Saving roofs 101

See video with article at www.boothbayregister.com
Mon, 02/16/2015 - 8:45am

With the near record snowfall Maine has had this winter, it’s no wonder that news stations have been warning people about roofs collapsing under all that weight. One news station stated that a square foot of dry snow weighs seven pounds or more.

On Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, with weather forecasters predicting another foot or two of snow for the Midcoast, two young entrepreneurs were spending their day alleviating peoples’ concerns about their roofs collapsing.

Paul Davis Jr. of Boothbay Harbor and his friend, Reggie Perrault of Warren, spent their Valentine’s Day shoveling piles of snow off roofs in Edgecomb and Bristol. Davis is the proprietor of Odds N' Ends, a business that offers everything from shoveling roofs to washing windows.

Odds N' Ends has been in business for five years.

“We’ve usually just worked summers, but we’re slowly starting to do more in the winter,” Davis said. “Summers we do mostly roofing and painting.”

Davis, who is 25, said he has been doing this type of work since he was 14.

“I’ve worked for Davis Roofing and for my grandfather’s business, Leigh Davis Contractor Builder,” he said.

The roof shoveling has been going on for two weeks, Davis said. “I’m not sure how many we’ve done, but we’ve done them in Bristol, Damariscotta, Edgecomb, Newcastle, Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor.”

With more snow predicted for the next day, Davis said if he needed more help he would get his brothers to help out. We now know that the forecast for one or two feet of snow didn’t happen.

Shoveling over a foot of snow from a roof in Edgecomb on Saturday, the duo worked quickly and efficiently. At one point Perrault decided he needed a break for some fun. He did a back-flip off the roof, landing in a big pile of snow.

“Getting off a roof 101,” he said.

After his hard, cold labor on Valentine’s Day, Davis said he was going to spend the evening doing whatever his fiancée, Kasey Doolan, wanted to do.

“We’re going to see ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’,” he said.

Besides roofing and painting in the summer months, Odds N' Ends also offers remodeling, yard, lawn and tree work, carpentry and pressure washing. Davis can be reached at 207-315-5002.