So, let's get back to the gutters. Looking at a few of the photos you get some idea as to the extent of the problem. Unlike a leaky gutter on one of our homes, since this is going to be the source of these folks drinking water supply, we really don't have the luxury of writing off 15 -20% due to what we would normally consider trivial losses. It really was important to fix them, but it was equally important to figure out why they had failed in the first place. We thought we had installed a pretty stable system last year with stainless steel strapping and an adequate amount if PVC cement on the joints and caps. Yet, on the west side of the roof, three out of six straps were gone. Not broken, not dangling. Gone. We really conducted an extensive mental interrogation amongst ourselves and could only come to the conclusion of harsh climate, and possibly shoddy materials from Richards. I do not mean to cast aspersions but we have no way to control for the quality of the materials that we are buying. Some of the strapping may not have been stainless and who knows how long the cans of PVC cement were on his shelf. This years new cans had rust on their tops. Also, on other possibility is that, if we were running low on the cement last year we may have unintentionally not use enough or coated both sides of the weld? Hard to say. Moreover, there are/were several places were the ends of the roof joists poked out under the corrugated metal roofing pushing the PVC tubing away. Certainly a factor. Lastly, the edge of the roof itself does not run in a true straight line nor is it even. There are high points and low points so that water puddles in places within the tube. In essence, we are trying to make the PVC follow a curve.
So, the first step in repairing the gutters is getting up to them. The new ladder comes into play here. The problem is that it is very difficult to repair a gutter when a very heavy ladder with a person on it is resting against the very gutter (and poorly attached, at that) that one is working on. Something as simple as a 6' folding ladder would have done the job perfectly. But we didn't have one of those. Our next idea was to string a rope from joist-to-joist beneath the gutter and lay the ladder in the cradle of the rope. Not very stable but with enough ballast on the bottom, possible. So, with quite a bit of fanfare, we set about trying to lasso toss the rope over the joists. This is not at all easy, and very much resembles one of those carny games that cost a buck, look easy and prove to be absolutely impossible. Think basketball at the carnival hoop shoot and you are starting to get the picture.
It was in this moment that I had a tremendous epiphany. On this and the previous trip I have often felt uncomfortable when the locals, including Ambrosio, would simply sit there and silently watch us. No conversation. No questions. I feel compelled to make conversation, but it is awkward when I am trying to focus on the task at hand such as unpacking following our arrival. But, in those moments that we were trying to get those ropes up, it hit me. We are entertainment. Yeah, that's right. Very little happens out of the ordinary on that island, so when a bunch of gringos rolls into town and starts doing their circus act, you bet your ass that folks are going to sit down and watch the show. We are entertainment. I have really learned that and whenever possible, I try to narrate it and give them a good show. I am learning.
At any rate, we eventually got the rope up and hung, only to discover that it was physically impossible to maneuver the ladder, at it's fixed length, under the eave of the roof and between the edge of the adjacent kitchen building. Simply not possible. Game over, for better or for worse. (Quite frankly, even at the time it seemed a bit harebrained).
In the end, we just sucked it up, gingerly hoisted that heavy SOB into place, and sent Tim or Frank up there with hammers, pry bars, drills, strapping, screws, impact drivers, epoxy, PVC cement and, even magic stretchy tape (Chip has an aversion to duck tape). On the ground Chip and I maneuvered the gutter into place with long Y-sticks or metal pipes (now that's heavy metal) as one of these guys guided it onto the corrugated metal.Then Tim (or Frank) would strap, seal, or otherwise secure that damn pipe as best as possible onto that roof. In the end, I think we reduced the leakage by 85%. And I'm glad we didn't do the ladder-in-the-rope-cradle trick. Sketchy. Even by my standards. Do not try that at home. (ps, as soon as I get some of the photos from the student batch I will add them in here).
But wait, it get's better. As you can see in the pictures, the roof joists push the PVC off the metal by quite a few inches. I don't know how the hell Kyle ever got it onto the roof in the first place, but I sure as hell know that if we did not do something about them, we would wind up in the same place in a short period of time. We conferred with Ambrosio who thought it over. We were trying to see if he could cobble together a shorter ladder or some type of low scaffold so we could saw the ends off. He proposed something completely different. Ambrosio volunteered to reach up, overhead, and try to chainsaw the tips of the joists. The problem is that they were about 18-24" beyond his reach, so we still needed some type of short ladder, scaffold or stool to get him there. The Ngabe people are fairly short statured to begin with, and again, the idea seemed pretty sketchy to me. In my head I was reviewing the anatomy of the femoral artery as I was sure that was the likely outcome of this idea. But some situations call out for something beyond the usual, a bit of flair, a dash of elan. Or just a dose of crazy. Using a combination of planks, cement blocks, 3 x 3s, and a human anchor chain, we created a gangplank at about 35 degerees that Ambrosio walked out upon, reached up with his chainsaw, and took down three or four of the outjutting joist ends. End of story.
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| Ambrosio walks the gangplank. I am in back holding onto his pants. Chainsaw in background. |
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