Celebratory Pie!

As is often heard around these parts, “If you don’t like the weather, give it a moment and it will change”. Fortunately or unfortunately, Western New York has lived up to its reputation during our most challenging week of demo – removal of the roof.

Day one proved to be a typical winter day, twenty-something and partly cloudy. Keith was able to work on dismantling from the roof itself rather than off of a ladder. The first order of business was removing the ridge cap which runs the length of the house and is comprised of multiple segments with end caps at both peaks. We managed to get it off as well as two rows of roof sections. It was a good start to a stage of the demo that we were both apprehensive about, neither being particularly fond of heights nor climbing tall ladders.

On day two the temperature rose to nearly 50 balmy degrees but unfortunately it rained on and off making the roof exceedingly slippery and impossible to work from. Up and down the ladder all day it was, lowering panels with a nylon rope affixed with a bungee cord hooked through one of the screw hole in each panel. We did make quite a bit of progress despite the weather. Yesterday’s rain turned to snow overnight and we had to scrape away four inches of snow and ice to find the screws. Despite the uncomfortable working conditions one side of the roof removal was completed.

The goal for the following week was to put in five solid days in order to get the other side of the roof and remaining miscellaneous pieces off. Having stalked the weather forecast for the upcoming week, we realized that Monday’s 47 degree weather was the only break we might get so the plan was to work our butts off that day. We (and by “we” I mean Keith) were able to work from atop the roof again, taking down 8 out of 11 rows of panels. By the following morning the temp had dropped thirty four degrees from the previous day and six inches of snow had fallen, necessitating shoveling of the roof as well as the floor prior to doing any work. The remainder of the week proved challenging, 35 mile an hour whipping winds made working off a ladder treacherous and frostbit fingers a near reality, but we persisted and finished the job – all 244 roof panels, gutters, soffit and wall panels were removed and stacked in the trailer awaiting transport.

I am delighted to report no major injuries, to body nor frail egos of either party up until this point in the project. (knock on porcelain-coated steel). I credit part of the success on my ability to (eventually) differentiate the subtle differences in tone and in context between:

hang on (the ladder)

Hang on (I need a moment to gather my thoughts)

Hang On (don’t do anything)

HANG ON (hurry up and grab this before I drop it)

Twenty two months of antici…pation up until this moment. Our accomplishment called for Celebration Pie! Pro tip: if you ever find yourself driving through Westfield, NY do yourself a favor and stop by Portage Pie – best ever!

The coming week will be spent on R&D and hiring of a crew and crane to dismantle, ship and re-erect the framing on our new foundation.