The Porch Roof Project

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Andrea's porch roof, September 2014. It looks like the lawn below it.
 
 
Moss and lichens have taken it over and are feasting on it!
 
On October 5, 2014 we began the replacement of the roof. This is me sitting on a pile of new cedar shakes just as we began. If I knew what I was in for I might not be smiling so much. According to (son-in-law) Nate, we just tear the old roof off on Saturday and put the new one up on Sunday.

October 5 was a Sunday, so "tear the old roof off on Saturday" wasn't going to apply. We spent the day launching model rockets, then came home and started on the porch roof. In the right hand picture, Andrea makes the very first cut an inch from the rafter.
 
The nails are pulled on the left of the cut, the section comes off, and then more nails are pulled.
(During the week, we pulled hundreds and hundreds of rusty nails that didn't want to come out of the rafters.)
The Equinox had passed two weeks before and it was getting dark. I didn't think the new roof was going up the next day.
 
Monday October 6. The second section is cut out and crashes to the ground in a cloud of dust. By the time I had to leave for work we had three sections out. The time to remove one section was approx 1.5 hours. There are 18 sections. After 4.5 hours we had 1/6 of the roof removed.

We made a system to speed things up. It involved bashing the nailed section with a five pound sledge till your shoulder was sore, then removing the nails. It was very rewarding to hit something over your head as hard as you can, and have nothing happen. Then do it five more times till you are panting, and still nothing has happened.

Then you're like, "Aaargh, I will destroy you!!" and you swing the hammer with all your might. It bashes the roof, bounces back and nothing happens. You think, "Who nailed this roof down? A tornado wouldn't lift it off!"
 

 
Before chopping out a section, it had to be "untied" from the house.
   
Andrea can barely crack a smile for the picture. Those old nails did not want to come out and she's getting tired of their shenanigans.
 
Another section bites the dust. Actually, it creates its own dust when it hits the ground.
 
We had to be careful we didn't hit a rafter with the circular saw.
Andrea beaned herself with the nail puller after I went to work.
 
By the end of the week we had made some progress.
 
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