Roof Repair

I had previously written that the top section of one of our trees (a tall spruce tree) broke off during a little bit of wind we had a few nights ago.  The section of tree that fell on our neighbor's roof had rolled right off the roof.  All that was remaining on the roof was some boughs that were about the size needed for making wreaths so I though the roof was fine.  

I should also mention that our neighbor's house is unoccupied at the moment.  

The other day, the temperatures were up around 60 degrees so I went outside to pull those boughs off our neighbor's roof.  I grabbed the roof rake for pulling snow off the roof and attempted to pull down those boughs...  they weren't moving and the roof rake was getting caught up on something.  I immediately knew what the roof rake was hanging up on...  some of the branches on this section of tree must have punctured the roof.  Now I wasn't too happy and I knew I had some work to do ahead of me.

There is still about three feet of snow over on this section of our yard so setting up the ladder over there wasn't all that simple.  Just setting up the ladder exhausted me!  

I climbed up on the roof and, sure enough. the roof was punctured in three places.  The roof rake was getting caught up on one of the branches still sticking out of one of the holes in the roof.  Either we would need to call our insurance company or I could fix the roof.  I figured this repair would cost me less than $60 in supplies so that is the route we chose.  

Fortunately, the weather was decent over the past few days.  We have had zero precipitation.  We immediately headed out to Lowes and Home Depot to get supplies.  Actually, I checked our local Aubuchon Hardware first but they didn't have what I needed so we headed up to Burlington to check Lowes.  Lowes didn't have the shingles I needed so we then had to head to Home Depot.  

I had the supplies at our home within hours of realizing this roof damage but yesterday's temperatures were only as high as 33 degrees or so.  I knew the old shingles on this roof would not bend in these temperatures so I checked the weather forecast...  still no precipitation in the forecast and today was forecast to be in the 40s.  That would work.  

I waited until after lunch when the temperature was near its high point for day.  Then I started lugging supplies over to our neighbor's house.  

Within two hours, I had the roof repairs completed.  I had no problems with replacing the damaged shingles so that is good.  I guess you never forget how to do some things!  My father did roofing and siding jobs on the side (he was a NYC firefighter) so I was well trained in roofing and siding.  Actually, I recently wrote about my grandparents' house on the south shore of Long Island and always doing repairs on their house...  the roof was something that needed to be fixed often due to hurricanes and storms with high winds.  It seemed like the roof needed repairs every summer.  

While I was in high school, I worked around Long Island doing repairs on people's homes, painting, landscaping, etc.  While in college, I had built quite a few homes, did some intern engineering work, and did many home renovations and repairs for people.  I definitely have had the experience in this type of roof repair but it has been about 40 years since I've done this.  It came back to me quickly.  My biggest issue was being in my 60s now and lacking strength and endurance!

Here is what fell off our tree, landed on the roof and then rolled to the ground...

Below is a photo of the branch that was impending my roof rake.  This had penetrated the house by about 18 inches so I know there is some damage inside the house too.  When I pulled this tree limb out of the hole, it had some white drywall dust on the end of it...

Below is a photo of a 1 inch puncture hole...

And, here is the damaged roof ridge...

Here is a photo of all three damaged spots on the roof...

Within two hours, I had the roof repaired and cleaned up...  

And, a shot of the repaired roof from the other side...

At least the roof is sealed from the elements now and the repair looks just fine.

I'm waiting to hear from our neighbor so he can unlock the house so I can fix whatever damage is inside the house.  I'm hoping that will be a bit easier!  Fixing this roof really wore me out.  My legs are shaking, I'm exhausted and I feel like crap.