Swell timing

[cute fuzzy bunny]

So i'm enjoying a little Halo 2 last night when the wife pops in and says "You arent going to be happy...we have a leak".

Its been raining cats, dogs, small monkeys and other barnyard and zoo type animals for about a week now, and last night some good wind kicked in to help things along.

Despite a concrete tile roof thats only ~7 years old, we now had a steady drip-drip-drip from the ceiling in the nursery. Which attic-wise is the least reachable area and required that I "do the worm" for 30' over the blown-in insulation to reach and source the leak.

My "brighter than the sun" rechargeable flashlight had no charge in it as I cant find the transformer for it.

I end up on the roof at 9 at night in a driving rain with 20mph winds with a brand spanking new walmart flashlight. Found the problem to be a wad of leaves stuffed into one of the roof valleys that was backing the water up under a shingle.

My neighbors were aghast that someone would go up on a roof at night in the rain...they all came out to watch.

Californians... :

They say "it comes in threes". I cant wait to see what the other two small disasters are...

 

[Sheryl]

My "brighter than the sun" rechargeable flashlight had no charge in it as I cant find the transformer for it.

They say "it comes in threes".  I cant wait to see what the other two small disasters are...

Do NOT tempt fate like this, are you CRAZY??   :

My SO got one of those hand-crank, never dead flashlights for Xmas.  Seems to work pretty well.  Should we send one for the next disaster?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I thought about those hand crank ones and the ones you shake, but so far I havent seen one that throws a serious amount of light. I got a three d-cell maglite last night and its pretty good.

When you're up on a roof in the wind and rain, madly cranking a weak flashlight is NOT a good activity.

 

[Sheryl]

When you're up on a roof in the wind and rain, madly cranking a weak flashlight is NOT a good activity.

Could increase the entertainment value for the neighbors, however.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

He're where I was perched...it was plenty entertaining for the neighbors as it was. Several must be related to the wicked witch of the west and melt in the rain.

Yes, thats gabe's little stork announcement on the lawn...

 

[Martha]

Not to play one-up-man-ship (OK, maybe a little bit), but late this fall we had a night of freezing rain and heavy winds. Our neighbor has a B&B and lives on the third floor. Water started leaking in their bedroom. He crawled out the dormer window, climbed up the icy roof in the dark to fix the leak.

We didn't watch, but the story made me cringe. Why don't you guys wait at least until it is light out?

 

[cube_rat]

My neighbors were aghast that someone would go up on a roof at night in the rain...they all came out to watch.

Californians... :

Hey Parenthesis - Are you in the bay area? It's raining cats and dogs here and the surf is WAY UP!

 

[TromboneAl]

I hate roof leaks.  Nothing breaks the cozy rainy day mood than dripping water or bubbling paint.  Congrats on a quick solution!

The "Never go on the roof when it's raining" warning has always seemed overly cautious to me.  My roof isn't slippery when wet.  Why would I go up when it's dry -- ain't leakin' then.

We are major wet up here near Eureka, CA.  Waves are jigundo.

 

[Nords]

They say "it comes in threes".  I cant wait to see what the other two small disasters are.

Better start stocking up on those pregnancy-testing kits...

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Ol' Ed here, in Bellingham this week.

Rain followed by storms followed closely by rain followed by another storm followed by more rain.

Loop.

Us Hamsters are wet this week.

 

[Martha]

I
The "Never go on the roof when it's raining" warning has always seemed overly cautious to me. My roof isn't slippery when wet. Why would I go up when it's dry -- ain't leakin' then.

Aren't you the one who fell off his ladder a few months ago?

 

[Martha]

Better start stocking up on those pregnancy-testing kits...

Didn't REW just mention the Trojans springing a leak?

 

[uncledrz]

Flashlights never were ready when I needed them.

Finally went to the store and bought one that is always plugged into a socket, and always has a charge. Nice to have at least one flashlight in the house that actually does work when everything else goes dark!

Uncledrz

 

[TromboneAl]

Aren't you the one who fell off his ladder a few months ago?

Good point.

 

[Danny]

My neighbors...they all came out to watch.

Californians... :

This elicited a memory of when I had moved from Illinois to north of SF in 1972. There was a thunderstorm (rare in Bay area, I soon learned), people came out in front of their houses to watch the light show. :

When I moved to Minnesota from California I found myself outside one night in Feb. watching a snow storm with heavy duty lightning and thunder. : When I talked to the natives about how unusual it seemed, they gave me a patient look and were probably thinking .. Californian... :

Sometimes you hear of someone in Minnesota who was briefly on their roof in winter - there will be a story in the paper about how they hurt themselves real bad putting christmas decorations up or trying to find the source of a leak.... probably a Californian... :

 

[Nords]

When I talked to the natives about how unusual it seemed they gave me a patient look and were probably thinking ...

In Hawaii it's hearing "Look, there's a rainbow!"

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

We didn't watch, but the story made me cringe. Why don't you guys wait at least until it is light out?

Cuz then we'd be sissies. Besides, it was fricking raining in my kids room!

Hey Parenthesis - Are you in the bay area? It's raining cats and dogs here and the surf is WAY UP!

North of Sacramento...used to live in San Jose years ago...we're getting your weather a few hours later...

Better start stocking up on those pregnancy-testing kits...

Uh oh...Mrs. () is in the process of changing birth control pills...

 

[Sheryl]

Ol' Ed here, in Bellingham this week. 

Rain followed by storms followed closely by rain followed by another storm followed by more rain. 

Loop.

Us Hamsters are wet this week.

Hi Ed! I'd say welcome to Bellingham, but I'm in Wisconsin this week. It sure has been wet in Bham. But we had a beautiful streak of cold, crisp, clear sunny days in the beginning of December... too bad you missed that!

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Sheryl,

I get my cold, crisp, sunny days in northern Alberta. We've already had -20 C, but it was back up to about 50 F recently.

Ed

 

[Marshac]

My "brighter than the sun" rechargeable flashlight had no charge in it as I cant find the transformer for it.

I hope to get one of these   I love bright lights.

Here's a light from a tank a guy rigged up...awesome. Gotta love HID.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Marshac,
Is that one of those $5,000 babies that they used on X-Files?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I didnt think you were talking about the light at first.

I have the wimpy 2 million candlepower unit thats actually so bright that if I train it on something I want to read I cant make out the letters through the luminance...

Well my brother in law and I tore up that piece of the roof. More brilliant quality construction. When you install a tile roof, you lay the tiles in from the edge until you get a couple of tiles away from any valleys...then you snap a chalk line on that last row, cut the tiles to fit the valley and slide them over, then fill in the last two tiles in the middle. Saves you from cutting each tile one by one. Unfortunately this dickhead had his blade too deep and cut through the tar paper and into the sheeting and left it that way. That wasnt so bad as 80+% of water is shed by the tiles themselves. What ended up happening was 9 years of construction dirt and dust that settled on the roof eventually collected under the tiles near the valley, some water was diverted by the collected dirt (now mud) along the horizontal furring strip that the tiles hang on, until it hit the slice in the tar paper over my sons room...and drip...drip...drip...

So we did what the builder should have done...filled the cut with some roofing cement then cleaned the collected mud out and replaced a few cracked and broken tiles. That should do it.

The schmoe that cut the tar paper probably was afraid he'd get in trouble for screwing it up and hid it before the boss saw it, figuring it'd be years before it'd become a problem.

Now I just have to wonder about what other wonderful errors are waiting to spring out on me...Grrr.

 

[Marshac]

Marshac,
Is that one of those $5,000 babies that they used on X-Files?

Similar, the ones on the x-files were HID as well, although the one in the first photo will only set you back about $500 or so. You can order a 30 million CP HID spotlight from these guys for about $130.

http://www.harborfreight.com/ search for part # 93175