So my apartment building has this massive ice dam problem. 10 foot long icicles 4 inches wide at the base. Hundreds and hundreds of pounds of weight. I know why it’s happening and I can’t do much about it. The building has a warm roof. There sysmply isn’t enough space for a cold roof solution. Therefore every few years this happens and I have to take steps. It’s particularly bad this year. I rake my roof, as much as I can reach anyway, but to cut ice dams what is available is salt. You want to cut an ice dam vertically to release the water. not horizontally, that actually makes things worse. Those salt hockey pucks are also near useless. The functional solution is to fill pantyhose (or this year tights because they’re actually cheaper now) with rock salt and place them in a herringbone pattern with the ankles hanging over the ice dam.
Climbing a ladder to do this in the winter is dangerous and unpleasant work. I bought a dozen pairs of the cheapest tights at Walmart, then had the ankles sewn shut with a serger, creating a two legged bag which I filled with water softener salt pellets and tied shut at the top. They weigh about 60lb a piece. I’ve got to place the ladder and get someone to hold it though so I don’t die when I climb the thing. I called my sister who works as a landscaper, and offered her Lunch if she would help me get the ladder out of the garage and hold it while I climbed it. She agreed. So 11am rolls around and she’s called a plumber instead, and even though it’s second call the plumber hasn’t arrived. So I wait till noon. Still no call from the plumber. I offer my bathroom so she could at least pee. She declines. So I offer to clean my bathroom so it would be more fit for her use. She shows up on my doorstep without calling. I take her to lunch, and she orders a sampler platter which is twice the price of anything on the menu. She can’t finish it, so I have this big box of leftovers and a $50 lunch bill. Then her plumber calls so we rush rush back to my house and she helps me get the ladder out of the garage but does it in such a hurry that a bunch of stuff gets knocked over (which is part of what I wanted to avoid when asking her for help). She then has to leave immediately so the ladder gets left in the snow bank, I can’t get the salt up on my roof which is in danger of collapsing, I’m out $50, and if I was willing to knock over everything I could have dragged the ladder out myself, saved $50 and three hours of wasted warmer afternoon time to boot. I am really kind of ...... off right now. Should I be?
Climbing a ladder to do this in the winter is dangerous and unpleasant work. I bought a dozen pairs of the cheapest tights at Walmart, then had the ankles sewn shut with a serger, creating a two legged bag which I filled with water softener salt pellets and tied shut at the top. They weigh about 60lb a piece. I’ve got to place the ladder and get someone to hold it though so I don’t die when I climb the thing. I called my sister who works as a landscaper, and offered her Lunch if she would help me get the ladder out of the garage and hold it while I climbed it. She agreed. So 11am rolls around and she’s called a plumber instead, and even though it’s second call the plumber hasn’t arrived. So I wait till noon. Still no call from the plumber. I offer my bathroom so she could at least pee. She declines. So I offer to clean my bathroom so it would be more fit for her use. She shows up on my doorstep without calling. I take her to lunch, and she orders a sampler platter which is twice the price of anything on the menu. She can’t finish it, so I have this big box of leftovers and a $50 lunch bill. Then her plumber calls so we rush rush back to my house and she helps me get the ladder out of the garage but does it in such a hurry that a bunch of stuff gets knocked over (which is part of what I wanted to avoid when asking her for help). She then has to leave immediately so the ladder gets left in the snow bank, I can’t get the salt up on my roof which is in danger of collapsing, I’m out $50, and if I was willing to knock over everything I could have dragged the ladder out myself, saved $50 and three hours of wasted warmer afternoon time to boot. I am really kind of ...... off right now. Should I be?
