Well, my stepson and I took another crack at fixing the roof again today.
Right now I'm rooting that I'm as incompetent as I think I am.
What I mean by that is I'm hoping my previous repair attempt failures were down to me messing up and doing something wrong, rather than the problem being the roof itself or the materials we used to fix it.
If it was just me being crap, there's a good chance the repair will actually hold this time.
This time around, I went online and read up on the stuff we were using to waterproof the roof. The first thing I noticed was that it says to apply the stuff on a bright clear day when the weather forecast says it won't rain for 24 hours. Both times we put it on before, it rained within 12 hours of laying the stuff…and when I say rain I mean it rained hard for days.
Then I read that it said "For best results apply roofing cement over cracks before applying"
Can you guess what we didn't do the first and second time?
Finally, the thing we really screwed up on was the second time we tried to repair the roof. We thought we were being clever and put down a layer of tar paper first. It turns out that the rubber-coat we were laying wasn't 'compatible' with tar paper which, along with the heavy rainfall within hours of laying it, meant the rubber coat didn't cure and let the rain through it like a sponge
Basically, this stuff needs to be applied to a bare, dry roof on a clear day when there's no rain forecasted for a 24 hours. We were applying it on a cloudy, overcast day, on a sorta dry roof on top of old tar paper a couple of hours before a rain storm.
To be completely honest, when I put it like that, I'm surprised I even thought there was a chance it would work.
From what I can tell, this time we did everything right. It's not going to rain until Sunday (according to the forecast), we went over every seam and crack we could find in the roof with roofing cement before laying the rubber coat and this time around it should have plenty of time to set up before it rains.
I certainly hope so.
Yesterday, when I walked through the hallway and was greeted by the sight of water literally pouring onto the carpet, I honestly came within inches of a panic attack.
In fact, I tell a lie. I had a panic attack. A full blown one. My first ever. My chest suddenly felt like it was in a vice and it took ten minutes sitting with my head between my knees before I could breath properly again.
Now, a leaky roof might not sound like a panic-attack inducing problem to most people…and usually it isn't for me. If I'd heard about someone having a reaction like that to a simple home repair problem, I'd probably have laughed. This time was a little different.
Firstly was the simple matter that I'd tried to fix it twice before…and was at a total loss as to why it wasn't working. We'd already spent close to two hundred dollars we couldn't afford on fixing the problem, which was suddenly money down the drain…and for all I could tell, anything else we spent would be a total waste as well.
Secondly, this has come within weeks of us having to borrow money and spend most of our Christmas savings on getting my teeth fixed.
Add that to the fact I still don't have a job…and it just makes me feel like I'm a huge part of the problem. Money is extremely tight, we really need to move some time in the near future and I feel like a huge financial burden on Sunny.
I know being short of money is nothing new for anyone who has more than a passing relationship with the real world, and I can honestly say that if both of us were working and found ourselves in a similar position, it wouldn't affect me nearly this much…but when you're not working and not earning and all the financial problems are squarely on your spouse's shoulders…it makes you feel totally useless and totally helpless at the same time.
You see, regardless of what one or two of my shit-stirring in-laws like to think (and say, but only behind my back)…I'm not lazy. I don't enjoy being supported by my wife and the one thing I want more than anything is a job.
I got my first part-time job at 14, and until I moved to the USA, I was never out of work. The truth is I'm pretty old fashioned. I feel that I should be working and working should be purely optional for Sunny.
Basically, sitting on my ass and watching my wife going out to work isn't a fun experience for me. I'm not sitting there thinking how great it is that I get to stay home and watch TV instead of going out to work. I'm sitting there worrying about what'll happen if the house needs a major repair, or Sunny's car dies or she needs another hospital stay.
The roof basically became a symbol of everything that's fucked up right now that I'm powerless to fix.
Luckily, I realize that wallowing in self-pity isn't going to help and sitting on my ass thinking of how bad I have it isn't going to make things any better. All I can do is keep plugging away, keep applying for those jobs and hope that pretty soon one of those bastards will hire me.
On the upside, at least I have a roof…and an awesome stepson who actually gives two shits about helping people when they need it.
1 comment:
Here's hoping that it stays fixed this time
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