I CAN ROOF! by CallMeSerenity

CALLMESERENITY'S BLOG

CallMeSerenity

I CAN ROOF!
Saturday, July 16, 2005

That is what I learned today.
You see, our Habitat for Humanity is going to have a Women Build, a house completely built by women. To raise funds for this build, they're having a mini-build. We're building a playhouse that will be raffled off. I called them and said I could help out Saturday morning and they said, "Can you roof?" I said sure.
In a previous blog I mentioned that I have some experience roofing and that I felt that if given the opportunity, I could teach people how to put shingles on a roof from start to finish. I didn't actually think I'd get that opportunity anytime soon.
When I showed up at the Lowe's where we're building the playhouse, I was introduced as "The Roofer". And then everyone started asked me questions about how I wanted to do the roof. How many people are you going to want? What equipment will you need? I soon realized that I was the only one there with any roofing experience and they were expecting me to show them how to do it. Goodness! I took a few deep breaths, read the back of a bag of shingles when no one was looking, thought back to all the things I'd ever been taught that had ANYTHING to do with roofing, and said a quick prayer.
And you know what? I remembered everything I needed to know. I remembered how to do the starters and to leave an overhang and how much to leave for a reveal and how to do the ridge caps and everything else. I taught about 6 or 7 other women how to do it and when we were done, it looked pretty dang good.
True, it was just a little roof atop a little playhouse, only about 10 feet high. We only used 2 1/2 bags of shingles overall. But I feel good. I feel that I accomplished something today and I proved to myself that I could indeed teach people how to roof. Now I can't wait till we start the real house!

COMMENTS

Monday, July 18, 2005 2:10 PM

CANTON

Whoo-hoo, awesome CMS. . .now I have to work on my roof sometime soon (Dennis was a bust, but he did get some shingles) when can you come over?

Sunday, July 17, 2005 3:04 PM

CALLMESERENITY

Rat! LOL. Thankfully, there were no wires to watch. But I did have the Mayor's wife standing on a ladder behind me trying to hold me up on the roof with one hand (I didn't know who she was at the time). Apparently she felt better keeping a hand on me, as if that one hand could keep me from falling! It was very funny. I hope someone got a picture of it.

(And thank you all for the completely unneccessary compliments.)

Sunday, July 17, 2005 3:42 AM

DARKJESTER

Hey now, don't sell yourself short! I've helped install shingles before, but I couldn't tell you where to start. I always had someone like you deciding what shingles to use, showing me what to do, and usually telling me I'm doing a good job. And kudos for working for such a good cause!

Saturday, July 16, 2005 9:31 PM

RAT

So, did you watch the wire this time?

Saturday, July 16, 2005 10:24 AM

STARRBABY

Now don't you downplay what you can do by saying it's "Just a little roof". I'm down right impressed.
Look at all those people who have no idea what roofing takes (me included).

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