You want how many bags?

How to get dirt on the roof. This has been a quandary for a while now. My dad mentioned that there was a company in the area that had slingers. These are basically hydraulically positioned conveyor belts mounted on the back of the dump trucks. With them they can take a load of gravel, or soil, and sling it out a good distance from the truck. When I talked to the company about this, they mentioned that some of the soil would fall off the conveyor, and not make it on the roof. I was also concerned about the dirt hitting the drainage material with enough force that it might shift it and leave a gap. While I was contemplating this, I saw that they could blow top soil, with the same trucks that are used for putting down mulch. Hmmm, this sounded like it would allow a bit better control over where the dirt went, and how hard it hit the drainage material. This option sounded like what I needed, but it was expensive to get the dirt delivered that way. I put in an order anyway.

When Adam and John came over to help my dad and I get the roof material weighted down, I talked to Adam about what I was doing for the dirt. When he heard how much it was going to cost, he said "I could wheelbarrow it for less than that!". When I filled my dad in on what we had done after he and mom left, I mentioned what Adam had said. He had a thought. He asked what it would cost to go buy bags of soil, and have Adam put those on the roof. We found some cheap top soil at Lowe's. We looked in a bag that had broken open, and it looked to be just what I needed for the roof. Some clay, and sand, and not a lot of compost which would break down. I could buy the bags for a lot less than what it would cost to have soil blown on the roof. This was going to be a lot of bags.

I called the local Lowe's, and explained what I was looking for and why. Bill checked, and they had enough bags on hand to fill my order. He could deliver it the following day. I had not expected that quick a delivery. I arranged for the delivery to be this afternoon. Then I got a call, just after I got to work this morning. The first part of the delivery was on its way! Oops, time to let Marcus know I won't be in the office today.

They showed up with the first 6 pallets, and asked where I wanted them. I had the bags put up as close to where they were going to be carried on the roof as possible. I decided while I waited for them to come back with the next load, I would go ahead and try to start shifting the drainage material to where it needed to go, and start putting bags of soil on the roof.

The drainage can hang off this end much more, it would have to be cut off on the garage end.

I started moving weights out of the way, and sliding the drainage material toward the east. Since I was by myself, I didn't want it to get away from me if a breeze came up, so I just kept shifting the extra across the roof, as I moved the weights.

Here is the extra length, being moved down the roof.

Once I got the extra moved away from the garage end, I started hauling bags of dirt.

Starting in one corner, I started to fill the drainage sheet.

Now the extra is draped down the east wall.

After I got the corner well weighted, I ran a single row across the back.

I got a full row across the back and about half way through a second row, before I finished the first pallet.

First pallet emptied!

That was 65, 40 pound bags. 2600 pounds laid on my roof. I have 23 more pallets that will be getting loaded on the roof. It was good exercise, but I am going to get some help to move the rest.

They weren't able to deliver all the bags today. Tomorrow morning, just after 7, the rest should show up. I'm going to bed!