The roof...a light at the end of the tunnel?

I've been trying to get the final parts of the roof on my almost-completed building for quite some time...weeks in fact. I was going to put shingles on it, and even have several squares of shingles purchased (seconds/discounted from Ace hardware). But then I actually climbed onto the roof, and decided that a metal roof would be better.

Luckily, my youngest aunt, Janice Lance, is married to a very generous guy, Bobby Lance, who just happened to have some excess galvanized steel 5-v roofing. So a couple of weeks ago, I went and picked it up. It's not quite the right length, but that's OK, the price was right...free!

In the meantime, on days it was dry, I was busy with work, and when I could get some free time, it's been raining! That's just the way it goes.

Today I finally rigged a spray paint stand in the yard, and painted the first 6 long sheets. It took more paint than I expected, but it turned out great. Of course I have a few 'runs' in the paint, since I've never worked with a compressed air gravity-fed spray gun before. I think I'll get the hang of it before I'm through. The roof's going to be a great hunter green color, and I'll paint the building in a couple of shades of brown...fairly dark for the background, and a lighter brown for the 'battens' that will hide the seams. That should make the building fit in well with its surroundings down in the woods.

As I write this, I've realized I'll need to paint the outside of the building before putting on the roof metal, to avoid overspray. Now if I can just get some dry days to do all this!

The big compressor and tank are really useful. I've used all the tools that came with it, and even purchased a 'jitterbug' sander. I have a similar electric sander, but the air-powered one just seems to work better. It really knocked the rust down on the 'tin' roofing. Then I spray painted with Ace's brand of rust-inhibiting paint. I hope I'll never have to roof the building again. With shingles, I'd have been facing a reroof job at a time (if I live that long) when I definitely couldn't get up on a roof. I may even be looking at a metal roof for the house here. That's one of the maintenance things that will have to be done before many years go by.

Electronic de-evolution

Have you noticed that all the new electronic forms of communication seem to be 'pushing out' the older forms?

The telephone call started the trend of fewer personal letters, but E-mail put an end to almost all personally written mail. I don't know the last time I got a really long handwritten letter from someone, but this used to be a really important form of communication.

Blogs seem to have replaced diaries/journals.

Now facebook and other social sites have comments that seem to be pushing out e-mail and blogging.

There's not any real point to this, just an observation.