Week 2: Shingles

Saturday was dry and still so i had the chance to start on the shingles on the west side. I hadn’t woken up meaning to, but after coming back at about 11 am from running errands (getting rid of stuff!) i realized that there was no wind. I thought i would check out the shingles and see what we are up against and the next thing i knew i was in my respirator pulling nails. I have to admit that i really like getting “stuck in” to a job and i have been itching to get started. While there are still 4 or 5 months of planning and permitting (and we haven’t selected a builder yet) i know that we only have about 20 weekends to get the place ready. If I don’t want to spend every evening and both days every weekend, i need to get started.

I think it was about 10 years ago that i last took the asbestos shingles down before fixing the front porch. I wore my asbestos mask but broke a lot of shingles while taking them off. I basically just put my thin prybar underneath them and pried, splitting most of them. This time i am trying to leave as many intact as i possibly can, reducing the amount of asbestos I disturb.

Anyway, i suited up in my in my mask and some work clothes, plugged in an audiobook and went to work.

First i took apart our extension ladder so that it was lighter and easier to fit under the eaves. This is a trick i learned when i was a window washer. I don’t need the height of the extension on the side of the house so why swing the whole damn thing around when half will do? I climbed up planning to start at the top and work my way down. This is the reverse of how shingles go on and will allow me to expose the top of each shingle once i get going. The challenge is that it is hard to have the ladder off the top shingle you are working on and get any useful leverage leaning over to the side. This time around i am trying to use my end-cut pliers to pull the nails out before removing the shingles so you need to get the shingle to flex to get under the head of the nail. That got frustrating fast. I might have to rent/borrow/make scaffolding to get the upper part.

I came down and regrouped. Since the core scope is to get the bottom done, i decided to focus on that for now. It was much easier to get the force i needed while planted firmly on the ground. For most of the shingles i was able to lean into them with the head of the pliers, get purchase and then rock the pliers to pull the nail. The shingles are installed with ring nails which are really secure and not the easiest to pull. They also create some unwanted shingle dust on their way out. Less than perfect.

I managed to work for about 90 minutes give or take and managed to take off 32 square feet of shingles. When i got the shingles off and was done for the day, i made two stacks, wrapped them in the tarpaper and bagged them in one of the 6 mil bags i got for the purpose. Yes. One bag. It was damn heavy and i could barely lift it when it is was full. I need to get some asbestos labels on the bags before i can take them out to the dump in Delta.

This was hard work and i made a few tactical errors…

• I didn’t hydrate or eat before starting. I just sort of went out full of enthusiasm to get rolling shortly before lunch
• It takes a fair bit of effort to lean into a concrete tile and flex it enough to get the pliers under the nail head. I don’t remember if i ever even bothered trying last time.
• Breathing through a mask is not easy or comfortable for long periods of time. To get a good seal i have it on tight (You can check the seal if your hands are large enough by putting them over the end of the filter canisters and sucking hard. If you have a good seal it sucks the mask tight to your face, no air gets in, and it feels like your lungs are turning inside out. If air gets in, tighten it and do it again.) which starts to bug you after a while. With asbestos, you can have fibres on your clothes so it isn’t like when i am sanding where i will dust off, walk away, and take my mask off. Once working with asbestos, even low risk asbestos, you keep the damn mask on. Once i started i was committed until i stopped and cleaned up.

My 32 sq feet is pretty depressing given that i have at least 20 times that to remove at the very least with a bunch of it up a ladder, in a harness. Some of the 90 minutes was messing with the ladder, finding my tools, figuring out the technique, and cleaning up afterwards, but it wasn’t much of a session and i was spent by the end of it. Hard to say if I would have lasted much longer even if i had started earlier and was better hydrated and had better blood sugar. I am over 50 and spend most of my time riding a keyboard. For kicks i hike and cycle but i am not taking these things off with my legs. A good upper body workout for me is carrying groceries home from Donald’s or lifting a third pint when out with friends. I need to factor my lack of upper body strength into the plan. That was pretty humbling.

When i was done i came in, stripped in the laundry room and threw everything through the wash right down to my hat and socks. I then took off my mask and had a shower. Next time i will put on my coveralls before starting.

After lunch, i contemplated doing another session but a breeze had started so i did some more rearranging downstairs. The bedroom is now totally empty and ready for me to start on removing the old gyproc.