Working in the Shade . . . . on a roof

It's 92° F at the moment and we just had a light rain for about 5 minutes so the relative humidity is 94%. According to the National Weather Service website, that mean the heat index is 141° F . . . . but there is an 8 MPH breeze ;) . I'm tearing off two layers of shingles (Architectural shingle top layer with 6 ring shank 1-1/2" roofing nails per shingle; 3-Tab shingle below that are stapled on over 30# felt held in place with tin tabs 6" o.c. with 6d ring shank nails). The roof is only a 5:12 with an eve height of 24'. BTW, my thermal image camera says the felt paper is 162°F.

So I drug a Home Depot 10'x10' easy-up canopy onto the roof and set it up. It's got to feel 40° cooler under canopy.

Anybody know any good tricks for staying cool on the roof?

bump

Like a radiator. Get to where the blood is running close to the surface and cool that any way you can. jmho.

egg: interesting you say "I run water over my wrists"

I found running cold water over my arms seemed to cool me down the quickest. Would do my arms, head and wet my hat and white painters rag that I cover my neck with and I would be good for another hour.

I do the water. I do the salt, the electrolytes. I do the fan sometimes. I work the shade. I work the hours. I run water over my wrists and down my back and on my face. Sometimes I call it off and get down...go home. Live to fight another day. My limit is when my ears plug up.

One thing that always seems to help is saying to myself, "Other people can't do this. Gotta be tough! I'm getting a special place in heaven for this. You can tell me anything you want but after this I just might not put up with it. Justs saying..."

We're nuts. Just no other way to make any sense of it.

Thanks for the ideas . . . I'll try the misters.

Today, the winds are to high for a canopy but the sun and humidity are way up there.

In North Texas, it is either hotter than hell or as humid as a sauna. From 2011 to 2014 we were in an extreme drought. There were no clouds and by 8am, the sun hit you like a laser beam.

Now, with no drought, the clouds stick around till noon, but by 8am, you are soaked in sweat and never cool down.

They use misting equipment in the SW. It significantly drops the temperature, but doesn't cut the sun. As the fine mist evaporates it sucks up a lot of the energy that would normally be raising the temps.

How that would work on a roof in the FL humidity, I dunno. Any time you introduce a source of water to a torn off roof you are running some risks.

It would entail having a pipe system that surrounded your work zone, not much unlike the tent supports, with high pressure and ultra fine mist being unleashed above head level. I saw it in Scottsdale, and it really works in AZ when it's in the 110's.

This is part of why I only do repairs anymore. At 50 yrs old I can't take the heat anymore like the younger years. Every time i sell a job this time of year the first thing i do is make an appointment to do the work and ask if it would be ok to start at 7 am? They always say that's fine and I'm usually done and gone by or before lunch. ;)

What natty said, only you start before first light. Quit by 11 and go swimming.

I always wanted to just take July and Aug off, but alternately, on the roof at first light then off by noon.

It is absolutely insane to put the body through that much stress.