If you’re looking for “how to roofing” information, you’ve come to the right place! But first, let me tell you a little story that teaches an important lesson for do-it-yourselfers.
When I started roofing 22 years ago, I went to work for a small roofing contractor in Southwest Florida. One of my first jobs was helping to reroof a big, expensive home in Fort Myers.
Even though I was a rookie and it wasn’t my responsibility, I was very worried about the job for three reasons:
First off, heavy rain was predicted… and it wasn’t for the late day showers that pop up like clockwork during our rainy season. The forecast was for coastal showers coming in off the Gulf of Mexico, which could arrive anytime.
Second, the house was surrounded by tall trees, giving us almost no view of an approaching storm. Not that it would matter, because unlike most of our sunny days, this one was overcast. The rain clouds could be right overhead and we would never see it coming.
And third, it was a flat roof. Unlike sloped roofs that are fairly simple to dry-in quickly, flat roofs take more time. The roof deck needs to be prepared, the base sheet needs to be nailed down and at least one layer of felt needs to be installed to get it watertight.
Basically, it was a perfect storm of conditions… Just right for a roofing disaster. To this day, I don’t know why the Boss decided to go ahead and risk the tear-off. He certainly had the experience to know better. Perhaps, he needed the job to make payroll or to pay some big insurance bill.
Whatever it was, he made the fateful decision to go ahead…
We no sooner had all the roofing torn off when the rain hit us, and man did it rain! We stayed up on the roof throughout the storm sweeping water, but it didn’t do much good. Ceilings, walls, flooring and furnishings were damaged throughout the entire home.
My point in telling you this story is that unlike a contractor who occasionally has to take a risk like this, you don’t have to. Wait until the conditions are perfect before you tear off your roof, especially if it’s a flat roof.
