Re-roofing time

Here’s a sight that I hoped that I’d never see again. It’s the roof of my wood store laid bare with its weather-proof (supposedly) surface covering totally removed.

But I was being hopelessly over-optimistic. It’s four years since the store was completed and it’s been leaking, mainly due to my poor design, for the last two of those. I patched it up a bit with some bitumen-based sealer gunge a year or so ago but the last two summers have been just too much for the covering material that I used, which was a rather poor quality (as it turned out) bitumen roofing felt that came in rolls.

So when I checked the roof a few days ago before this year’s rains set in, it was obvious that it wouldn’t do for the winter and would have to be replaced. As well as the leak soaking the wood being stored there was also the risk of the water starting to rot the underlying roofing material causing even more work in the future, so after a rather cool, slightly misty morning, I spent this afternoon stripping it all off.

I thought after I’d finished the roof that it was unlikely to last but by then it was too late and I made sure that when I did my next one that I used something much better – PVC based and UV resistant – that was more expensive, of course.

I bought a roll of the same material costing 99€ from Leroy Merlin yesterday and now I’ve got to go through the whole rigmarole again of covering the roof with it. There’s an old adage ringing in my ears while I’m typing this – buy cheap, buy twice – and it’s certainly true in this case. Unfortunately 🙁