Getting through the heat: ‘It’s all about working smart’
By Susan DeMar Lafferty slafferty@southtownstar.com July 20, 2011 9:28PM
Foreman Mike Brent's shirt is already soaked through with sweat under his safety harness at 8:30 a.m. on a roof tear-off job for Stan's Roofing and Siding in Homer Glen, Illinois, Wednesday, July, 20, 2011. | Joseph P. Meier~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: November 2, 2011 2:45AM
Jimmy Bledsoe climbed off the roof and collapsed in the shade. Off came his white hard hat and his dirty work boots, allowing the oppressive heat to escape from both ends of his sweat-soaked body.
After about an hour of stripping a Homer Glen roof, it definitely was time for a break.
He pulled up his wet T-shirt to mop his brow, and then sucked down a drink.
After 20 years in the roofing business, the Hickory Hills worker said he never gets used to the heat, despite living in Florida for a time.
“Heat is heat. When you get older, it gets harder,” Bledsoe said. “Today is going to be a killer.”
“When I can sweat more than I can spit, you know it’s bad,” his co-worker Chuck Terry, of Joliet, said. “It’s just another day in paradise.”
But the only resemblance to this bit of “paradise” was the tropical temperature.
The two were part of a seven-man crew atop a 4,400- square-foot mansard roof in Homer Glen that was tearing off two layers of old brown shingles.
Foreman Mike Brent estimated the rooftop temperature to be 140 to 150 degrees.
“But I’m not going to get a thermometer and tell these guys what the temperature is,” he said.
He didn’t have to tell them. Their bodies absorbed every degree in the blazing sun.
Wednesday’s high was 98 degrees in Homer Glen, according to the National Weather Service. It was 78 degrees when the crew from the Orland Park-based Stan’s Roofing and Siding started at 7 a.m. and climbed steadily to 95 degrees at noon, when Brent hoped to call it quits for the day.
He was not about to push his crew through the hottest part of the day, especially while doing the strenuous work of tearing off a such a large roof.
Shingling a roof is not much easier, as Terry said,“It’s like sitting on hot asphalt”
“I wish they would let us start at
5 a.m. That would be awesome,” Brent said. Start times in residential areas can be no earlier than 7 a.m.
This was their second day of what he estimated to be a five- or six-day job, including the shingling and clean up.
And nearly all of those days would see 90-plus degrees.
There was a water cooler on the roof so the crew could grab a drink as needed, and Brent planned to have them take a break in the shade every hour or so. They are paid by the piece, not by the hour, he pointed out.
“When the temperatures get above 90 it starts to take a toll on the guys,” Brent said.
“I try to keep them focused. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can go home,” he said.
They all complained of the hard hats and harnesses they are now required to wear per the Occupational Safety and Health Administration — too hot, too heavy, too restrictive.
“You know your limits,” Terry said. “When you start to feel bad, you head for the shade and water. We keep an eye out for each other.”
“It’s all about working smart,” Jeff Skowronski said.
It’s not like roofers can say “no” to work this time of year. They don’t cancel a job because it’s too hot.
“You can’t choose not to work. We get nine months to make a year’s pay. We have to work as much as possible.”
And every year, there’s always a hot week, he said. And in this business, shade is hard to come by.
Some of the roofers prefer working in the heat, others like it cold. But they all agree that after a day of frying on the roof, the first thing they want to do is cool off.
“I get in the car and turn on the air conditioning,” Bledsoe said. “I take a cool shower when I get home. That brings my body temperature down.”
If he knows the next day is going to be another scorcher, he drinks a lot of fluids the night before.
“I get in the shade or air conditioning and get something cold to drink,” Skowronski, of Joliet, said. “Lots of fluids, lots of water and ice.”
Brent goes home and has a beer — Miller High Life.
When their 20-minute break is over, the hard hats, harnesses and boots go back on, and they grab a cold drink before climbing back up into the bright sun.
“When I replace the roof on my house, it’s going to be in November,” Terry said.
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