. One thing I had not factored was that I am actually much older, and had spent a large part of the winter being rather sedentary. So began the first day of an arduous reawakening of my physical being. I ripped off the entire roof surface, as well as a few portions of the skin on my hands.
On Monday I got some better gloves and had the supplies delivered to the roof via boom truck. This much I remembered- I did not want to carry the shingles up a ladder. It was sunny and 70s and I got a lovely sunburn. I had never before dealt with ice & water barrier, so that was a learning experience. It's like trying to wrestle with a hot, wet, angry, 40-foot-long blanket that's trying to throw you off a cliff, in a nutshell. That took a good portion of the day. With the rest of it I replaced the flashing and found the leaking area under the eaves of the house and repaired that, then got the first 2 courses of shingles down.
This was pretty amazing for me, I felt my body in a way I haven't in a long time. Painful yes, but strong and able. After the work of Sunday, Monday was even more arduous as I was warming out the soreness of long inactivity. It was a long 12-hour day in the sun but oddly, I went to sleep on Monday night without anything hurting, the first night I have done that in a long time.
On Tuesday I learned about roofing jacks, which I had never used previously. They helped immensely and I got the lower half of the roof shingled up, though I didn't have a whole lot of time to work on that day. This was good since apparently I had pushed myself too hard the last two days. I was having issues with things not working. Not weak or painful, just... not working. Like, I would try to stand up after squatting for a while and I would find out that I simply could not make that motion happen, I had to turn to the side, sit, and then straighten. It frightened me, but I realize that this will happen more often as time goes on. I had also shredded the better gloves.
Yesterday I got another pair of gloves (actual roofing gloves this time, reinforced knuckles FTW) and had a productive morning, getting the eaves shingled and weaving the garage surface into the house roof before being driven from the scaffolding by rain. I tried several times to get back up during the course of the day, but the sky had other plans. I'd be up there now despite the dampness, but I need the sun to dry out the tar paper before I can shingle over it, so I'll have to finish up around my work schedule.
I still have to pick up the old shingles and with the resurgence of Spring it seems I'll have to get the lawnmower up and working sooner rather than later, the back yard already looks like a kelp garden. Plenty to do, but somehow doing all this at home has given me a more peaceful perspective of what I'll be dealing with at work, which is more an exercise of the mind.
I think my body has had enough of this for a bit. Balance in all things, I have to keep that in mind.