You’ve probably heard of an old fashioned barn raising, but what about a roof raising?
While many Chelsea folks spent July 4 at the lake or at a BBQ, Tom Girard and a group of his friends spent the morning and part of the afternoon raising a 24-foot section of the roof on his home.
Girard, an engineer, said the project began when he looked into refinancing the mortgage on his home, the appraiser told him that the 94-year-old asbestos roof had to go.
So, Girard decided to add the additional space to the back of his home as part of the roof repairs.
Since the roof already needed work, “I decided to add a dormer on the back,” Girard said, which equates to about 200 extra square feet on his home, which will be used as office space.
But before his buddies and some family members arrived, Girard did some prep work. He said he added a 4-foot stud wall and a 45-foot beam inside and took off a lot of the shingles, stacking them in bundles to be re-used.
He said the recycling effort was part of his belief in “sustainability.”
When asked how he got his friends to help on July 4th, one said, “Tom’s working from a big pile of chips,” referring to projects he’s helped many of them with in the past.
Girard said he chose July 4 because he thought it would be a day that would work for everyone and still give them plenty of time to enjoy other afternoon and evening holiday activities.
So, after 18 years in the home, armed with the proper permits, Girard now has the additional space he’s wanted for a long time.
And that stack of chips his friend’s owe him … they got a little shorter.
