The Roofing Mentality #271

How To Use A Roofing Mentality To Get Sh*t Done

So much of life can be put off to tomorrow. So we do just that. How often do we start new projects, get a little headway on them, and put them aside for another day, another month, or year? How many projects are collecting dust or just have never seen the light of day? We’ll lose motivation just as quickly as the flash of inspiration brought it about in the first place. That’s why we must apply the roofing mentality to all our life projects.

First The Work?

Recently I had the pleasure and the pain of completing roofing my own home, single-handed from start to finish. No other persons involved, just me, my own two hands and some tools. I chose to also replace all the wood sheathing on my home as well. Anyone who has ever roofed a house knows this is a pain-staking process.

First I purchased around 60 sheets of plywood. I didn’t have a truck so I rented one from home depot and had them load the wood for me. Drove it home and offloaded every sheet and returned the truck. I also bought some high-end felt. Which is an under-lament to the shingles. Now had my base in order to start. There was good weather in the forecast for the next few weeks so it was now or put it off till the next year. I borrowed a dump trailer from a friend and it was go time. Grabbed my Skilsaw and headed up to the roof. The plan was to cut between each truss and rip off the plywood and shingles in strips.

This is one of the biggest lessons of this article. From that very first cut, the second that blade just barely slices open your roof. There is no turning back, you are now at the point of no return. If you choose to put it off at that point, you are going to create more damage and more work for yourself as time progresses. So the second you start you are locked in till completion. Absolutely no other choice and as the problems arise you have to address them and work through them. Because you have to be finished before the next rains hit.

Unforeseeable Problems Often Tend To Arise

I tear off one side of my roof with little issue it takes roughly the full day to tear everything off and lift, carry and nail into place all the new sheets of plywood. I’m happy with the first day and incredibly sore. Second day manage to dump the first load of roofing material and get started tearing off on the next side.

I find much more moisture damage and sagging in the truss on this side of the house but it has to be fixed. So I buy 26 piece of lumber to sister on to each truss to plane out the roof line. I then must cut each individual piece of lumber to length and pitch and nail them in before I can replace the sheeting this whole process takes 2 days. But after 3 days I finally have plywood on both sides of the roof.

It begins lightly raining the evening of that 3rd day and I realize I don’t have the luxury to take a break yet. I need to protect the wood from rain. So I get back on the roof as night is drawing near to put felt on the roof. This is the under-lament for the shingles it’s waterproof and also acts as a temporary weather protector. At that point I could rest my body a day or two but not too long, felt is only a temporary measure. Lastly, over the course of 3 more days, I nail in each shingle, install the ridge cap, nail off drip edge, install the skylights, install the vents and flashing.

Mind you this is the first roof I have ever put on and I managed to do it without any assistance. In my opinion it came out beautifully and as far as I can tell no leaks.

What Can We Learn From This?

We are capable of far more then we know. We just need to educate ourselves and take action. But the real point is this, we need to treat the projects in our life as such as the roofs over our heads. That from the moment we start, there is absolutely no turning back. We must reach completion.

We have to create pain points around our target that tell us if we don’t complete this we will face a whole host of other much larger problems that will follow. If I don’t get that roof on before it rains first the insulation goes, then the drywall fails, and my whole ceiling caves in. Then my flooring rots, my appliances break, and so on. The roof is one of, if not the most important feature of a house. But all features of a house are important, the walls that hold up the roof, the foundation that holds the weight of the entire house. The plumbing that gives us water and disposes of our waste, the electrical and so on. Just like all projects can be important in our life. If we’re going to start them we must finish or else your own metaphorical roof can cave in on you.