first, some detail might be in helpful. the 11’x5’ treehouse movie theater screen hangs off the 2nd floor of the house and is attached at the top to the house soffit. there’s a 10 pound piece of metal conduit in a hem on the bottom of the screen to keep it even and flat. support ropes are linked to clamps that are attached to the bar to keep the bar from banging against the house when it gets windy.

recently, we had a couple days and nights with crazy winds and on one of those nights we could hear the treehouse movie theater screen banging against the side of the house. great. the winds were so strong they snapped the support lines on the bottom of the screen. but there was nothing to be done in the dark during 40mph gusts so we settled in for a night of listening to the banging.

but then it stopped. “huh.” i thought. “i guess the screen must have ripped apart and fallen down entirely.”

not exactly. somehow a gust of wind got in the foot of so space between the screen and house and whipped it onto the roof and over the drain waste vent?! you can sort of see the metal conduit that runs along the bottom of the screen in this photo and how it had to make it up and over the vent.

it might be hard to visualize but if hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, i wouldn’t have thought it was possible.

i have to admit, lacking a 30 foot ladder, it took some time to figure out how to get myself perched on what is probably the most inaccessible section of our roof to try to get the bar back over the vent. i’m looking down on the treehouse movie theater deck which itself is 15 feet off the ground.