Roofing sucks

Talisman · Post by **Talisman** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 11:02 pm

I live with my parents in a small farmhouse, built in the 1940s. it was built by a farmer, so it's about as modern and sophisticated as you'd expect. Anyway, the roof needs work (it actually needed work about 5 years ago, but who's counting?).

Being disinclined to release any actual cash-money, my dad and I have spent much of the day on one side of the roof, shovels in hand, scraping off shingles. And a second layer of shingles. and a layer of roll roofing. And a second bloody layer of roll roofing. And the feltpaper.

Did I mention that all this is held on by ridiculously long nails? Or that the roofboards are ancient oak, and about as hard as +3 adamantine full plate? Or that the second layer of shingles, despite gripping the roof like an octopus, tends to disintegrate into pieces the size of a fingernail if you get a grip on it?

Oh, and we get to do it again tomorrow. And then another couple of days to clear off the other side. In between those good ol' November Kentucky rainstorms, of course.

I'm currently considering finding a voodoo priest to lay a curse on the man who originally roofed this mess. Of course, he's probably long dead by now...the bastard.

There's no real point to this thread...I just felt the need to rant. Thanks for reading.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 11:14 pm

I've done storm assistance n the places where they used the shorter nails. Be glad for the long nails.

-Username17

josephbt · Post by **josephbt** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 7:11 pm

screws, mate, use screws.

shau · Post by **shau** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 8:34 pm

I feel for you. I ehlped my dad replace the roof not to long ago.

You know, I heard a good straw roof lasts a really long time. Also, if you have a block association, they will explode after seeing it.

Judging__Eagle · Post by **Judging__Eagle** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 1:43 am

That's not straw, it's actually reeds. You're talking about thatched-roofing, right?

edit: nm a lot of tatching is reeds, but a lot is also straw.

shau · Post by **shau** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 2:52 am

Yes. it looks like it.

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:35 am

Block Associations need to die in a fire. With cancer. Seriously, man.

Anyway, I've always wanted to get those solar panel shingles I saw advertised, or even slate roofing. Both are expensive as hell, but yeah. Or there's even that weird grass roof deal, that recycles water and stuff. Requires structural supports, though.

Judging__Eagle · Post by **Judging__Eagle** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 1:24 pm

Meikle641, where do you live in Ontario?

I'm from Burlington myself.

Talisman · Post by **Talisman** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 4:22 pm

shau wrote:I feel for you. I ehlped my dad replace the roof not to long ago.

You know, I heard a good straw roof lasts a really long time. Also, if you have a block association, they will explode after seeing it.

I live in the country, literally a mile from the county line and 11 miles outside of the nearest actual city. There's a dairy farm on my road. I don't have to deal with block associations.

Yeah, actually my mom talked about thatch/solar/etc., but it's a "we have to get this done now!" situation. Ergo, shingles. They're cheap readily available and easy to install.

Judging__Eagle · Post by **Judging__Eagle** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 4:35 pm

You can put solar panels on after, or is support important?

Thatching and stuff like solar panelling are mutually exlusive. Thatching cannot have anything touching it or on it apparently.

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:50 pm

I'm from the dirty 'Shwa, of course. (Oshawa)

Talisman · Post by **Talisman** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 2:33 am

Judging__Eagle wrote:You can put solar panels on after, or is support important?

Thatching and stuff like solar panelling are mutually exlusive. Thatching cannot have anything touching it or on it apparently.

Well, thatching is a no-go. We might do a last-forever metal roof depending on availability and price, and we're probably going to stick some skylights and solar panels on at some future date...Cthulhu only knows when, though.

Anyone have any experience with solar stuff? I definitely want to use some panels.

Judging__Eagle · Post by **Judging__Eagle** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 5:59 am

Only small scale stuff that would go on an RC car. Sorry.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 7:30 am

We have a 15W panel we use camping... But that's it for me, too.

There's some good stuff out there, and when compared to the life of the panels, it is competitive now to buying power in the more spendy areas.

-Crissa

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 4:24 am

I love eco-tek (Reading 'Doktor Sleepless" makes me want to put 'k's in strange places) but from what I've heard from living my in-laws who just built a house in rural east Texas that when they looked into Solar roofing and the people who lived in the area who had tried solar roofing said that life on them was shitty. Based on hearing from several of these experiences they went some other kind of roof.

now this was two years ago and this could be anecdotal evidence. Tech advances, the people who invested in it might have gotten gypped, it might be a true case. Shit, I dont' know. But another viewpoint from an opposing side doesn't hurt at times.

P.S. Of course, these are my in-laws and I am supposed to be notorious about my trust issues in relations to them (the stereotype and all) so they might have lied. They live in Texas, as well, that means they must be conservative. Don't kill me, Virgileso.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 5:57 am

Older cells do have some reliability issues, as do mass-market solutions. I have LED lamps 'new go out!' but the installed ones always fail within a year. So even if the technology is sound, the actual ones you may have gotten may not be. It pisses me off that these fail and there's no way to repair them.

Also, you have to WASH solar cells. When do you suppose your in-laws wash their panels? Weekly? Monthly? Ever?

-Crissa

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 7:07 am

Crissa wrote:Older cells do have some reliability issues, as do mass-market solutions. I have LED lamps 'new go out!' but the installed ones always fail within a year. So even if the technology is sound, the actual ones you may have gotten may not be. It pisses me off that these fail and there's no way to repair them.

Also, you have to WASH solar cells. When do you suppose your in-laws wash their panels? Weekly? Monthly? Ever?

-Crissa

No, you misunderstood me, they researched the prospect of solar from hearsay around them and from what they found out, they decided it was not for them.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 1:26 pm

Oh.

That's dumb.

You know something that works on solar cells? Martian Rovers.

I mean, really, if it works there, and your house absorbs more solar radiation in a day than those things see in a year... Ugh.

-Crissa

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:18 am

Crissa wrote:Oh.

That's dumb.

You know something that works on solar cells? Martian Rovers.

I mean, really, if it works there, and your house absorbs more solar radiation in a day than those things see in a year... Ugh.

-Crissa

again I overstate my position. this might be because of overall tiredness (see "sick kiddo topic) or whatever else reason.

Let me clarify once and for all. Hopefully for the better. I am still rather tired so I shall be very careful and try to be succinct and clear here.

When I said hearsay what I meant was that I am not a true nativeborn English speaker and I come from India.

One of the uses of hearsay that I was taught early on was "what you hear as experience, you then extrapolate into speech to others." it's a rather odd definition. Go Indian-english or bad INdian english teachers?

This was way in the past. I have since stopped using that definition after coming to the States. But in a moment of tiredness and due to lack of sleep I used the last definition.

My in-laws learned of the efficacy of the solar panels on roofs from neighbors/community members through this above definition of "hearsay' and then decided to opt for another option.

Hope that clarifies.

if not, bugger all, I need a GnT. I've gone 32 hours without sleep and aargh.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 3:37 am

Nono, not arguing with you, Cynic , you were clear. Agreeing with you.

I hear the same sorta thing from friends' redstate relatives.

-Crissa