Originally Posted by
Jerry Peck
All I can tell you guys complaining about Florida is that this past weekend we were back down in South Florida and complaining about 'how hot it was', we were glad to get back up here where, last night, it was 69, perfect with the doors and windows open.
Right now, it is 76 outside.
Yes, there have been "freezes" where it got 'bitterly cold down here', but remember, when it was that cold down here, it was (more often than not) 'horribly frozen up there'.
Been there, done that, and, yeah, moving to frozen Vermont (as compared to Florida) will do that to a couple.
To be fair, I quite liked Florida on other visits. I parachuted into Biscayne Bay in 1973 while in USAF survival training at Homestead AFB. It was 75º in February and gorgeous. I have enjoyed balmy weather in Naples, Orlando, Miami, and the former Cape Canaveral space launch site. I spent enough time in FL to enjoy (?) 100º and 99% relative humidity in those same locales.
My comments ought to have remained on topic, which was my comment about the mortar joint being susceptible to damage from freezing weather. Another problem with that mortar joint is that the adjacent roofing materials have rates of thermal expansion that are different from each other and from that of mortar. As well, mortar has very poor bonding characteristics with other materials. So, mixing materials with differential thermal expansion, poor bonding characteristics and the action of freeze/thaw cycles will assure that the joint in question is more of a decorative detail than an effective weather joint. A better solution might be a liquid applied, UV-resistant, moisture-cured urethane bead. Self-leveling products are available and ought to bear up to thermal expansion, freeze/thaw, and normal building movement for the life of the roofing materials.
Off topic again - I have lived in sunny southern California for the past four years, Jerry, and, like you, I quite appreciate beautiful weather like we have here in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. We have had freezing weather on just a couple of nights when it dipped down to 28º and killed our tomato plants in January 2007. While the temperature sometimes rises to the high 90s in the span from July to September, the humidity is always civilized.
Off to the coffee shop on my bike!