Guest Post: A Great Hammer And Roof Story

Tabitha Hammer with Pat Martin by the amazing
 Paper Mulberry Tree outside Tabitha's house, 
now blessed with a brand new new roof.

I post the following piece by my friend Earl Martin with his kind permission. He is a founding member of a local group of volunteers known as the Carpenters Guild:

Over a month ago, Louise Jennings of Kingsway Prison Ministries contacted Harvey Yoder to see if he knew of someone who might help a woman patch the roof of her leaky house. Harvey contacted the Carpenters Guild and the wheels started turning.

The Guild has been a gathering of folks in the Harrisonburg area who for the last twenty years have been volunteering to help out in home repair for persons needing a hand. Often doing their work on Fridays, anywhere from three to 20 carpenters, plumbers, electricians, handy-hands, generalists and well-wishers would find themselves tearing out and rebuilding walls for a Latino couple, building a wheel-chair ramp for Paul Longacre or rebuilding the White House (now Vine and Fig) and their front porch. Not every month saw a project, but presumably there were at least six per year over the past twenty years, so likely well over 100 projects.

The Guild deliberately did not keep track of the projects. So there is no record. No, the intent was to lend a hand without bureaucracy, without troublesome “vetting” of each project, without attention or fanfare. Just an opportunity for some hammer-swingin folks to work together for a day!

So when the call came to help out the woman with her leaky roof came, it seemed like the perfect project for the Guild. “This kind of project is the very reason the Guild was formed.” 

Where is this project? Well, it's out beyond Elkton in the beautiful, hilly boonies. And who is this woman? When we pulled in one evening over a month ago to assess the project, we were met by a fast-talking, fast-chuckling firecracker of a woman named Tabitha Hammer. Tabitha explained that her house had been built by her grandfather, and built well. Alas, the roof has been leaking for years, forcing her son to live elsewhere rather than in his wet bedroom.

We climbed her ladder, homemade with an assemblage of boards, onto her low-pitched roof. (Less than two-twelve slope.) But Tabitha had arranged a variety of plastic sheeting here and there over the roof to prevent some of the rain from falling into her kitchen. Tabitha also had purchased 26 bundles of three-tab shingles and a half dozen sheets of three-quarter inch plywood to repair her roof. But she had no way of getting those remedies installed.

We told her we would see if we could help. Back home, we contacted members of the Guild for their counsel on what to do. Tim and others advised installing Ice and Water Shield over the whole roof because of the low slope. We contacted John Weaver about helping to install the shingles. He immediately said, “I'll do it!” Wow, what a spontaneous, beautiful commitment!

We set a date for the Guild to show up to remove the two (or three or four) layers of shingles on the roof. Probably bad timing, given summer vacations and people's earlier commitments, but Wick Fary showed up and soon we were attacking the old shingles, only to discover large areas of the roof where the one by six sheathing boards were totally rotted out. Well, that's what the ¾ inch plywood was for!

So lots of patching. At first we thought we would never get this roof ready for shingles. But then a newbie, Andrew Troyer–Ed's nephew--shows up and Wick phones his son Dylan who also shows up as did Miguel–bless their hearts–so by 5 pm three-fourth of the roof was stripped, patched and covered in Ice and Water Shield. Tabitha had provided a generous lunch and lots of cold drinks!

So four days later, we take another stab at the project, this time with added help from Ben and Russ. And most delightfully, the help of Chuck Kisling, a friend of Tabitha's and a true man of the fields and the hills. Chuck worked harder than any of us. When we had finished stripping, patching, and Ice Shielding the rest of the roof, and replacing most of the fascia, Chuck decided he would do a little extra, up to the peak.

The next day, John Weaver showed up to get an early start before the rain. By noontime, he had that nearly ten-square roof shingled and ridge capped. A miracle! With Chuck by his side, doing whatever he could.

That evening Chuck texted, naming with special thanks each of the folks who had come to help. He also said, “I hope we also keep in touch an if u have anything come up… an u think u may need a hand tex me call me an I'll do what I can the best I can for u or who ever it may be.”

A few days later, he texted again, “jus letting ya know other nite when we had rain not 1 drop of rain made it inside the house that was a pretty nice sign of relief finally. THANK TO ALL WHO MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR A INSIDE FLOOR TO BE DRY FOR THE 1ST TIME IN 25 YEARS ...”

And today, a big box from Amazon arrived at the door containing a large Gift Basket with specialty snack foods, with a note enclosed which I took for all who helped out with the roof, indeed, all who have given a hand with the Guild over the past, many years:

“A Gift for You. Thank you for being a generous soul and a beautiful spirit in a

world that could use a million more people just like you. Thank you so much for

everything. You're the best and you're appreciated more than you know."

                                                                        - From Tabitha Hammer

Volunteer John Weaver at work on the roof repair project.

Note: If any readers of this blog would be interested in occasionally volunteering with the Carpenters Guild (all levels of skills are welcome), please contact Earl Martin at patearl@aol.com.