For quite a few months we have been planning to re-roof Kim Swanson's trailer. We had some funds left over from Texas and raised additional funds. Julie VanVoorst, the Diaconal Coordinator, worked with churches in GR South to raise additional funding. Finally we had enough money. Now shingles. Rev. Randy Ledeboer put us in touch with a roofing supply company (Eikenhout Inc.), and they provided quality shingles at half price. Julie arranged for a dumpster from Bob's Disposal, and now we were ready. It was Thanksgiving weekend, the weather was fine, and we were ready to work. Except I didn't coordinate delivery of the shingles in time.
We put the project on hold, but when additional funds came in early in December, we pushed forward. It was a cold day, and the crew was smaller than we had planned. We stripped and cleaned one side on a Saturday, then a crew stripped the other side on Sunday. Those of us who aren't as agile on a roof stayed below and cleaned up. We had to rely on the old tarp-it-and-dump-it technique, but it worked.
One lesson we learned: don't roof when it's cold. The shingles were too cold and wouldn't lay flat. We were able to dry-in the roof and ended up having to tarp the skylights and wait on the weather. Our roofer kept telling us we needed 40-degree days, and I kept wondering how many of them we would have in December. Apparently a bunch.
It's approaching the end of the year and it looks like we'll get the project done. If we can't complete the shingling we'll tarp what's left and finish in March of 2007. But I believe we will get it done yet this year. Prayer is powerful.
Another lesson we learned; more of us need to learn how to shingle. I'm thinking of letting people practice when we re-roof our garage this spring. It would be helpful to have more people who can shingle when we go to Texas next year.
