Up on the Rooftop, Slick, Slick, Slick!

There's a lot of hammering going on around here right now.  In fact, our neighbor called to ask what was happening!

It turns out our roof was damaged by hail, so the insurance company is replacing it.  The puppies are terrified of the noise, but fortunately it won't last too long--if the weather will cooperate.

Like St. Nick, these guys are quick, quick, quick!

After one good, sunny day when they got the whole back part of the roof done, we've had misty drizzle that makes the roof pretty slick.  But these guys keep on working anyway.  They have fun while they work.  Occasionally I hear a whoop or holler or shriek, and I cringe in case it means someone fell off.  But so far it's just been good spirits, thank heavens!

You can see how much nicer the new roof (in back) looks than the old.  These new shingles are guaranteed not to streak for 10 years.  By 2023 I'll probably be too blind to notice the streaks, anyway!  I'm not too blind to see that the house badly needs pressure washing--and tucking the siding back where it belongs over the garage door.  Both of those are on the list, but we're waiting for some of the rain to let up and the weather to cool off; there's no point in pressure washing just to let the algae grow back!

Meanwhile over at the hay barn (what we call our quonset hut, for obvious reasons) some much-needed repairs are being done by Doug and Jeremy.  The old lap siding has been progressively sliding off . . .

... not to mention that the wood framing around the doors and windows has almost completely rotted away.

Here Jeremy is ripping the siding off the back after removing what was left of the translucent panels up top.  We really like having them there because they let light into the barn.

The brown part is pegboard that makes a handy tool storage area inside the back part of the barn.

When we moved in, that translucent stuff was still yellow, but it's darkened and dry-rotted and blown off in bits, letting the rain in onto our precious hay.  While we might have put up with a less than beautiful-looking barn, we can't tolerate our hay getting wet!  And that's why the barn is getting a makeover with new translucent panels and Hardiepanel, that wonderful paint-only-once-every-seven-years cement fiber siding.  It costs a bit more going up, but it saves in maintenance and painting in the long run.

As long as we've got these two handy guys around, I'm going to take a good look and see what else needs doing!