This was an urgent project: the roof.
And much like everything else during this process:
“This is not what I was expecting.”
That’s what I said when my friend Shannon and I climbed a ladder and surveyed the roof landscape for the first time. The roof is in tact (thankfully), but it’s soft, pliable. Mushy. Not rotten or decomposing. Just … bouncy. But DON’T STEP ON IT FULLY, I cautioned her. She weighs less than me – she went up first.
Our objective this day was to caulk around the vents in light of an impending rain storm. But before caulking, things must be cleaned.
She caulked one-and-a-half vents. It took two hours and an entire thing of caulk. Are you getting my point about how things take much longer than expected?
She thinks she’s found a new calling: chimney sweep.
The roof project continued into a second day (naturally). Our objective on this day was to finish caulking and if we hadn’t run out of daylight yet, to clean the surface of the roof and apply the first coat of our elastromeric rubberized roof sealant. Trust me. I Googled the heck out of it.
Halfway through that project, a little lumberjacking with a Skillsaw was necessary.
With two men on the roof, scraping it clean took “no time.” And by that, I mean: eternity.
And finally. Cleanliness. Which might be next godliness, but in any case, the roof was clean. And daylight hadn’t escaped us.
So the first coat of rubber roof sealant was applied.
It’s like Christmas on the roof!
While the menfolk romped on the rooftop, Mom and I were busy inside. We had a list.
Primer/paint the headboard
Primer/paint the bed base
Finish ripping up the carpet beside the bed
Fix bedside drawer
Paint and primer around fridge
Primer/paint the inside 2 cabinet doors
Hang remaining 2 cabinet doors
Touch up paint
Primer spindles
Primer 2 living room ceiling tiles
Replace under cabinet
It goes on, but you get the idea.
The headboard project began a couple days prior when Shannon scraped the surface clean of the glue that had held the flimsy original headboard on.
Next step: primer.
Next step: selfie! (But do notice the cabinets in the background. We staged this just.right for you).
You see this? This six inches? Well, six inches of two layers of carpet and carpet pad recently adorned this stretch of flooring, but no longer thanks to my muscles and so.much.cursing. Removing carpet is the worst. Seriously. Hell.
Mom has an eye for the things that drive me bat-shit crazy. Like painting a 2-inch beveled surface all the way around all the fricking windows.
These are some of the 1973 artifacts that remain. They’ll get their own makeovers soon.
It’s the most beautiful feeling in the world to have my friends donate their afternoons to this project. What we got done in a day would’ve taken me at least three.
The countdown marches on, though. We move in in 25 days.
And we’re not even sure the plumbing works.
Or the electricity.
Comments