Yesterday was quite the experience. We heard weather updates (hypothetical thoughts) on the weather channel about storms that were coming in. Yikers! I say yikes because Jason and Brent recently tore down our house entry, put it up on blocks, completed laying and supporting the floor and for the past week it's been sitting like that exposed! No walls- no roof. Why? With so much going on at camp, there just isn't a lot of time to pour into it. Tarps were our only protection in keeping the rain out and, let me tell you, they didn't accomplish their job so well. Soo... Monday night Brent came to help Jason "finish" the entry. Their lofty goal was to have it entirely completed- roof and all- by Monday evening. Not so! However, they did get all the walls up and doors framed and did a great job. Yesterday we had to (and by we, I mean Jason and I) completely build the roof- framing, ice guard, & tar paper.
Jason was stressed- probably more stressed that I was his help! It was difficult leveling everything out, but by 4pm FINALLY, we were ready to lay the sheeting on the roof. We wondered, "How in the universe will the two of us do this?" It would require one of us to sit on the roof tress, while the other lifted the large sheet of plywood over their head and up to the other person. Yikes! Before starting, we realized we were missing some metal roofing hangers and had to make a run to C & D (1 minute away).
God timing is PERFECT because right away, when we got back, a friend (a tall, strong guy named Todd), showed up unexpectedly to help! And 5 minutes after that another friend, Brent, showed up to help too! Wow... We hadn't asked either of them to help and completely believe this was God's provision. The timing was dead on. He KNEW we needed them! Within an hour and a 1/2, we had the sheeting up.
Stapling and nailing the ice guard and tar paper down didn't take too long. I can say with 100% certainty that I'm learning far more about construction than I ever imagined I would. I can also say... it's fun!
Last night we got hit by a storm hard. We were nervous this morning as we drove to the house to check on it. Would the entry still be standing? Would the tar paper be torn off? Would our work hold up? And if it didn't hold up in the storm, what on earth did we do wrong? (as far as we knew we took EVERY precaution and step necessary- talked to construction guys, read construction books, had knowledgeable men working on it with us).
To our relief, it was perfectly intact- you couldn't even tell a storm had hit! No leaks. Nothing. I suppose this is the purpose of a roof, but I guess when you build it yourself there's always the question...
