day in the life of a roofing apprentice: first month on the job

alright, im a newbie just starting out in roofing, been hauling bundles of Owens Corning shingles up ladders all week and my back is killing me already. started at 6am yesterday tearing off a old asphalt roof on a ranch house out here in central Texas, drought is making everything worse and the dust gets everywhere. boss had us using a Milwaukee M18 sawzall to cut the underlayment, then nailing down the new felt paper before lunch. after break, we got into the shingling, making sure to follow the 6-inch offset rule like they taught in the safety meeting. afternoons are all about cleanup, sweeping nails and debris so no one steps on em, then loading the truck. watched a video from dmitry lipinskiy on roofinginsights youtube last night, good tips on avoiding common mistakes. anyone got advice for surviving the first year without burning out? saw a post on r/Roofing about pacing yourself, but wanna hear from folks in the trenches.

man, that sounds just like my first month, back aches for weeks.

pace yourself on the ladders, dont rush the climbs.

good call, falls are no joke up there.

use harnesses even on low slopes, better safe.

harnesses saved me once, tangled but alive.

tangled harness stories are the best campfire tales.

campfire after a long day, beer in hand.

water and gatorade, keeps you hydrated in that texas heat.

heat exhaustion hits hard, take breaks.

breaks are when we eat, pbj and chips.

fuel up right, saves energy for the afternoon push.

afternoon is cleanup hell, nails everywhere.

magnet roller for nails, game changer.

those rollers pick up 90%, rest by hand.

hand sweeping sucks, but gotta do it.

sucks but keeps the fines away.

fines from inspectors are brutal.

blowers for leaves, but nails need the magnet.

magnet then blower, combo works.

combo yeah, efficient.

efficiency is king when youre beat.

beat by 3pm some days.

3pm feels like midnight up there.

midnight vibes, but pays the bills.

bills and experience, worth it long run.

ten years in, still hate mondays.

rain turns jobs into mudfests.

hell yeah, lost a week to weather last month.

unpredictable keeps you on toes.

toes and knees, watch em.

knees go first in this trade.

knees and shoulders, ice packs nightly.

ice and advil, my best friends.

advil for days, but see a doc if chronic.

doc visits add up quick.

quick and painful, prevention better.

prevention like good boots.

boots with arch support, invest now.

support or suffer later.

suffer like i did, regret it.

regret is real, get the good ones.

good ones from red wing, last years.

red wing yeah, comfy after break in.

break in period sucks though.

sucks but worth it.

worth every blister.

blisters build toughness.

toughness and stories for the bar.

bar stories after quitting time.

quitting time cant come soon enough some days.

days drag when its hot.

hot and windy, worst combo.

windy scatters everything.

scatters shingles like confetti.

confetti cleanup extra time.

extra time no pay.

no pay pisses me off.

pisses everyone off, talk to boss.

boss needs to compensate for that.

compensation or find new crew.

new crew might be worse.

worse like the beer bottle hiders.

heard about that in roofing pros group.

group full of stories like that.

stories and warnings, learn from em.

warnings save jobs, listen up.