Repairing a roof leak & how not to do it!

As we moved wood, we found there had been a leak from the recent typhoon weather, right in the centre of the house.



So we got a ladder & I climbed up, but no sooner had I reached the edge did I realise it wasn't safe to go up there without some rope for safety. But how were we going to get a rope over the roof?

We tried tying a stone to a string, but couldn't throw it far enough over.
Then I got the idea of using a fruit picking telescopic pole with a handle operated gripper as a sort of fishing rod to cast the stone over the house...

1st attempt nearly did it, then about 5 attempts went increasingly wrong until I managed to cast the stone straight into a glass panel. We couldn't help but laugh, it would have looked funny in a comedy sketch as the three of us tried to figure out how to do this!

Not discouraged, I promised myself not to do the same thing again and a few attempts later the stone flew over the house and dangled from a tree over the other side!
We managed to fish it down, pull the string and get a rope over the roof before tying it to a tree...



I then climbed up carefully (I don't like heights much!) and made my way to the leaking area where I found a loose top panel, whilst squatting and using my arms to avoid putting weight on the centre of the roof...
Sealed with plenty of mastic, I began to make my way back only to find Shinobu had put all his weight on the copper sheets and squashed a few pieces flat on his way to give me some copper nails.... My fault, as he's only just turned 16 and this being his first experience on a roof - didn't realise how fragile the copper beneath his bum was and I hadn't told him!

I straightened the bent panels as best I could then applied more sealant. It's waterproof for now, but I'll have to get up there and replace with proper half pipe top tiles sometime - maybe made of fired clay with a glaze.

I'll probably do this around the same time we put a chimney through the centre for the wood burning stove that's planned...

Another job for later. I was glad to get down from there. Shinobu said he'd enjoyed the view!

For now we've left the rope and ladder in place, so we can monitor to make sure the leak's repaired.

A quote I received by chance this morning from Ann & Alex in Cambodia summed it all up nicely:

“Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.”
—Barry LePatner