3/9/09 Up On The Roof

I'm up on the roof. (Go ahead Drifter's fans, sing "Up on the Roooooof"). The weather looks like it's going to be nice for the next few days, and in honor of my resulting spring fever, I've started a new project. I'm replacing the old roof on the screened-in porch. The old plastic roof that the previous owners put on is cracking and disintegrating, (not to mention hints at classic redneck design), so I've known for a while that it needed to be replaced. I kicked around the idea of doing skylights or solid glass as the ceiling, but it turns out that lots of glass is expensive and there's no way for me to easily clean it. So I've simplified to just matching up the shingles to the rest of the roof, and continuing the look. Simple yet elegant, no?

I'm the kind of person who does some quick Internet research, reads some how-to sites, and then just dives right in. It doesn't matter that I have absolutely no roofing experience, or have never seen a roof being done, or even talked to a roofer before...I decided that it is what I am going to do, and by golly nothing is going to stop me from doing it. And you know what? I've never come across a project that was harder than it looked. Took longer than I expected, yes. Was more expensive that I figured, yes. But harder? It turns out that most of my do it yourself projects aren't exactly rocket science once you get the hang of it.

Plus, won't Tony be surprised when he comes home from work and finds a new roof on the house? This morning? Ugly plastic stuff. This evening? Lovely new roof. And let me tell you, nothing says devotion like 30 year three tab asphalt shingles and the smell of roofing tar in the sunshine. It makes a person feel alive inside (unless of course, I fall off said roof- then I will feel much less alive).

Until that happens, I'll just be up here, squatting on my roof and banging at 13 year old rusty nails with the claw end of a hammer and humming songs from The Drifters.