Roofing crew arrived at 7:30 sharp this morning. Never saw any group of people move so fast and with such coordination and obvious expertise. Freakin’ impressive!<\/p>\n
After they’d been here three hours I went outside and took pictures of their astounding progress.<\/p>\n
Then I came back in, figured I’d play with the dogs a bit, quit being jumpy from the noise and chaos, and try to get some actual writing done. Sat down on the floor to toss a nerf ball for Ava. Looked up. And … whoops.<\/p>\n
Scary whoops.<\/p>\n
The heavy, old-fashioned wooden beadboard ceiling in one room had dropped three inches in one corner. The only thing keeping it from dropping farther was a clothing hook. I put that hook up there to hold a curtain rod, so I know all too well how insecurely attached it is. Very insecurely.<\/p>\n
You know how a couple of you said that putting all that heavy material in stacks on the roof should be no problem? Well, should be<\/i>. And it wasn’t a problem as long as all that weight was up on the main beam where you saw it in the photo yesterday. But the roofers decided to pull the material down and stage it on what used to be a porch.<\/p>\n
They put most of the weight on that corner — and the former porch (now sleeping nook) pulled right away from the rest of the house. You can see daylight. And since all that heavy beadboard had never been properly attached to the rafters, down it came.<\/p>\n
Sigh.<\/p>\n
Not the roofers’ fault, of course. How would they anticipate something like that? Mike, the same friendly handyman who rescued me earlier this summer from a large hole in the roof, will be by later to temporarily brace it up. But … well, if it ain’t one damn thing, it’s always<\/i> another.<\/p>\n
I love old houses.<\/p>\n
Really. I love old houses.<\/p>\n
I do.<\/p>\n
But.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Roofing crew arrived at 7:30 sharp this morning. Never saw any group of people move so fast and with such coordination and obvious expertise. Freakin’ impressive! After they’d been here three hours I went outside and took pictures of their astounding progress. Then I came back in, figured I’d play with the dogs a bit, quit being jumpy from the noise and chaos, and try to get some actual writing done. Sat down on the floor to toss a nerf ball for Ava. Looked up. And … whoops. Scary whoops. The heavy, old-fashioned wooden beadboard ceiling in one room had…<\/p>\n