Roofing Tales Of Madness
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- Wally J. Corpse
- Level Zero: True Jerk
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Roofing Tales Of Madness
Greetings, Legion Of Fan-
Here to follow, is another episode, this one is entitled-"Fun With Trash"-
There I Was, circa 1980, my stalworth crew and eye were set upon the task of re-roofing a steep mansard on a large apartment building on the corner of Greenwich at Van Ness, SF. When I say steep, I mean it was just a few degrees shy of vertical. The building was about 10 stories up on Van Ness, and increased in height going down Greenwich St. It was fully scaffolded up to eave edges, an interior metal gutter system. We had to remove the existing roofing, an ancient cementatious kinda flat shingle thingy, and now, thinking backwards, most likely contained an asbestos flavor, but we were then unawares of future health risking. This was the first time we utilized the new Cleasby plastic sectional debris chute for conveyance of the old roofing, 10 stories to metal debris boxes on Greenwich. After a long and dangerous struggle to erect the chute system, we were all gathered round the hopper for the first wheelbarrow full of old roofing sent earthwards. The load rattled a wee bit down the chute, then, whence impacting the empty debris box, a thunderous explosion of noise and dust ensued, much to our amusement, however, the general public was somewhat surprised, and there may have been some slight incidents of swerving and traffic accidents on Van Ness therefore resultant. This process was cheerfully repeated until enough crap was in the box AS to somewhat diminish the impact shock value. Of course, in the interim, SFPD arrived with their flashing blues, and, gazing upwards to us, the officers shrugged, we returned the shrugging, and they left us to our duties.
After the old roof had been removed, we installed 30lb felt to dry in and protect the roof plane, then began the installation of the new roofing, a new fangled product- 'twas a fiberglass based three tab shingle, exhibiting a pressure embossed 'wood grain' surface texture, and had occasionally spaced strips of shingle so AS to mimic a wood shingle appearance, called the 'Shangle'. This technology was the forerunner of today's laminated dimensional shingle. We hand nailed every square, using the AJC gauged hatchets, and nail stripper methods. There was a rumor that some errantly dropped nails may have caused some slight tire distress on the roadway, no need to go into that now.
AS we installed said new roofing shingles, one of mine crew Einsteins showed us an amazing fun with trash effect, to wit: one could create an amusing device by taking a segment of a stiff shingle wrapper, cutting it into a designed shape, and preparing it into a 'helicopter'. Once launched fromst a height, the clever little unit would rise and fall beholden to air currents, and float/fly away. Yay! Said us! Many a moment was silently, and rapt in physical planetary majesty watching these devices float away, the epitome of cause for endeavor was whence, one of the gravity propelled creations was noticed by an attractively cutie lass at the bus stop, who caught it in md-air, and, to our round of applause, curtsied AS she pocketed same. One can only guess what story she told about her new treasure.
Just goes to show you, that the phenomena of science can be enjoyed on many levels, ranging fromst the simple to the complex...
AS ever,
Your ol' pal,
Wally J. Corpse
Here to follow, is another episode, this one is entitled-"Fun With Trash"-
There I Was, circa 1980, my stalworth crew and eye were set upon the task of re-roofing a steep mansard on a large apartment building on the corner of Greenwich at Van Ness, SF. When I say steep, I mean it was just a few degrees shy of vertical. The building was about 10 stories up on Van Ness, and increased in height going down Greenwich St. It was fully scaffolded up to eave edges, an interior metal gutter system. We had to remove the existing roofing, an ancient cementatious kinda flat shingle thingy, and now, thinking backwards, most likely contained an asbestos flavor, but we were then unawares of future health risking. This was the first time we utilized the new Cleasby plastic sectional debris chute for conveyance of the old roofing, 10 stories to metal debris boxes on Greenwich. After a long and dangerous struggle to erect the chute system, we were all gathered round the hopper for the first wheelbarrow full of old roofing sent earthwards. The load rattled a wee bit down the chute, then, whence impacting the empty debris box, a thunderous explosion of noise and dust ensued, much to our amusement, however, the general public was somewhat surprised, and there may have been some slight incidents of swerving and traffic accidents on Van Ness therefore resultant. This process was cheerfully repeated until enough crap was in the box AS to somewhat diminish the impact shock value. Of course, in the interim, SFPD arrived with their flashing blues, and, gazing upwards to us, the officers shrugged, we returned the shrugging, and they left us to our duties.
After the old roof had been removed, we installed 30lb felt to dry in and protect the roof plane, then began the installation of the new roofing, a new fangled product- 'twas a fiberglass based three tab shingle, exhibiting a pressure embossed 'wood grain' surface texture, and had occasionally spaced strips of shingle so AS to mimic a wood shingle appearance, called the 'Shangle'. This technology was the forerunner of today's laminated dimensional shingle. We hand nailed every square, using the AJC gauged hatchets, and nail stripper methods. There was a rumor that some errantly dropped nails may have caused some slight tire distress on the roadway, no need to go into that now.
AS we installed said new roofing shingles, one of mine crew Einsteins showed us an amazing fun with trash effect, to wit: one could create an amusing device by taking a segment of a stiff shingle wrapper, cutting it into a designed shape, and preparing it into a 'helicopter'. Once launched fromst a height, the clever little unit would rise and fall beholden to air currents, and float/fly away. Yay! Said us! Many a moment was silently, and rapt in physical planetary majesty watching these devices float away, the epitome of cause for endeavor was whence, one of the gravity propelled creations was noticed by an attractively cutie lass at the bus stop, who caught it in md-air, and, to our round of applause, curtsied AS she pocketed same. One can only guess what story she told about her new treasure.
Just goes to show you, that the phenomena of science can be enjoyed on many levels, ranging fromst the simple to the complex...
AS ever,
Your ol' pal,
Wally J. Corpse
- whippersnapper
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Re: Roofing Tales Of Madness
Glad the story didn't involve someone taking a slide down the chute-although it would have been exhilarating the first couple seconds.
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- Bonzo
- Doofus Emeritus
- Posts: 3419
- Joined: Thu May 23, 2002 8:01 pm
- Location: Klamath Falls, Oregon Left Coast I can still see Mt. Zoomie from my house!
Re: Roofing Tales Of Madness
Mr. Corpse,
I remember the 'Shangle' concept shingle. The pronunciation was somewhat popular with an Afro-American I worked with. A fairly crummy shingle at best, not worth 2 shits in high wind areas. Not bad to look at from a distance, but up close they resembled puke running downhill. The only way to deal with a day nailing those things down was multiple cases of Coors on ice. I'm very impressed with the distance from concrete to roof surface without the use of safety harness' and lanyards. Ah, the good ol days before OSHA spoiled all the fun...
Best regards,
Bonz
I remember the 'Shangle' concept shingle. The pronunciation was somewhat popular with an Afro-American I worked with. A fairly crummy shingle at best, not worth 2 shits in high wind areas. Not bad to look at from a distance, but up close they resembled puke running downhill. The only way to deal with a day nailing those things down was multiple cases of Coors on ice. I'm very impressed with the distance from concrete to roof surface without the use of safety harness' and lanyards. Ah, the good ol days before OSHA spoiled all the fun...
Best regards,
Bonz
"A little rebellion now & then is a good thing"
Thomas Jefferson
- natcherly
- Connoisseur dei Coltelli
- Posts: 6340
- Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2004 3:59 pm
- Location: Baghdad by the Bay
Re: Roofing Tales Of Madness
Mr. Corpse,
The subject building as it looks fairly recently. The roof has a greenish tinge to it. Maybe the Shangles weathered or some other crew redid the roof.
I get vertigo looking at your candid photos. You couldn't pay me to cling to that mansardy thing.
The subject building as it looks fairly recently. The roof has a greenish tinge to it. Maybe the Shangles weathered or some other crew redid the roof.
I get vertigo looking at your candid photos. You couldn't pay me to cling to that mansardy thing.
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- Wally J. Corpse
- Level Zero: True Jerk
- Posts: 1865
- Joined: Thu May 23, 2002 7:59 pm
- Location: Fornicalia
Re: Roofing Tales Of Madness
Greetings, Legion Of Fan-
Mr. Doofus Emeritus, yes those shangles were a farce, stiffly brittle even fresh out of the wrapper, and we did have to severely nail them to prevent their wind departure AS we worked. Yes, no ropes of harnesses used, we often worked off a single bracket, AS seen in the photos. The materials were ground dropped by the pallet, which then had to be conveyed by cart to service elevator, hiked up two flights of stairs to the building's main flat roof. The company owner guesstimated the amount of squares ordered from the ground, and it became sadly evident that we had a fair surplus of bundles. Rather than labor intensely take them back down, we discovered a nice attic chamber that had plywood atop ceiling joists, and the extra shingles went in, tastefully arranged into a couch, chair, and table for us to hide from the drizzle whilst having our ice cold cans, playing euchre, and make fleets of helicopters.
Mr. Natcherly, the roof we installed lasted some 30 years, and yes, has since been replaced.
AS ever,
Your ol' pal,
Wally J. Corpse
Mr. Doofus Emeritus, yes those shangles were a farce, stiffly brittle even fresh out of the wrapper, and we did have to severely nail them to prevent their wind departure AS we worked. Yes, no ropes of harnesses used, we often worked off a single bracket, AS seen in the photos. The materials were ground dropped by the pallet, which then had to be conveyed by cart to service elevator, hiked up two flights of stairs to the building's main flat roof. The company owner guesstimated the amount of squares ordered from the ground, and it became sadly evident that we had a fair surplus of bundles. Rather than labor intensely take them back down, we discovered a nice attic chamber that had plywood atop ceiling joists, and the extra shingles went in, tastefully arranged into a couch, chair, and table for us to hide from the drizzle whilst having our ice cold cans, playing euchre, and make fleets of helicopters.
Mr. Natcherly, the roof we installed lasted some 30 years, and yes, has since been replaced.
AS ever,
Your ol' pal,
Wally J. Corpse
- Bonzo
- Doofus Emeritus
- Posts: 3419
- Joined: Thu May 23, 2002 8:01 pm
- Location: Klamath Falls, Oregon Left Coast I can still see Mt. Zoomie from my house!
Re: Roofing Tales Of Madness
Mr.Corpse,
If’n I rightly recall, the Shangle became the Hallmark 30 (or HM-30 for short). I once bid a different product on a large doctors complex, and the head Einstein rectal brain surgeon insisted upon using those shingles. They were different than anything else in the area he said. Of course, I told him nobody else would adorn their property with such garbage. The more he persisted, the more the price went up. After I filled my wallet at the bank, the roof didn’t look so bad after all. I mean, driving past at 40 mph and all the conifers in the way, money always takes precedent.
Best regards,
Bonz
If’n I rightly recall, the Shangle became the Hallmark 30 (or HM-30 for short). I once bid a different product on a large doctors complex, and the head Einstein rectal brain surgeon insisted upon using those shingles. They were different than anything else in the area he said. Of course, I told him nobody else would adorn their property with such garbage. The more he persisted, the more the price went up. After I filled my wallet at the bank, the roof didn’t look so bad after all. I mean, driving past at 40 mph and all the conifers in the way, money always takes precedent.
Best regards,
Bonz
"A little rebellion now & then is a good thing"
Thomas Jefferson
Re: Roofing Tales Of Madness
Helicopters !
I first learned of these in the early 70's.
People were having "distance' contests out of high rise dormitories at University of Pittsburgh.
I watched as dart plane after dart plane sailed away and eventually down.
One dude . . whose name I never learned.
Dropped his paper Helicopter, and it started to fall.
Then it started to spin.
and it was caught in the updraft against the building.
It went up and out of sight.
He won the contest.
Wally . . .thrilling photos.
I climbed steel for a bit, with a safety harness. Zorba straps, stuff like that.
But never on such a steep slope. . . .
and never on a surface in need of repair. . . .
Man. . .They say falling off anything over 50 feet is fatal . .
But still the odd angle of a roof, throws my visual off kilter.
It looks un-nerving.
I first learned of these in the early 70's.
People were having "distance' contests out of high rise dormitories at University of Pittsburgh.
I watched as dart plane after dart plane sailed away and eventually down.
One dude . . whose name I never learned.
Dropped his paper Helicopter, and it started to fall.
Then it started to spin.
and it was caught in the updraft against the building.
It went up and out of sight.
He won the contest.
Wally . . .thrilling photos.
I climbed steel for a bit, with a safety harness. Zorba straps, stuff like that.
But never on such a steep slope. . . .
and never on a surface in need of repair. . . .
Man. . .They say falling off anything over 50 feet is fatal . .
But still the odd angle of a roof, throws my visual off kilter.
It looks un-nerving.
Re: Roofing Tales Of Madness
These days, people have to be holding me when I step down the 4 steps off my front porch.
Me in the blue hard hat. . . on a chemical plant smoke stack. . .about 34 years ago.
The "star" in the steel was the Christmas lights we'd change bulbs on. at about 190 feet.
Used to climb to the top to change sensors in the offgas top opening.
Me in the blue hard hat. . . on a chemical plant smoke stack. . .about 34 years ago.
The "star" in the steel was the Christmas lights we'd change bulbs on. at about 190 feet.
Used to climb to the top to change sensors in the offgas top opening.
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Re: Roofing Tales Of Madness
A little late to this one but I put on my share of hallmark shangles in my time ,they quit making those years ago ; the few roofs that i do these days I sub out but the mexican guys have never seen an AJC hammer! They gazed in confusion when I pulled one out,they all use hook blades to cut em, I love watching the YouTube videos of young bucks putting 3or4 bundles on their shoulder and up a ladder. Spinal arthritis aint that much fun Hope you were paid well for that one,world’s oldest roofer
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Re: Roofing Tales Of Madness
3 or 4 bundles and up a ladder, maybe in my 20's and my guts would be hanging out of my ass.
2024 candidate for president
Re: Roofing Tales Of Madness
You, Sir are a braver man than I! No way would I be up there without being roped in...
"A chance to cut is a chance to cure.....heal with cold steel."
- Bonzo
- Doofus Emeritus
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- Joined: Thu May 23, 2002 8:01 pm
- Location: Klamath Falls, Oregon Left Coast I can still see Mt. Zoomie from my house!
Re: Roofing Tales Of Madness
Mr, Worlds Oldest Roofer,worlds oldest roofer wrote: ↑Thu Sep 15, 2022 12:10 am A little late to this one but I put on my share of hallmark shangles in my time ,they quit making those years ago ; the few roofs that i do these days I sub out but the mexican guys have never seen an AJC hammer! They gazed in confusion when I pulled one out,they all use hook blades to cut em, I love watching the YouTube videos of young bucks putting 3or4 bundles on their shoulder and up a ladder. Spinal arthritis aint that much fun Hope you were paid well for that one,world’s oldest roofer
When I was in my early 40's, the doc pointed out a small mass in my lower spine on an xray. All roofers get this he told me. Arthritis. There was a time when roofing paid off like a slot machine. Now its a trade full of tweakers, derelicts, and illegals. If, you can really call it a trade.
Best regards,
Bonz
"A little rebellion now & then is a good thing"
Thomas Jefferson