Thursday, April 9, 2009

Steel roofs and tigers

Tinian is an ideal place to live and to vacation: secluded beaches, aqua-blue water, and warm days in which to enjoy them in.

This being an important political year, I found the following email rather timely and poignant:

Thought you might enjoy this interesting prayer given in Kansas at the opening session of their Senate.
It seems prayer still upsets some people.. When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:
Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance.
We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done.
We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem..
We have abused power and called it politics.
We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free..
Amen!
The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India , Africa and Korea .
Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, 'The Rest of the Story,'and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired.
Mormons believe that governments are instituted by God, and that men have both the right and the obligation to seek out and elect the most honorable people to lead them. We are instructed to pray for our civic leaders--that they might be guided by God in their decisions. This is an excerpt from the Doctrine and Covenants about government:
" WE believe that governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man; and that he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them, both in making laws and administering them, for the good and safety of society.

"We believe that no government can exist in peace, except such laws are framed and held inviolate as will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life.

"We believe that all governments necessarily require civil officers and magistrates to enforce the laws of the same; and that such as will administer the law in equity and justice should be sought for and upheld by the voice of the people if a republic, or the will of the sovereign.

" We believe that religion is instituted of God; and that men are amenable to him, and to him only, for the exercise of it, unless their religious opinions prompt them to infringe upon the rights and liberties of others; but we do not believe that human law has a right to interfere in prescribing rules of worship to bind the consciences of men, nor dictate forms for public or private devotion; that the civil magistrate should restrain crime, but never control conscience; should punish guilt, but never suppress the freedom of the soul.

" We believe that all men are bound to sustain and uphold the respective governments in which they reside, while protected in their inherent and inalienable rights by the laws of such governments; and that sedition and rebellion are unbecoming every citizen thus protected, and should be punished accordingly; and that all governments have a right to enact such laws as in their own judgments are best calculated to secure the public interest; at the same time, however, holding sacred the freedom of conscience.

" We believe that every man should be honored in his station, rulers and magistrates as such, being placed for the protection of the innocent and the punishment of the guilty; and that to the laws all men show respect and deference, as without them peace and harmony would be supplanted by anarchy and terror; human laws being instituted for the express purpose of regulating our interests as individuals and nations, between man and man; and divine laws given of heaven, prescribing rules on spiritual concerns, for faith and worship, both to be answered by man to his Maker. (Doctrine and Covenants 134:1-6)

We pray that those seeking office in this paradise of the Pacific will do so, not for power or gain, but to truly serve the people of the CNMI!
Meanwhile, construction continues down north main! While one crew continues to pour the curbing running down either side of the road, another crew has started to frame the sidewalk that will be poured alongside the curbing.


Even the trees are beginning to bloom! Sometimes the ground is completely covered in yellow petals falling from the trees.
I stopped at one home up on Marpo Heights and asked if I could take pictures of his garden. It was beautiful, and he had a lot of plants... then I found out that he had a small business selling plants! I think he will do well, if what I saw was any indication!









The second story to this home is looking much better, though the work goes slowly

And there is another new home being built, tucked away in a corner. It is one of the few new homes being built on Tinian that is not made completely out of concrete. They have chosen to install a metal roof.
When I lived in Cleveland, I ran a large roofing company that received about half of its sales from installing metal roofing... So I know a thing or two about metal roofs...

There are two basic kinds of metal roofs: exposed, or surface fastened (the screws are installed from the top, with a gasket, to hold down the roof, like the one shown above); and hidden or standing seam roofs (the fasteners are hidden under a standing seam, between roof panels).
The standard for most roofs is to install a fastener every 12" along the seam, and in rows anywhere from 12" to 24" apart (in a standing seam roof, the metal panels are made 12" to 24" wide, and the fasteners are placed between the two panels).
In areas such as Florida where they have hurricanes, they change the fastening pattern to 6" on center-- in other words, they double the number of screws installed to hold a roof down.
Once the roof is fastened to the framing, the work is not over. A strong wind can, and often does, simply pick the whole roof off of a building! So, no matter how many screws you install in a metal roof to hold it in place, it means nothing if the frame it is attached to is weak.

So, if the wind gets under the eaves, and the metal roof holds, it acts like a parasail that can take the whole roof, structure and all, with it!

That is why you will see them tie-down the structure to the frame of the house. Of course, the question that is always raised is: where is the weakest point? In a strong wind, what will go first: the metal roof, or the structure under it?

All metal roofing, no matter how fancy, have the same inherent problems in a storm

And you can see what will happen if someone does a great job installing the metal roof, but forgets to tie-down the frame underneath!

Of course, some homes are built so that they can play 'wizard of Oz' and fly off to another land, completely intact, during a severe storm...

While others want to make sure they are securely tied to the ground

Knowing the inherent weakness of a metal roof in this area, some have decided to add both a belt and suspenders to their pants...er, house. I have often seen people 'strap' their metal roof down, by installing metal straps, running over the roof from one side of the house to the other, and attached on either side to the concrete walls. It is actually a very good idea, and adds holding power to both the metal roof and the structure under it!
This inventive homeowner had the right idea... however, I don't think running two ropes across the roof and tying them to heavy rain barrels was what engineers had in mind...

This is an very old building up on Marpo that still has its metal roof intact. You can see what is left of two wide, heavy metal straps that run across the roof, and that were, at one time, attached to the frame on the sides. It just offers another level of protection from the wind.

So, ladies and gentlemen, that is your roofing lesson for today...

Now back to the good stuff! Another beautiful day on Tinian! This is looking down from Marpo Heights at the San Jose Village. You can see Goat Island in the background.

We once again have our sign back! It keeps dissappearing, and then reappearing. Its magical!

Oh, yeah, I forgot! I'm supposed to talk about tigers! This is a picture of a tiger spot orchid sent to me from Janet King (which reminds me, I am still looking for that illusive flower up on Carolina Hieghts!)

2 comments:

Carl Patten said...

Interesting story, Kevan. I just can’t help but notice that you really know a lot about roofs. Yes, indeed that roof should be tied down underneath the frame. I also use stainless steel straps to connect the roof joists to the wall. This is pretty handy if you’re living in a place where natural disaster like hurricanes, cyclones, and tornadoes are frequent.

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