I climbed my first roof yesterday. To say I was scared is an understatement. It was a warm day but not enough to make you sweat. I on the other hand, was sweating bullets. My hands were so sweaty I could hardly hang on to my pencil.
We went to the door and met the insured and talked to him for a bit. That part is easy. You know I can talk to anyone!
The roofer guy showed up too. I had to tell him that SF will not allow him to climb on my ladder so he had to get his own. We have a ladder safety kit we use to stake it to the ground and secure it at the top. I think he thought it was funny that we had to do all of that. He was a nice guy. He didn’t get upset because I couldn’t let him on mine.
I climbed first while my trainer Paul was on the ground holding the ladder. The hardest part of the climb was getting off the ladder at the top. I couldn’t decide to go right or left! I ended up going left because it felt the most natural. Not that climbing a ladder is at all natural to me! (And yes, and my hands are sweating as I type this.)
Next the roofer and Paul got on the roof. I was unsteady on my feet because of the pitch of the roof. It was a 6/12 which is a little steep. I had on my special roof boots and that made me feel better, but I was still scared. Once I get the hang of the roof thing I don’t think I’ll climb anything higher than a 7/12. After that you have to have rope and harness training. No thanks.
I got used to it while I was up there but only went in about a 5 foot radius on the roof up at the ridge. I took all my pictures and Paul took the measurements while I wrote them down. I looked down at one point and the Insured was standing in the yard watching us. Thanks, just what I needed!
The next part was the dismount. Paul went first to hold the ladder and I assume break my fall. I was very nervous getting off. It’s much harder than it looks. Your instinct is to stay away from the edges, not go over to them. I had my tool belt on too and I didn’t want it to get hung up on the ladder so I was worrying about that too. I finally just sucked it up and went left again. I was shaking so hard that the ladder itself was shaking. In hindsight the shaking was hilarious. Nobody commented on it, but I know they noticed it. It wasn’t normal ladder noise.
Once back on Earth I was okay. We had to inspect the detached garage too. Paul got up there and did that one. I think he thought it was going to take me forever if I got up there!
The guy had damage on the inside too. We had to take pictures, measure and estimate that too. That part was easy. But, the dude lived alone and had cats. It smelled awful in the house. I was holding my breath and breathing thru my nose the whole time!
I met with the Insured again and promised him the estimate shortly. I told him I would do it this weekend and email it to him. I didn’t want to try to write it while in his driveway. I had to sketch the building in our computer program and write the estimate and upload the pictures. All would take me a while since I’m not exactly proficient in it yet.
Paul and I went to Burger King in Conroe and sat there for 2.5 hours while I sketched and wrote it. The roof was a weird shape so it took him a while to help me too. I finally got it. After the sketch, the estimate part was easy.
I still have to call the Insured today and explain it all to him and email my findings. I can do that later today if Erin will give me the time. I have to note the file and go from there as well.
I would have had Paul take a picture of me if the other’s hadn’t been there. But, with them there I didn’t want to do it.
All in all, it was a good day. I tackled my first roof and got it out of the way. Whew! Now I just have to do about 20 more of them until I get my “roof legs”.
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