Last Chance This Summer
It was so hot yesterday that Lisa had to put off a trip to the roof until nearly 8 PM, giving her not more than about an hour to try and get something accomplished on this, the last full day that I was here. She obviously can't go up there by herself without a ground spotter; it's much too dangerous.
For some reason, the photos transferred to my computer in a different order than which they were taken, which is why the file names are out of sequence in case you happen to go look at the Flickr Set, where there are more photos from this work session.
Using the large and small wire brooms, Lisa scrubbed as much of the moss as she could from the area she intended to cover. More rotten shingles slid off the roof, revealing an earlier layer of asphalt shingles, and in a few cases, the original cedar shake roof below that.
After scrubbing at the moss, she used the leaf blower to blow as much of the debris clear as she could. This led to a scary-for-me moment. The lower part of the safety line got tangled in the sheets of metal that are covering the lower part of the roof. I was responsible for wrangling the line to keep the rope clear of the edges here, but Lisa moved more quickly than I expected and the line got hung up on that loose corner. With her back turned to me, wearing ear protection, and running the leaf blower, she couldn't possibly hear me shouting at the top of my lungs from ground level "Stop! Stop!" and she started pulling the lower line along, prying the metal sheets up and conceivably damaging the rope as well.
I briefly considered finding a rock and seeing if I could possibly hit Lisa with it from this range (unlikely). I frantically wiggled the rope to try and free it up and maybe catch Lisa's attention without success. Finally, she happened to glance over her shoulder and spotted me maniacally waving and trying to get her to notice me, and she waved, stopped, and helped me free the line. No harm done, but it was a scary time for me.
There's no time to lay strips of lath and roof fabric, but we need to get something down here to prevent further damage. Lisa poured two gallons of Gray Goo directly on the affected surface. Sorry for the blurry shots, but the light was fading, making it increasingly difficult to take action shots with zoom.
With the sun below the horizon and the twilight deepening, Lisa rushed (as much as she could on a precarious perch hanging by safety lines) to spread Gray Goo over the most-damaged section of roof.
On her way down from the roof, she used a small bit of Goo she'd reserved for this purpose to coat the "notch" in the east end of the roof that had evaded coating until now because it had been where the ladder rested most of the time we've been working here. This is what it looked like the next morning. Lisa says it needs more work, but at least we have something on every bit of the surface of the roof's east end.
On Saturday morning, here's how the newly-coated section looked from the path between the old house and her father's house.
While it's not the prettiest work in the world, due to the rushed conditions, Lisa says it should hold this section of roof together and keep out the water for a while, and it will improve the footing conditions for her when we return to it next season to lay lath, fabric, and goop over the east end.
After doing what she could before twilight ended entirely, Lisa came down from the roof, handed the roller to me, and while I went and washed it out, she put away the tools, detached the safety line from the John Deere mower, and put the mower away. The safety line remains on the roof because she sort of hopes that a friend might be persuaded to come down and spend a couple of days as a ground spotter for her while she makes one more trip up there to do some additional clean up work. And if that doesn't happen, she can get the safety line down by herself without anyone's help, and she tells me she can even put the ground ladder away herself at need, by using the hand cart as a support for dragging it back to the shed in which is it stored.
This is the end of my house work adventures for this trip. In a few minutes, I'll be shutting down the computer, packing up the printer, and leaving to head south again. Current plans have me back up here the first three weeks of October. If we are lucky, we'll have some times with sufficiently good weather to get more work done here.
For some reason, the photos transferred to my computer in a different order than which they were taken, which is why the file names are out of sequence in case you happen to go look at the Flickr Set, where there are more photos from this work session.
Using the large and small wire brooms, Lisa scrubbed as much of the moss as she could from the area she intended to cover. More rotten shingles slid off the roof, revealing an earlier layer of asphalt shingles, and in a few cases, the original cedar shake roof below that.
After scrubbing at the moss, she used the leaf blower to blow as much of the debris clear as she could. This led to a scary-for-me moment. The lower part of the safety line got tangled in the sheets of metal that are covering the lower part of the roof. I was responsible for wrangling the line to keep the rope clear of the edges here, but Lisa moved more quickly than I expected and the line got hung up on that loose corner. With her back turned to me, wearing ear protection, and running the leaf blower, she couldn't possibly hear me shouting at the top of my lungs from ground level "Stop! Stop!" and she started pulling the lower line along, prying the metal sheets up and conceivably damaging the rope as well.
I briefly considered finding a rock and seeing if I could possibly hit Lisa with it from this range (unlikely). I frantically wiggled the rope to try and free it up and maybe catch Lisa's attention without success. Finally, she happened to glance over her shoulder and spotted me maniacally waving and trying to get her to notice me, and she waved, stopped, and helped me free the line. No harm done, but it was a scary time for me.
There's no time to lay strips of lath and roof fabric, but we need to get something down here to prevent further damage. Lisa poured two gallons of Gray Goo directly on the affected surface. Sorry for the blurry shots, but the light was fading, making it increasingly difficult to take action shots with zoom.
With the sun below the horizon and the twilight deepening, Lisa rushed (as much as she could on a precarious perch hanging by safety lines) to spread Gray Goo over the most-damaged section of roof.
On her way down from the roof, she used a small bit of Goo she'd reserved for this purpose to coat the "notch" in the east end of the roof that had evaded coating until now because it had been where the ladder rested most of the time we've been working here. This is what it looked like the next morning. Lisa says it needs more work, but at least we have something on every bit of the surface of the roof's east end.
On Saturday morning, here's how the newly-coated section looked from the path between the old house and her father's house.
While it's not the prettiest work in the world, due to the rushed conditions, Lisa says it should hold this section of roof together and keep out the water for a while, and it will improve the footing conditions for her when we return to it next season to lay lath, fabric, and goop over the east end.
After doing what she could before twilight ended entirely, Lisa came down from the roof, handed the roller to me, and while I went and washed it out, she put away the tools, detached the safety line from the John Deere mower, and put the mower away. The safety line remains on the roof because she sort of hopes that a friend might be persuaded to come down and spend a couple of days as a ground spotter for her while she makes one more trip up there to do some additional clean up work. And if that doesn't happen, she can get the safety line down by herself without anyone's help, and she tells me she can even put the ground ladder away herself at need, by using the hand cart as a support for dragging it back to the shed in which is it stored.
This is the end of my house work adventures for this trip. In a few minutes, I'll be shutting down the computer, packing up the printer, and leaving to head south again. Current plans have me back up here the first three weeks of October. If we are lucky, we'll have some times with sufficiently good weather to get more work done here.