A Paeroa pensioner who was living in a single room in his storm-damaged home now has a watertight roof again, thanks to the kindness of strangers.
The man, who did not wish to be identified, has been living in a home with a damaged roof and multiple leaks since Cyclone Gabrielle swept through the region in 2023, he told The Profile.
“The main bedroom was the area that copped it most in the first place – I basically had that shut off,” he said.
“I’ve got one room in there which is pretty much watertight and that’s where I’ve been settling in.”
Although he used to be a carpenter by trade, a bad leg meant the man was unable to get up on the roof to make repairs.
“Unfortunately, I’m getting older and have less funds in the bank and what have you, so I wasn’t really able to do anything. So I did what I could inside the house,” he said.
“I’ve had rainwater control up in the roof space and in the odd spaces in the house. I have an awful lot of plastic bins… I know where the leaks come through so I position the bins where I have the problem.”
The man originally built the home himself when he moved to Paeroa. He said it had been a nice home for many years, but wished he had chosen a different roofing material.
“It’s had some moss grow on it, which eats through the product, and it’s just got worse,” he said.
“If I had put a corrugated iron roof on it in the first place, it’d probably be as good as the day it was put on.”
Lack of funds and a fierce independent streak have only added to the man’s woes, as the unusually wet weather of the past few years have caused the roof to deteriorate even further.
The poor condition of the roof was noticed by local builder David Stock, when he dropped by to repair a neighbour’s gate.
“I’d seen the house sitting like this, and seen the old fella working down the side,” David said.
“[The neighbour] filled me in and I went over to him and said, ‘we’ll try and sort something out for you’.”
What happened next was an outpouring of community support.
David posted a photo of the roof on social media, and immediately received offers of spare materials, money, and volunteers.
“We’ve got some new iron, someone supplied all the new purlins… Someone put $1000 in my account at Buildlink, which will go towards either bats or flashings and other bits and bobs.”
David, along with other tradies who donated their time, pulled the old roof down and began from scratch.
He said it was just something that he needed to do.
“Well, I couldn’t leave. And the thought of, if I’m that old and I can’t do my roof, I’d hope that someone else might,” he said.
“I’ve got the know-how, so why not do it properly?”
For his part, the homeowner said he was relieved, if a bit embarrassed, to be the recipient of the community’s generosity.
“[It’s been] rough, and it doesn’t make me a worse person or a better person. I’m just who I am. I’ve helped everyone else out wherever I could, and I’m not one to ask for help myself. But these guys have come along and they’ve offered, and I’ve had no choice but to accept their help,” he said.
“Yeah, it’s embarrassing – I’d rather stay independent if I can.
“But if it hadn’t been for these guys coming and offering to help me, I don’t know what I would have done.”
