Backroader: Vacuuming the roof

The Weather Gods have pulled out all stops for my 'weekend' off. We've had two stunning sunny and calm days and although I worked hard yesterday, today I have just laid back and enjoyed the sunshine.

Yesterday was chimney-sweep day. Armed with the brush set from work, I climbed the ladder and hit my first hurdle; the screws holding the cowling on were stripped. I managed to shift the first one but the second was worse and despite trying all the tricks that Google offered, I had to resort to drilling the stripped screw out. Not a quick job as it took two battery recharges but gave me time inside to wire brush the rust off the woodburner and repaint it with Granny's Black Stove Polish.

Having the ladder parallel to the roof edge made it easier for climbing
up and down - thanks to sister Linda for this advice

The charged drill made short work of the remaining part of the screw but revealed the second hurdle; the cowling didn't want to part company with the flue. Gentle twists and shakes turned into more aggressive yanks but without success. So after wasting all the morning up on top of the roof, Plan B was put into action and I cleaned the flue from the bottom in just a few minutes. I'll know for next time!

Using the small brush first to clean the flue

It was impossible to clean around the cowling without getting bits of coke/baked on soot falling on to the roof. I put up sheets of plastic which worked well early morning but by lunchtime the gentle breeze was having fun blowing it around. I didn't want tar-tainted drinking water but the corrugated roof made it hard to sweep up. Just as well no-one was around with a video camera to catch me vacuuming my roof :)

The swept and painted woodburner - the next
job is to paint the ceiling and walls

The view from the top was great and the day couldn't have been better with korimako (bellbirds), ngirungiru (tomtits), kakariki and tui keeping me company.