Emergency roof repair preparation

**KeithBC** · 06-16-2010, 02:13 PM

The thread in the General Chat forum on leaky roofs got me thinking...

We get winter storms that are doozies, and there is always the risk of a tree falling on the house and smashing the roof. There is no such thing as emergency service here for repairs - we live on an island. We can't even get Hydro out to fix a broken power line for two or three days!

So a broken roof means yours truly gets to do the emergency fix.

We bought a great big tarp and some rope specifically for emergency roof repairs, and we keep both in the garage. Though we are always using tarps for this and that, we *never* use the roof tarp for general use. It and the rope are still in their unopened packages. I also keep a few sheets of plywood and some 2x4s out back (much to DW's esthetic consternation!) for the same reason: if we need roof or window repairs, I've got to do it with materials on hand.

Speaking of going up on the roof in a storm, I have a safety rope (nylon climbing rope) to tie myself into when working on the roof. In an emergency, it'll be wet and slippery - it's metal. We have a deck on both sides of the house, so the bottom end of the rope gets tied onto a deck post on the opposite side from where I'm working. The rope goes over the ridge of the roof, and I'm tied onto it.

**mek42** · 06-16-2010, 02:24 PM

If you're storing a plastic tarp, should you rotate it with new tarp purchases periodically? It'd suck to have the thing fail due to age right when you need it.

Also, again if plastic, do you store it inside a heated area? Be a royal pain to try to work with a frozen tarp that doesn't flow nicely in the middle of winter if needed.

**KeithBC** · 06-16-2010, 02:38 PM

Good points, mek!

**altermine** · 06-22-2010, 10:12 AM

An emergency is a situation which calls for drastic measures. A roof which has suffered damage due to heavy rains, tornado like situations, hail, storms etc classify sometime for this kind of a repair. The roof is perhaps the most important part of a house, besides the people living in the house.