If St. Joseph worked in the building trades today, the carpenter would know all about preventive maintenance.
That’s the point of a project at St. Joseph Catholic Church, where workmen have been cleaning the roof of the McLoughlin Heights landmark.
Local contractor Bill Martino has had a two-man team up on the roof since Jan. 22, he said. Joel Perez and Tyler Tomlin have been pressure-washing away the moss and debris that has built up over the years.
The goal is to add 10 or 15 more years to the life of the 24-year-old roof. The church at 400 S. Andresen Road was built in 1992.
It’s been an interesting job because of the combination of roof size and design, said Marino, owner of Bill’s Pressure Wash, Painting & Roofing. He ball-parked the roof surface at about 40,000 square feet.
And the roof is one of the steepest he’s ever worked with. The geometry of roofing might not be an everyday topic, but Martino offered some numbers: A standard house design has a 4-12 pitch. (A 12-12 pitch would amount to a 45-degree angle.) The St. Joseph roof has an 18-12 pitch, he said.
It means that Perez and Tomlin have been moving up and down on ladders laid flat on the roof while harnessed to safety ropes.
Working on top of St. Joseph comes with some scheduling issues. Midweek church services have included a funeral and the recent Ash Wednesday observance.
“We had to stop. We make a lot of noise,” Martino said.
The peak of the roof is about 120 feet above the ground, which adds another dimension to the job. Martino has been up there himself during the project, and said that the view across the Columbia River and into Portland is, well, divine.
“It feels like you’re on top of the world!”
