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My city has Habitat and Christmas in April programs...
I wrote the Christmas in April program about 4 generations of women living in a 1910 home with a badly leaking roof... the elderly head of the household lost her husband in WWII... her son had passed from cancer and his wife and grand daughter were all living together... just getting by.
The Christmas in April folks completely stripped the roof of it's 3 layers, repaired dry rot, put down new sheathing and new comp dimensional singles... All work was done with a permit.
The also updated her single 30 amp fuse main to 100 amp 220 volt service when they had trouble running the air-compressor for the nail guns...
Didn't cost her anything... at age 90... she couldn't believe people would do something like that...
I had a friend of a friend rent a room from me. This guy was super eager to help me do all sorts of improvements to the place (which I had already planned on doing.) I ran in to a lot of the same issues you did (miscut wood, paint marks on the ceiling from painting the walls, broken equipment, etc.) Then, one day he got really stinking drunk and started yelling at me for not "paying him" for all the work he kept offering to help with.
I'm done. I'm the OP and yesterday while on the roof my back when out and it took me 20 minutes to climb down a ladder- bones wouldn't move, locked up.
My roof is 3/4 the way done and I have to just leave plastic up until spring. I so hate this.
Cold is really bad for my bones and well, I'm pretty much stuck. I'm going to spend the next few months working on the inside.
It seems to me that there are a lot of people out there who see something on television and say to themselves, "I can do that." When someone says they need help, those same people will volunteer, because they saw it on TV and think they know how to do it, without ever bothering to actually research and learn how, then practice it to make sure they actually DO know how to do something. I'm sorry, people make me crazy when they say, "Oh yeah, I know how to (for instance) install drywall, it's easy!" You ask them, "Oh cool, so have you installed a lot of drywall then?" They say, "Well, not myself actually, but I watched our contractor install it and it's really easy....and I've seen it done on lots of television programs!" Pet peeve.....definitely! If you haven't measured it out, figured out your materials, know exactly what tools to use, have measured, cut, taped, mudded, etc. and had it come out nice.....you do NOT know how to install drywall! Sorry....sharing your sentiments. Sorry you're stuck with a roof that's not finished and that although your "friends" have good intentions, they don't have really great skills. Does this sound pompous of me?.... If I don't know how to do it....and I don't have the money to hire someone to do it for me, I never allow someone to help me with something important. I hit the how-to web sites, pull out my how-to books and research the project....then I do it myself. I don't care how well intentioned some folks are, if someone is going to make errors in their measurements and cuts and waste my materials, it's going to be me. That's a fabulous way to ruin a perfectly good friendship!
There are lots of epople giving help of this type and I know several professionals that actually donate time to supoervised them on weekends. Then of course the cities has inspectors that check the work. Doing it without this supoervion or inspectuion is asking for problems.Even a so called porfessional doesn't mean that the jobs are done right these days.That is why most contrators have a supervisor to make sure the job is done right; if he wants his reputation keep up.There are tons of examples of professional jobs that were done that are under attroney generals investigation even now.
I'm done. I'm the OP and yesterday while on the roof my back when out and it took me 20 minutes to climb down a ladder- bones wouldn't move, locked up.
My roof is 3/4 the way done and I have to just leave plastic up until spring. I so hate this.
Cold is really bad for my bones and well, I'm pretty much stuck. I'm going to spend the next few months working on the inside.
Maybe if you were to call Habitat for Humanity in your area they can help you finish your roof. You don't want water to get in this winter.
If they can't help,... maybe they can refer you to someone who can help.
How about calling a local church??? How about contacting a vocational school who teaches home building whose students do the work for experience and for credit in school ???
It sounds like you've already purchased the materials. You just need someone qualified to finish the job -- someone who will do it right.
When you call, tell them about your experience with helpful friends... tell them you're a disabled vet. Make sure that they understand how important it is that you have someone that will do the job right, this time.
There must be some qualified people out there who are willing to donate a few hours to help out a veteran.. maybe all you need is a willing someone who you can supervise from down below to make sure that the job is finished before winter.
The materials you've purchased shouldn't be wasted and having a roof that doesn't leak is very important....
Make a few phone calls!
Last edited by World Citizen; 11-01-2009 at 09:06 AM..
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