Wednesday, November 26, 2014

The new roof

The roof on The Owl House was seriously due to be replaced at least five years ago. A roof on a big old house isn't cheap. I think only cat karma has kept it from leaking (except lately on the porches), and shingles would blow off in every windstorm. I had planned to refinance and roll the cost of the roof into that, but between paying off the co-owner of the house and other debt, it was bringing the full cost of the refinance almost up to the cost of the original mortgage. So I crunched some numbers and decided it would cost less to remove something from my retirement to pay for the roof and part of what I owe the co-owner, get the roof on, increase the appraisal, and refinance what was left. Then increase my retirement contributions to the maximum with what I've saved monthly.

I had four estimates on the roof. I took the second-highest, and I'm very happy. No drama, fast work, and excellent quality materials. And a small business owner. The roof is 2/3 done, and we are on "pause" due to the storm today. He'll shovel off the roof and be back when it dries.

The shingles arrived via a mighty machine that lofted everything right onto the roof.



I went a bit lighter on the color. I have a pretty roof! They are removing just as much roof as they can shingle in a day, so the roof stays protected from snow and wind. I'm pretty impressed that just two men can work this fast. Luckily there was only one thickness of shingles to remove.

Ripping off the old:



This is how bad the original part of the house had gotten:


Pretty new gray shingles!


Still more left to go:


I still have more painting to go, but I didn't see the point of getting on the tall ladder until I could paint the trim.

What a load off my mind this has been.

My roofer is also a mason, so this summer he'll come by and re-point my chimneys as well.



4 comments:

  1. I suppose one advantage of living in the hail belt is that roofs never last long enough to wear out on their own - they usually get taken out by hail once every 10 years or so. I've been in my house 19 years and had the roof replaced twice... both times paid for by insurance. This last time I upgraded to "hail resistant" shingles - I'll believe that when I see it!

    Congrats on your new roof and hope you have a very happy Thanksgiving!

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  2. Yikes! I can't even imagine having to replace a roof once a decade! I always worry about cars in hail (and unprotected people an animals). I did not think about roofs. These architectural shingles have a "lifetime" guarantee, allegedly. I am surprised at how fast it is going. For some reason I thought it would take a week or more (of actual working days) with only two guys. I also thought it would be noisier...although it is plenty noisy. The cats are quite freaked out, but have stopped hiding. Thanks for commenting...if it weren't for stats and comments I would think I might be all alone on here. ;) Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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  3. I'm always out here reading even if I don't comment. Mostly I don't comment because I fear all of my comments sound the same: "OMG how totally precious.. I want to scoop them all up in my arms and kiss them!" :-)

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  4. Have no fear Susan, we're out here lurking and reading. I often think you are living the dream that many of us have - moving to the country and living on a farm, rescuing animals. But you give us the true picture - it's hard and expensive and takes a lot of dedication. So thanks for tempering the dream with a dose of reality!

    -Janet

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