Replies

1. 
   xMikeSmith | Sep 03, 2003 03:49am | #1

   brought the dumpster as close as we could and laid a bridge to the lower porch roof..

   started stripping  , staging & papering in

   Mike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

   
1. 
   xMikeSmith | Sep 03, 2003 03:56am | #2

   there was no cricket on either of the two chimneys..  so we  built a cricket & replaced the lead on one ....

   we're using an 8"  style D'dripedge...... i like the 8" when there is a cornice or not much good edge nailing

   here's a pic of the old breakflash... a PT 1x4 with a lead sheet wrap... the lead is cracked about every 4 feet on the south side.. probably metal fatigue from the constant expansion / contraction..

    the owner will replace this flashing when he resides (their choice )...

   Mike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

   
1. 
   xMikeSmith | Sep 03, 2003 04:02am | #3

   papered in .. we used mostly RoofTopGuard II ( 5' x 200' rolls )

   we also used a new one for us .. Triflex.. 41" x 300'..

    we definitely like the RTG II much better..

   Mike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

1. 
   xMikeSmith | Sep 03, 2003 04:07am | #4

   so.. no rain for two weeks.. and now .. rain..

    figgers..

    anyways , the crane truck was scheduled.. so we're ready..

    here's BLUEMAN.. he's  ready... and the crane...

   and flying in the shingles to store on the top stage plank...

   and the bottom courses  laid..  and ready for tomorrow....

   did i tell you these are  Certainteed Hatteras Regatta Blue ?Mike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

1. 
   xMikeSmith | Sep 03, 2003 04:11am | #5

   meanwhile.. here's one for you Blodgett... my guys call this Aflack... and they laugh at me whenever i bring it out of the truckbox...

   and  last weekend we were doing an overlay on the camp in NH.. this was Certainteed  Independence Shangle in Burnt SiennaMike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

2. 
   Piffin | Sep 03, 2003 04:46am | #7

   Sooooooo...

   You LIKE ROOFING? Do ya???????

   LOL.

   Excellence is its own reward!

3. 
   xMikeSmith | Sep 03, 2003 04:53am | #9

   i like interesting roofs.. and try to make it as much fun as i can.. which is hard to do.. but the guys seem to respond..

    almost all of the remodelers do their own roofing around heah.. the roofing bums are harder to find..  and the business is being taken over by huge roofing companiesMike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

4. 
   Piffin | Sep 03, 2003 05:18am | #10

   Ya. I do mine own still but no roof only jobs..

   Excellence is its own reward!

5. 
   timkline | Sep 03, 2003 05:29am | #11

   around here, it's either the polish or the guatemalans installing the shingles. either way, there are communication issues.............

   heeyyy, in bl8_cricket.jpg,  what is the tube of DAP acrylic latex doing near a masonry chimney with lead flashing ?   are you guys filling reglets with that stuff ?

    carpenter in transition

6. 
   xMikeSmith | Sep 03, 2003 06:06am | #12

   you bet.... works great...

   had my doubts until i saw a few jobs up close and went back  a year later to see how they were working out..

   might also try some of the new polyurethane concrete caulks

   what we removed from that chimney was three coats of silver lexonite and mesh.... pretty ugly

   Mike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

   Edited 9/2/2003 11:11:22 PM ET by Mike Smith

7. 
   timkline | Sep 03, 2003 07:00am | #13

   we switched to urethanes about 10 years ago and never looked back. tremco and sika are two good ones.

   silver lexonite and mesh ?!

   are those some kind of fish net stockings from Rocky Horror ?

   carpenter in transition

8. 
   plantlust | Sep 03, 2003 07:11am | #14

   ROAR.

   (humming to self - I'm just a sweet transexual, transvestite from...)This jobless recovery has done more to promote the consumption of exquisite chocolate than the finest chocolatier.  Cost be damned.

9. 
   SHazlett | Sep 03, 2003 02:03pm | #17

    Interesting  job mike.

   My guys would absolutely refuse to carry trash over those picks to the dumpster----can't say as I blame 'em.

   I wouldn't start a tearoff without already having the shingles on site.

   that boom looks a little hairy for RTD. unloading it looks risky to my back LOL.Our supplier would handle the whole RTD situation----We never lay a finger on it. hope it doesn't rain too long on ya.

   Best wishes

10. 
    xMikeSmith | Sep 03, 2003 10:25pm | #23

    stephen... from what you tell me , your guys would refuse to pick up anyways.. don't you sub your clean up ?

    not available here.. all the strip went into half filled 40 gallon brutes... across the pic was the easy route.. they slid all the way.. the hard way was over the ground and up the stairs..even olde dudes like me liked that..

    as far as waiting for shingles... i wanted roof top.. how do you get the shingles onsite if you haven't stripped the roof yet ?..

    Mike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

11. 
    Dinosaur | Sep 04, 2003 12:15am | #25

    When we can't set the dumpster directly under the eaves, we lay big tarps on the ground before we set up the scaffolding, and then just let the strip slide off onto the ground. One helper with a wheelbarrow wheels it into the dumpster whereever it is; we open the end door and set in a spare scaffolding plank as a ramp.

    When a side is finished, we strike the scaffolding and roll up the tarp, then shake it out in the dumpster. The grass might be a little flattened, but nothing permanent.

    I agree about having the shingles onsite before starting stripping. But I rarely do RTD--most of the places around here, it would be more of a clusterfrick than anything else. I like when we get a 1½ storey place; we just bring em up the stairs inside, and dump em out a dormer window onto the roof. A strip of builder's paper to protect the route from the front door to the dormer window, and everybody's happy.

    Dinosaur

    'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?

2. 
   CAGIV | Sep 03, 2003 04:46am | #6

   In Bld2 dumpster.

   The shingles in the lower right hand corner, just curious, was that used to give the h/o an example of the new roof color?

   Seems like such an obvious idea, but I've never seen it done before around here. and I've heard several h/o's wondering aloud how a particular color will look, and worried their choice may look "different" on the roof vs in their hands...Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic.

1. 
   xMikeSmith | Sep 03, 2003 04:50am | #8

   exactly.. the mfr's rep gave me a free bundle so i could show the homeowner..  she was pretty scared about "blue"Mike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

3. 
   Dinosaur | Sep 03, 2003 11:17am | #15

   Mike

   That's a gorgeous house; you got any idea how old it is?

   Dinosaur

   'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?

1. 
   xMikeSmith | Sep 03, 2003 01:52pm | #16

   ...1890's Dino... this section of the island was a summer colony serviced by a stop of the old Fall River Line..

   lot's of Victorian Gingerbread cottages up and down the street... just lately being sold to people who want to restore them... hard to do.. most have no foundation.. just cedar posts ( juniper )....Mike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

1. 
   TommyB12 | Sep 03, 2003 02:08pm | #18

   I hope you took everything off the walls before you dropped that skid of shingles on the roof:)

   Looks like you really took the time to make it safe for your men.

   Osha would probably disagree unfortunately.Tom

   I'm here to help the humans.

2. 
   seeyou | Sep 03, 2003 02:45pm | #19

   I've been trying to teach taking the time to set up properly for years. The safety issue aside, the proper preparation (which doesn't actually take much time for the crew - mostly forethought time for the leader) makes the job go faster and consequently more profitable. The well organized job site makes the homeowner more comfortable about the contractor they've hired. I'm with Hazelet on the shingles on site issue, but I like the pic to the dumpster idea.

   By the way, my shingle suppliers would bust a gut laughing if they were asked to do anything but swing the boom for the shinglers to unload.

1. 
   jimblodgett | Sep 03, 2003 02:55pm | #20

   "Aflack" hehehehehe.

   Nice truck, for a F*rd.

2. 
   SHazlett | Sep 03, 2003 07:51pm | #21

    Hey, I got a question for mike and greencu

   Are you guys really using cranes to RTD skids of shingles?

   Here this is all done by conveyor belt and a crane like Mike showed would usually only go on a job so big that a 40 foot conveyor wouldn't reach it----extremely rare for a residence.

   I imagine at least 80% of my customers would castrate me in the driveway if I EVER had a crane set an outrigger foot on the lawn like that!

   now I know mike has complete confidence in his underlayment----but neither my customers,or myself, would be able to sleep leaving roofs  under only underlayment like that. Every section would have been torn off and  completely re-roofed in the same day----section by section.

   We would also have probably got ground delivery ,given the site constraints and, had a couple of the young bucks  happily carry up each bundle. Debris cleanup would have usually been subbed out and totally cleaned up each day. No dump truck,dumpster or equipment of any kind on site overnight. Neat stack of materials and that's about it.

3. 
   seeyou | Sep 03, 2003 09:28pm | #22

   Yeah Steve - Those trucks with crane booms are all they've got around here. I used to have a shinglevator, but it was a pain in the butt to set up on two story roofs. I don't do much shingling anymore, but when I do, I've got an electric  hoist that sets up on scaffold and pulls up thru the middle. I don't like to tear the whole thing off at one time either, so I seldom get rtd on reroofs. New work is a different story. They boom those pallets up and you have to unload them by hand onto the roof.

4. 
   xMikeSmith | Sep 03, 2003 10:35pm | #24

   long story.. i'll get back to you tonite .... after golfMike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

5. 
   xMikeSmith | Sep 04, 2003 03:56am | #26

   here's the story:  this supplier is more of a commercial roofing supplier.. so his long reach booms are great for commercial roof deliveries... not my preference.. however, the manager used to live a couple houses down and supplied a bundle of the blue Hatteras just for us to try out..

    one good turn deserves another. so i bought the shingles from them...

   i prefer my other supplier for this type of delivery.. for a while they were using the conveyor boom as you described.. but it was always breaking down... so they went to  a knuckle boom , like they use for sheetrock.. works great.. with a kuckle boom , the load never touches the roof.. we just slide the bundles off and stack them on the ridge..

   here's a pic of the other company making a rooftop delivery  of Newport Green Hatteras..and the finished job..Mike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

   
6. 
   SHazlett | Sep 04, 2003 02:06pm | #27

   Mike,

   Very nice work.

   the booms you are using would pretty much only go out to commercial jobs.

   All the suppliers have FLEETS of the conveyor trucks---so one truck breaking down is not really a problem for me.some with 30 ft. reach some with 40 ft. reach.

    From the apparent age and condition level of your crew----I am guessing that you had some comparatively high priced talent cleaning up shingle debris.

   the way I work it is $65/hour guy better not be doing something if the $40/hour guy could do it just as well. $40/hour guy should concentrate on His level of work and delegate his scutt work to the $15/hour guy. $15/guy depends on the $10 laborer to hump shingles and do site cleanup.

   I generally sub out the bulk of the site cleanup each day because the sub is much faster,CHEAPER, and I don't have a dumpster clogging up the works. nobody over about $10/hour had better EVER bend over to pick up so much as a wrapper, because I have more important roof top work for them to be doing.

   Ironically----the $65 guy is more valuable on the ground talking to the neighbors,schmoozing the homeowner, ordering materials, and avoiding fires by making sure they never get started in the first place.Increasingly never even puts on the tools.

   but our work is much more limited than yours,and our work force prob. much younger and thinner and more tatooed than yours. LOL

7. 
   MikeSmith | Sep 05, 2003 12:40am | #28

   believe me when i tell ya.. if i could hire out the clean-up, i would.... if i thot they would be reliable..

    but i've never seen clean-up subs on any jobs.. some of the bigger companies do have laborers.. but most of the small ones only have multi-purpose guys..

   as far as the RTD... my favorite roofing supplier took stupid pills and decided to branch out into lumber.. i think that;s the real reason they got rid of the conveyors.. the same knuckle boom with the rotating forks can handle any material... not just shingles...

    the one on this job is not really oriented to Residential roofing... so i usually only get speciality roofing products from them , like EPDM or SBS..... and they are alos our only source of copper...

   my philosophy is , we'll take the roof job, if i can get my price and put enough guys on to spread the load...

   rain today.. so back at it tomorrow... today was basement remodel day

   Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

8. 
   TommyB12 | Sep 05, 2003 01:42am | #29

   Mike,

   How do you have your guys classified for comp, or how do they do it in your state?

   I generally don't do roof only jobs, but I think the time has come to give them up altogether considering the recent hassles I've had with comp.

   I don't think they would cover it if someone got hurt.Tom

   I'm here to help the humans.

9. 
   xMikeSmith | Sep 05, 2003 03:51am | #30

   my discussions with my agent were that it depended on how much we're doing...

   as remodelers , all of my guys are listed as carpenters... so as usual... it depends..

   if push came to shove, i can seperate roofing... our time cards have 26 categories of field labor....

   but each state is different.. i see in JLC that FL is going thru some of the crap RI went thru about 10 years ago, where all of the insurance companies just stopped writing comp in the state...

   lots of reforms.. but  as far as i'm concerned, it'll never be good enough until every worker in every industry is required to be covered... wether they's sole prop. or corporate presidents...

   kind of like my dream for health ins.... universal coverage mandatedMike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

10. 
    TommyB12 | Sep 05, 2003 04:24am | #31

    Yep,

    My comp issues revolved around whether or not my sole prop subs carried comp or not.

    I'm not talking guys that I paid hourly either.  I don't participate in that.  On my audit last year, they lumped my drywall guy, a mechanicals guy, and another into my comp premium.  All sole props with no employees.  I see the point but for example my drywall guy is an artist.  He can't get comp because he's a sole prop in my state.  I don't see where its incumbent on my to pay his premium for him but thats what I did.  Live and learn.

    The kicker for me is that I paid the premium and there were no claims, so its more of a retroactive tax.

    W/C issues are much more serious than health in my opinion.  Your roofing premium would probably be around 25% so we're talking a grand a month on the average guy as opposed to health, which varies.  Then you can't even use it or you get dropped.

    As to gov't intervention on health or w/c, thats part of the problem I think.  Certainly here in PA.Tom

    I'm here to help the humans.

11. 
    xMikeSmith | Sep 05, 2003 04:39am | #32

    tommy , one of the reforms in RI was ANYONE with 1 employee had to have comp...

    AND they designed a form called a DWC-IC for sole props to fill out and register with Dept. Labor & Training..

    in my audits, anyone who works for me has to issue me a certificate of ins.

    since we are a Contractor REGISTRATION state, they ALL have to have GL.. so i need  a GL cert. from everyone.. or i pay the GL premium

     for WC, i have to have either a WC certificate, or a DWC-IC , date stamped with the DLT.. when i hire a new sub,  ( real sub.. i too , refuse to play that game ).. i give them the blank forms. they fill them out and i mail them in to DLT.. they stamp, it , register them ,and mail it back to me for my ins. audit .. i keep them all in one 3-ring binder.. between that binder and my QuicBooks Pro reports, my audits take about 15 minutes for both..... sweet...Mike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

12. 
    TommyB12 | Sep 05, 2003 07:00pm | #33

    Works basically the same way here in pa.  But you get screwed on the one man sole props cause they lump them into your payroll regardless.

    Unless of course you're a gc with "no employees"(not sure how you pull that one off) and don't have comp, or play the "I have guys who work exclusively for me by the hour, but they aren't my employees" game.

    Almost every gc and sub I know(and I know a lot)big or small plays that game.  I inquired at the state level as to why they don't police it, and they either gave me the its not my job, or I'm to busy/understaffed line.  But they are never to busy to f*(% with the guys who pay in.  Then they had the nerve to ask me for names of people to investigate.  That's definitely not my job.

    Whats funny is its hurting the hourly guys, the subs, and the gc's and the homeowners that allow it to go on are the ones who benefit in a driven down pricing market.

    I'm tellin ya, its probably the one thing that keeps making me want to get out of it.  Course, here in pa, we got the amish, they exempt themselves from social security and child labor laws.  But they are a protected species under the state tourism act apparently.

    Oh, how I would like to be exempt from social security.Tom

    I'm here to help the humans.

13. 
    BillHartmann | Sep 06, 2003 04:20am | #34

    "when i hire a new sub, ( real sub.. i too , refuse to play that game )."

    If the are a sub, you can't HIRE them.

    You cam only contract with them for a given task/job.

14. 
    xMikeSmith | Sep 06, 2003 05:37am | #35

    thanks , bill for setting me straight... after 30 years  i may finally get it right....

    i hire subs.... they sub-contract to me.. you call it what you want

     as long as we both know this is not some form of subterfuge to reclassify an employee into a "sub-contractor"Mike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

15. 
    Qtrmeg | Sep 11, 2003 05:12am | #37

    Howz that roof coming? Ya think you could snap a picture or two in between golf dates?

    Gotta lubs this place...hey, you still coming up this weekend?

16. 
    Ruby | Sep 06, 2003 03:13pm | #36

    When we reroofed our flat roof, they pulled the truck against the house to tear the old tar and gravel one and dump it right on the truck.

    When it was time to roll and torch the rubber membrane, I lifted the supplies up there, the rolls of black paper and rubber stuff to the edge of the roof with the tractor with the points for big bales on the bucket and they took them off right there.

    Very handy.

17. 
    xMikeSmith | Sep 19, 2003 02:35am | #38

    here's some pics of the finished job.....Mike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

    
18. 
    seeyou | Sep 19, 2003 02:40am | #39

    Kewl- I like those Hatteras shingles. Do they live up to their expectations on the windblown coast? Duck- Isabell's on her way.

19. 
    xMikeSmith | Sep 19, 2003 03:23am | #40

    let's hope we don't get the real test..

    i've got plenty of work without hurricane repairsMike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore