Are you handy?

[BigV]

First off:

I DIDN'T DIE!!! YAY!

Now that I've let all the drama out of this episode, let's examine what did actually happen.

After rolling out the first course, I immediately faced the prospect of dealing with the valley. I read about different styles to handle this area, and the one that I decided on was called interwoven. Basically, the roofing material crosses the valley completely, then the next higher course is applied from the opposite side of the valley, and that is repeated until the valley is completely covered. The main benefits of this process as I see it are very complete coverage of the valley, multiple thicknesses of roofing material cover the area; and that the ends of each of the courses are all covered when woven together this way.

In the last picture of the roof, you can see I've rolled the long stretch along the gutter and up across the valley. The next course is higher up and is along the opposite side of the valley. It's just a short section and it too rolls from the eave across the valley. Then again along the long axis with another big roll.

Pic 01: Course number three just finishing. You can see the weaving effect beginning.

Pic 02: Close up of the finished edges of the start of the weaving.

[BigV]

More of the weaving.

Pic 01: Better wider shot of the valley weaving midway through (four courses in place). Notice the second course going from the upper right to the lower left has been trimmed flush with the uppermost edge of the third course. I don't know if this was a good idea or not, but it was neater. It didn't seem to me that the extra material would help since it was already underneath the uphill edge of the layer above, so I cut it.

In this picture you can also see my hillbilly MacGuyver tool bag-o-nails. The boxes were worthless. When they were dry, they tried to slide off the roof. When they were wet, they disintegrated and let all the nails slide off the roof individually. So I got a rag, folded a little pouch in it and "sewed/pinned" it up with a nail. Voila! The sag and the fabric were sufficiently rough and irregular that it just sat where it splat. I picked up the uphill corner and moved it each time.

Pic 02: Wide shot of three courses of weaving. Number 1--long course on left. Number 2--short course at the bottom. Number 3--long course on the right.

[BigV]

Course five's debut.

Pic 01: By following the regular plan to extend each course completely across the valley, course five reached the opposite lower ridge. I cemented it (not shown) and nailed it in place.

Pic 02: Valley shot, course four not visible. The valley is 90% covered at this point. I won't weave the next course, but just head straight uphill.

[BigV]

The lower 3/8 of the roof is covered now, and I'm above the level of the valley. It's all straight rolling now.

Pic 01: The first three rolls along the long axis of the roof. Looks pretty neat and tidy.

Pic 02: This is how these rolls all started (except the first cause I rolled it up backwards). I started out at the edge and tacked it into place and then began to unroll it in small increments, measuring and adjusting and tacking as I go.

[BigV]

These rolls are very heavy. They probably weigh 75 pounds. I was very very careful to keep the axis of the roll perpendicular to the slope of the roof. I needed to adjust the position of the roll so that I had a 12 inch overlap. This was a generous overlap, the instructions were for just four inches. If some's good, more's better, eh? Anyway, it made for a narrower exposed surface, 24 inches, and it looked nice. But I had to be careful to start the roll at the right "altitude" and to roll straight so I had even lines. I hesitate to use the word "level". I didn't use a level on this whole project. I have a long level, a four footer, but I didn't trust that I could have a level roof so I didn't bother. I also didn't have enough hands for another tool. I found this to be a problem when I began to cement the rolls down. But I digress.

I don't have the pinch strength to grip this roll and drag it uphill, so I used my foot. I bumped it into place, maybe a little low, then used my toe to ease it up to my mark. Then tack. Roll it out a little. Measure again. Tack a couple of nails again. Roll. Measure. Adjust. Tack. Repeat. Not surprisingly, the roll wanted to roll downhill. I found I had to lift it each time with my toe.

Pic 01: In position to lift the roll with my right foot.

Pic 02: Measuring my 12 inch overlap.

[BigV]

Here is the last roll to cross the valley. This material is pretty rigid. As you can see it does sag a little across the valley, but it doesn't drape like, say, satin.

Pic 01: Across the valley, before trimming and nailing.

Pic 02: The material can have "wrinkles". This is the result of a too long rollout before measuring again and having to make a large adjustment. I found some of these wrinkles on the lower edge like this one and on the upper nailed edge. It was surprisingly difficult to roll out this material straight. Sometimes, I went back and tore out the tacks between the wrinkle and the end and reajusted it without the wrinkle. Sometimes I just nailed the crap out of the bulge, hammering it into submission.

[BigV]

Coming up to the end of the last roll to cross the valley. This was a good stopping point for me.

Pic 01: Makeup!

Pic 02: I'm ready for my close up now!

[BigV]

The weatherman was right on target. Rain. This stuff is as slick as it looks, and I didn't die (!!!) but I don't know how I managed it. Basically, I sat down and scooted everywhere. I was quite wet by the time I was done.

Pic 01: Wet roof.

Pic 02: Lovely wet roof and no safety net.

[BigV]

Eventually, I got all the rolls rolled out and nailed down. They look all straight and purty, don't they? Even the valley looks good.

Pic 01: Wide shot of covered (but unfinished) roof.

Pic 02: Wide shot of functional if wrinkly valley.

[BigV]

So those edge strips I nailed to the roof? Here's where they get to do their job. I've rolled back the installed course and I'm preparing to cement the edge along the rake to the edge strips.

Pic 01: Edge strips.

Pic 02: Asphalt roofing cement.

[BigV]

This stuff is tar. Pitch. Asphalt. Black gold. Texas tea. Movie stars, swimming pools. Wait, sorry, back up. This stuff is really just tar. Goobery gooey **messy** stick tar. I had two grades of this stuff, #11 and #33. Grade #11 is "pourable". I guess. In warmer climes. With patience. Grade #33 is the consistency of old, cold Play-Dough. I mixed the two together and hawked a glob out there and then mashed it flat-ish. I repeated this process for the lower edges of all the strips.

Pic 01: Cementing down the eaves. (bringing in the sheaves, we shall go rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves)

Pic 02: Got to glue down the lower edge of the strip to keep the wind from lifting it up and tearing it off. You can easily see in this picture the residual moisture from where the upper course covered the lower one. This made for a nice guideline as to where to (and where not to) apply the cement.

[BigV]

It was twice as messy and eight times as dangerous and difficult as it looks. I don't think I did this part right.

I believe it is effective, but there's got to be a better way of applying this shit. As I said before, I didn't have enough hands for my tools at the rolling out stage, and adding a big can of tar and a trowel and a hammer and a ragbag of nails and the roll and the tape measure and don't fall off and kill yourself--too much.

But I think I made extra work for myself by not doing it in one pass. Lifting this strip is heavy, a hassle, and frankly, this stuff isn't made to be flexed and hassled this way. It sheds the mineral coating at best, and cracks and tears at worst. Bad idea.

I tried folding it up, and painting the lower surface, folding it up and painting the underside of the lifted layer. I built a little jig to hold up the strip (worthless). I tried reaching over and painting downhill, I tried moving below the strip and lifting it and holding it up with my back as I sat underneath it. This last one was a Bad Idea. I didn't like or need any "help" moving me towards the ground. No thank you.

Pic 01: Middle progress picture of best method. When I was above the valley, the whole strip could be flexed over, held with my ankles/calves, and I could paint/scoot/paint/scoot. Worked ok.

Pic 02: Do you see the straight edges of the courses? Do you see some light brown curving lines? They look like water stains, yes? Those lines are the piles of the mineral coating that flaked off when the strip was curled for cementing. Bad. Imagine a sheet covered with sand. Now lift one side of the sheet. The sand will flow dowhill and you're left with a drift / high water mark of sand. Same thing here.

[BigV]

A couple of small mistakes still visible after all my work.

Pic 01: A wrinkle that I didn't notice or didn't bother to rework. Too bad. It's a feature now. And that black blob? You guessed it. Tar. I **dropped** the trowel at one (only one) point. As it went skidding and cartwheeling toward the gutter, I managed to pin it with my downhill foot. Saved myself a round trip to the grass below, but I did leave a mark on the roof and on my work shoe. There are a couple of small thumbprints on the roof too from my gloved hands, but this one is the most noticeable.

Pic 02: The valley already has a crack in it. I will probably pave it over with some of that good old #33, forsaking form for function. It'll be dry, but highly visible. Maybe I'll sculpt it in the shape of a mole. Or my initials. Or something the squirrels and crows will find amusing.

[yesman065]

WOW _ that looks like a ton of work and waaaay more than I could imagine tackling. Seems like you are doing a good job - congrats!

[Happy Monkey]

Very cool! Too bad about the crack. Otherwise, looks great!