A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2005 Protecting plants from roofers.

They are going to be coming to put a new roof on the house in the next couple of weeks and Rod wants us to cover up the plants so that stray nails will not end up in the garden. He is worried that the kids in their playing could get hurt.

So what is a good way to cover my tomatoes and peppers so that they are protected from falling debris and not kill my plants. They are right up against the house and porch.

Not quite as worried about my flowers since they are coming to the end of their season, but I really don't want to lose my tomatoes or peppers since they are just barely starting to produce.

Any ideas will be helpful!

i'd get some 2x4's and heavy duty tarps and create a "lean-to" kind of thing. something you can put up during the day when the roofers are there, then pull down when they leave in the evenings.

Oh that is a good idea Jiffy. We have some pallets out by the burn pit. I am going to take some of those apart and use them. Pretty sure we have tarps as well. Just so worried they are going to get squished.

Triss...had a new roof put on here back in February and I'm STILL picking up nails everyday. :rolleyes: Thank God my peonies and irises weren't up yet when the roofer was here...they would have been destroyed.

Cindy

Oh well that is not good news. They just arrived to do one of the barns. So I guess I will see what kind of mess they make back there before they get to the house.

It may be a moot point anyhow since the winds last night knocked down all of my tomato plants. I have not ventured out to see what they look like yet.

We had amazing roofers that laid tarps down and picked up every bit of trash. You couldn't even tell they had been here.

I did make sure that they knew how important the plants were to me.

Their care didn't really take any more time then being careless. They were done in 2 days!!

Well they are working on the barn now and it looks like they are being very careful and very neat. Of course there are no plants there.

My tomatoes survived the storm too, YEAH!

My Winter Daphne was split down the middle by falling shingles in spite of the precautions our roofers took. Next time I would use the picnic table and all it's benches to cover whatever I could. Actually - hope there isn't a next time any time soon.

So far they are doing awesome. Not a plant lost but it is LOUD and I have a raging headache already. Lys and Mike think the banging is cool and are adding their own.

Triss hang in there the new roof should save on the heating bill and you can use that money to fund more flowers next season! I cant imagine how awful that would have to be to be in there all day while they banged away. We had to have repairs done to our roof last year and the guys came during the days when I was gone. They were so considerate. I didn't even know they had finished till I came home on the 3rd day and they were packing up all the old shingles. We only had to have a few sections done, but we also had to have new trusses inserted along the side of the old trusses because they didn't put the roof boards on the trusses they missed them. So the roof was drooping from lack of support. I was outraged! What a stupid mistake. It was a stroke of genius that got it fixed quickly without ripping off the whole roof.

Well with any luck they will be gone tomorrow. One stray thing they sent flying down to the ground smooshed a part of a tomato plant but other than that all is ok. There are a lot of nails on the grass though so I will be doing some heavy duty cleaning to make sure they are all gone before the kids go out there.

Triss, have you got a heavy duty magnet to help you with that heavy duty cleaning? I think you can buy them at Harbor Freight for a small chunk of change...

Dianna

Great idea! Yes we have some. I will be using them now that you mentioned it. Will probably make clean up a lot easier!

The roofing nails are not that big of a deal if a few end up on the yard or in the flower bed... I've never had one go in my shoe on a job site, but i suppose children going barefooted might be vulnerable or if they happen to land in your driveway you could drive over them with your car...
What's really dangerous is the old square headed "buttons" that they use to fasten roofing felt to the roof sheathing. They are sharp and usually rusty if they've been on the roof or ground a long time. Invariably, when they fall to the ground, they always land with the point sticking up!!!I've stepped on a few of those before. Most contractors use the plastic bright colored buttons these days, which are much safer!

Well I have inspected the yard several times and only found 2 nails and they were both on the walkway. I am VERY happy with how well they cleaned up and the roof looks awesome too. They went over the grass with what looked like a magnet roller and cleaned up all the nails. Not a bit of garbage in the yard or anything and I only lost one small part of a tomato plant. All in all I am thrilled with how clean they were and how careful of my plants.

be sure you tell them they can use you as a reference. roofers make good money when they can work, but it is a hard life.

Good idea. Rod paid for the roof though so I am sure he is the one they will use as a reference. I did gush to him over how well they were not only with the garden but making sure that the kids and I were safe going in and out of the house all day long all the days they were here.

That is so true Jiffy...Mark is a roofer and although he makes great money it's physically one of the worst jobs out there...hard on your back and knees, sweltering in the summer, freezing in the winter....

Glad you like your new roof Triss!

We need one before too long, luckily Marks brothers are both roofers too....so they can have a family day and all do it together....

paid for with pizza and beer? my uncle was a roofer. very hard work.

Pizza and beer, yep...that'd be about all they get for helping...LOL

I'd just have to make sure that they had the beer AFTER the got off the roof....