Roofers finishing the job

The roofers who had fixed my leak said they’d be in touch after Easter to do a more thorough job than the emergency repair they had done on the day. I kept an eye on my email and other messages, but I didn’t see anything appear in the days after Easter Monday. 

One morning I was making breakfast, and noticed some noises outside. Neuadd Ogwen, I presumed. But when I popped into the garden to check on my recently moved plants I heard a shout. There was a man on my roof! They were back! They hadn’t announced their return. But it was ok.

I watched Franco dance over the roof with fear in my heart. I would not be comfortable doing that! But he clearly was. And he started at the front of the house. Then he moved to the side. That involved placing a ladder against the neighbour’s house, and getting to my roof via his. It’s a delicate situation! The neighbour is rather protective of his roof. I told them that. Franco said he knows my neighbour, and it’s ok. The neighbour himself was walking the dog, and not around. 

Franco taking pictures of the situation so he can show me

When Franco was down again, the neighbour returned. He was angry! He had seen Franco in his roof and he was not impressed. It was a very uncomfortable situation.

The neighbour went inside and the men continued their work. What else would they do? And by then the waterproofing was finished, but while Franco had been up there, he had noticed some broken slates. He offered to fix them while he was there anyway, and I accepted that. And in doing that, they would be working on the front and the side of the house. Well away from the neighbour’s roof.

Quite quickly it also became clear I have really unusually shaped roof tiles on my roof. One of the broken ones turned out to be very long and very narrow. I think it was 28’ by 9.5’ (71 x 24 cm). Luckily, they had just picked up an old roof tile from a previous job the day before. It was 30.5’, so they could cut it to size for this job. They said they hadn't expected it to come in handy anytime soon, but it clearly did.

Late morning they were done. I hope this work means my roof is good for several years to come! And I will keep an eye on these imperfectly plugged holes drilled into my slates. I might have Franco and Luke come back every so many years to patch up the waterproofness. Not ideal, but clearly manageable!