Roof One - Finally Done!

After lots of hard work, the first section of our new roof is finally complete! The retreat house now boasts a shiny new layer of Ludowici clay tiles. This week, the crew will be turning their attention (and their scaffolding) to the chapel roof replacement. One recent afternoon, Mother John Mary and Sr. Frances Marie got a ride in the “bucket truck” to see a bird’s-eye view of the progress. Later, some less-daring but still intrepid nuns made their way up the scaffolding to see things for themselves. It’s exciting to see things coming together!

The Sisters, of course, couldn’t just stand around and watch all of this — they had to get involved. After consulting with the roofers, Mother brought a group of Sisters down to learn how to prepare stacks of tiles that will later be lifted up to the roof. The process is more intricate than you might at first think: it requires blending tiles from four different boxes and stacking them in a particular orientation on wooden pallets, to ensure that the slight variations in tile color are evenly distributed on the roof. Each tile needs to be quickly inspected for cracks, chips, or other imperfections that might weaken it. Oh, and did we mention that these tiles are baked clay and therefore HEAVY?

But no matter what the work, we are glad to have a hand in making our long-awaited roof project a reality. Check out the slideshow to see images from one “tile blending party” recently, and click the button below to view progress photos from our roof gallery!