dead wall plugs suddenly

Try resetting the breakers by shutting them off then turning them back on. Some breakers don't give a clear indication that they have tripped.

If you reset all of the breakers and run *all* of the GFCI outlets in the house through the test/reset cycle and still nothing, then you should probably call an electrician.

I tried turning the circuit breakers off and on without success. Then I tried pushing the reset button of the GFCI box but the reset button would not stay pushed in. Finally I went outside and unplugged the equipment that the roofers had plugged into an outside box. Then I was able to push in the GFCI reset button and now all of the wall plugs work. Can anyone explain what was causing the circuit break? Thanks.

Since you unplugged their equipment and the problem is now fixed,... I'm just guessing here but maybe, and this is a big maybe, the problem was with their equipment.

Roofing crew, dead plugs, hmmm. Before you do _anything_ else, go outside and look at the power entrance and follow it back to the pole and make sure there isn't a line down. If there is, call the power company immediately--you don't want somebody to step on it and get fried. When you go out to look at it watch your step carefully--_you_ don't want to step on it and get fried either.

Their equipment has a bad ground or short.

Tell them to run their own power off their own generators. I hate when contractors make you pay for their faulty equipment.

Your posting suggests that _all_ of your interior outlets died suddenly. And then when you were able to reset the tripped GFCI "box" (what is a box in this case? a GFCI outlet or a GFCI breaker or something else?) they all came back. This would be a very odd situation if a large number of outlets in an entire home were being serviced off of a single GFCI, especially if you are referring to a single GFCI outlet.

But from your description it appears that some piece of the roofer's equipment has a leakage path that exceeded the tolerance of the GFCI which forced it to do its job and open the circuit.

tenplay posted for all of us... I don't top post - see either inline or at bottom.

There is a ground fault in the roofers equipment. Your gfci worked as intended. Advise the roofers of this and you consider it a safety hazard.