used to just grab a ladder to fix the roof...........

Finally gonna get the roof replaced next week (6 weeks late, but who's counting...).. Showed up this morning for the scaffolding... 2 guys scampering around like monkeys and making me nervous... All leveled and bolted to the wall ready for monday morning.... Steep half gets new rafters also (poles from 1904), all gets new clay tiles and extended about 2 ft all the way around.. Said it'd be done by Friday next week... We'll see...

LOL yep that's the Germany I remeber so well........

Rick

Nice lookin' place you got there Dave.
Kow Farmer

Dave2,
Going to look awesome in new tiles! Please post pics when done.

When two brothers shingled our roof, they did not use any scaffolding. Walked around up there like it was nothin'! "Up there" refers to a FULL TWO STORY HOUSE with a fairly steep slope. It is a long way to the ground - though I'm sure you'd get there pretty quick. LOL.

Made me nervous just to watch 'em. I told them that and they just laughed and said they do it everyday. (They had provided proof of insurance... so at least they were covered, though totally crazy in my opinion.)

The metal roof in the third pic was the first step. Future SIL is a roofer and said "yea, me and one or two guys from work can knock it out in 2 days (old asbestos plates off and steel on)... Got everything ordered and in place ready to start... His two buddies turned out bein one fat guy that don't like heights real well (me).... Shifted gears real quick and gave the rest of the job to the local guy... He was initially just going to replace the rafters in the old part and do the extensions and SIL and his "buddies" do the tiles...
BTW, don't know what the guarantee was at the time, but the steep roof tiles are from 108 years old with no leaks. Clay tiles ain't a bad investment....

Just make sure they have all the INSURANCES and there is no comeback on you..if not already done so. I see a post mentioning ASBESTOS.

Lucky you. No bullet holes from allied aircraft.....

(quoted from post at 17:34:47 11/08/12) Lucky you. No bullet holes from allied aircraft.....

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In the 3rd picture, the yellow building across the street is part of a barn where all the men from town were gathered and locked up until cleared that they weren't dangerous... Fitting place cause it was used by the nazis as a holding place when they came thru gathering Jews......

I would agree on being held harmless/indemnified, you hold the insurance certificate listing you as additionally insured and all the other details that is required.

I will say this, whomever is doing this job sure has some money invested in the staging/scaffolding, there are safety rails, toeboards and netting, and I'll bet you did not have to specify for them to do this. Its refreshing to see a contractor or whomever using safe and sound methods. You don't see many residential contractors using that kind of staging/scaffolding around here, I still see pump jacks and questionable planking, masonry scaffold, no netting, safety rails or toe boards to protect people below. If they perform like what is set up in the photos, they'll make some time, and might surprise you.

I still can't get over on what they set up, has all the safety features we demand on large jobs, which you never see on residential ones, sure as heck looks professional from here, just make sure those tiebacks are attached right or are strong enough, masons on scaffold jobs I've managed would embed thick tie wire in the masonry joints to accomplish this tie back, I used to be a stickler for making sure when they take it down to cut, grind or what have you that wire so its embedded and won't leave a rust stain down the wall years later.

With all that cramped space, where do you park your tractor and horses? Don't even look like you have a place to park your car.

(quoted from post at 19:41:56 11/08/12) With all that cramped space, where do you park your tractor and horses? Don't even look like you have a place to park your car.

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Where the green truck is is the parking place for one of us, the other parks on the street. Tractor is usually at one of the stalls outside town and the horses stay at one of them and a few in stalls behind the barn...

if the roof isn't leaking ,why are you changing it.

The room under the steep part is unfinished and the rafters are in bad shape, whole house needs insulated so eaves need to overhang more (will be insulating the outside) and we'll insulate the roof between the rafters so we can use the attic if needed. Having a new heater installed also. This will be the last big project we'll see on the house exept the insulation and siding next year...

LOL Dave there were a lot of buildings that were used by the Germans in WWII that have an interesting history. I got off the plane at Rhine Main Air Base in Jul 76 and was bussed to a building that had been a Gestapo prison. There were still bullet pock marks in the walls outside the building. Spent the night there while they decided where to send me (SP4 at the time). On the way to Stuttgart I met a German who told me about fighting in North Africa and being a POW in La doing work release on a farm. He was the only German WWII vet I met that admitted that he fought against us. All the other would swear up and down they fought the Russians.

For those who don't know a lot of German farmers home places are in a small town or village. The farms go out from the house/bard in a pie shape. That dates back to when they needed to do that for self defense. Some of the older places have the house and barn in the same building....or they did the last time we did field exercises in the Germans back yards. Very interesting to see how they farm.

Rick