“Girls rule….and guys think that, too,” said my 9-year old, Reese (Tool Girl), this morning, as she man-handled her daddy’s heavy nail gun, easily shooting nails through the decking boards on the roof. (She had a point!) She was so proud of herself using the nail gun, while balancing herself on the sloped roof (while her sister pretty much clung on and stayed in one place), hopping from one spot to the next…wherever a nail was needed. She was truly Daddy’s helper today….and loved every second of it.

They worked their way all the way up. Can you see Reese in the pic below, waving on the roof? (Or do you need binoculars?) I can barely see her in the picture!

Like her daddy, she adores tools and construction. Like her mom, she LOVES heights and doing risky things. (Is that a good thing???) She kept asking if we could please shoot her above the trees on the telehandler.

Meanwhile, her daddy and sister were on the roof only because they had to be. Reiley likes heights…within reason. As long as she could stay in place…she was good.

In this assignment, I was in charge of photography, the telehandler, getting nails, plugging in needed tools, etc. “Feet on the ground girl”. Steve retrieved the boards from the telehandler, and placed them (with Reese’s help) onto the roof. Reiley ensured that the end of it touched the other roof boards, and hammered the added board down onto the previous board, ensuring a tighter fit. Then Steve and Reese nailed them in.

It was now time to do the opposite side of the house. I think the girls had about all the roofing fun they could handle, though. Reiley took over the telehandler, taking Steve and I to the roof for nailing. Then the girls retreated to engage in more “artistic” work. They made Native American Indian villages. Again…I was pretty impressed. Not bad for an hour.

While they were in artisic Lala-land, their parents were in SWEAT land up on the roof in the direct sun and heat. (‘Sup with that??)

For those of you who aren’t builders, these boards are called “tongue and groove.” One side has a “tongue”…(that I’m pinching in this picture)…

while the other side has the “groove” that the tongue of another board fits into, making a snug fit. (My finger is inside the groove, and my thumb is under the tongue.) Look at how THICK these boards are, too! They are HEAVY, and 18 feet long!

The trick is to lift these heavy (40 lbs?) boards over your head (3x longer than 6’8″ Steve), while on a slanted roof (Steve is a hulk!!!)…then turn them (overhead) like a helicopter propeller the correct direction (tongue/groove)…and also flip them upside down so ink numbered stamp faces sky and not living room. Don’t slip Steve!…lay it in place, and then shove the tongue into the groove, which wasn’t always easy.

The problem we kept running into was in the overhang (which you see extending past me in the picture of me nailing). 4 feet over the edge, the tongue board wouldn’t cooperate. That’s where I came in. I”d have to crawl over there, push down on the board as best I could, and hope they would pop into place. Most of the time they did. Then I’d grip them together until Steve nailed his end, and then brought me the gun to my side. Sometimes he had to come over and apply good ‘ol sledge hammer to the tongue board to bash it in.

Keep in mind…we were adding height with each board. We’d set the nail gun down, and it wanted to slide down the roof, away from our reach. Every time he needed another board, he had to walk down the roof, take another, do the spin over his head trick with 40 pounds, and then walk up the roof with it. (He’s my hero.) It was HOT up there . But, I had fun (he didn’t). 

Then it was time to pressure wash. What a PERFECT job to do when you’re ROASTING HOT! That’s just the over-mist…he’s aiming at the wall.

While Reese wrung herself out, Reiley pressure washed.

You can see the general idea of what we’re trying to achieve with the pressure washing. Then we seal it, and then stain it (the bad, bad, BAD ‘s’ word). If you think I’m breaking out into hives just thinking about choosing the stain, you’re right.

That’s the end of a long day’s work.  See you on the next post…”The Barnum and Bradbury Circus” (just click the link)

If you’re new to this blog, click here: ‘What is Cottonwood Creek?”  If you want to start from the beginning of our story, when we built a 130-year old guest house, click here: “Welcome to Cottonwood Creek’.  If you want to start reading about our log home build, click here: “What do Vegas and logs have in common?”