Roof repair: follow-up
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For those who may remember, among other bleak posts I made in November and December, we had an unexpected roof failure. Short version: water came streaming from the kitchen ceiling one morning while I was enjoying a nice cup of coffee, got up my wife so she could steady a rickety ladder for me to climb up and pin a tarp down in the pouring rain. Plus wind!
It was 19 years old and has seen some things, mostly beating down by my nearby tree, lack of maintenance and cleaning, and insufficient ventilation. I also found some bad old DIY patches on the area I suspected water was getting in. I also cleaned off at least a decade's worth of moss when we first moved in. Oh and the garage too... Holy shit, I gotta post those photos someday. It was bad.
I selected a roofing company and then it basically rained and rained and rained and rained. 8 weeks later, they got it done in the rain, but comparatively less rain. It's construction, what are you gonna do.
My bid was more of a spectrum. If the roof needed only what we suspected once we started digging in, the price was $X. If all the old OSB was damaged (and I was worried it was, having already found one water-warped piece beneath), then the price jumps "up to" $X*1.75...
The lead was very knowledgeable and called me every 30 minutes to explain or ask me something important along the way. I was trapped in Issaquah and juggling various work problems (plus, since we had short notice due to the changing weather, my wife who works nights was ahhhhh not thrilled!). But the guy was patient with trying to explain the intricacies with something I barely understand, as my roofing knowledge is just the sum of all the random repairs I've done on my past home, and my parents home. "Repairs" maybe be a generous word...
In the end, only one board of the OSB was bad, so my final bill was $X*1.09. They sent me nearly 100 photos of their work throughout the process, showing me how it all looked, what was good, and what was spooky.
To me I'm like: hey, they could have told me I needed all new plywood and gotten their full extra 75% on the bill and I would have really been none the wiser. So the fact they didn't rip me off is great. Should that be a compliment? These days... Yeah.
My wife chose this green color. Anything looks better than the worn out poop brown we had before.
So that's where my LandCruiserMR2SilversdoTundaTL4Runner fund went. It's all good, I'll get mine someday.
Thanks for reading.
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@dr-zoidberg What did that at the edge? Clogged gutters or ice damming?
2022 Ioniq SE
2008 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor
1964 Corvair Monza -
@ranwhenparked That's a gutter, yes, with debris from the old shingles in that particular photo. In addition to other problems up there, that gutter was installed nearly 4" too low, which exposed that OSB to the elements and ruined it, so they raised my gutter too.
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@dr-zoidberg I bought a roof about 12 years ago, it was painful. It’s probably doubled in cost since.
71 Datsun
2011 Honda
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@highlander It is what it is. We got lucky on our last home with how little I spent on repairs. Now the construction subs will have their revenge upon us.
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@highlander I'm getting very close, but want to replace the furnace with electric first, so I can lose the metal chimney in the re-roof. Hoping I can get a couple more years, but you can't always plan that.
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@dr-zoidberg I recommend gutter guards if you can find a little more in the fund. They help prevent overflowing after clutter fills them up and the risk of water getting under the edge that way. Plus then cleaning gutters is easier.
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@dr-zoidberg I love the green shingles - our house had green shingles on it and I loved the look.
We're about to list our house now and the roof is old with a patch put in poorly by me (shingles not a tarp) so I expect that to be a bone of contention with offers.
Glad you found an honest contractor and that it wasn't worse.
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@dr-zoidberg
Roofs, like drainage, are one of those things you take for granted... until you don't have one, or have one that has problems. -
@dr-zoidberg Glad it wasn't worse, I like that green color. Hope the leak didn't hurt much else?
With ya on the stress and vaporized car money though, we had ours done just today. Terrible timing but it was 30 years old and hammered, been nursing it for years but it was bad. They brought a monster crew and knocked it out while the kids were zoom schooling below. Only needed a couple sheets of osb and a section of eave, better than expected. I do most home repairs & improvement myself but I fucking hate roofing and it would have meant a month of weekends to do a worse job myself. Now if we ever get some rain I won't worry so much anymore.
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@dr-zoidberg what roofer did the work? I think I still have some years left on mine, but call me curious.
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@dr-zoidberg if it makes you feel any better we put a new roof on our place two years ago. We bought it knowing that it needed one because there was no insulation and the skylight was made of fibreglass sheet that we know as Alsynite. After 30 years in the Oz sunshine it had the structural consistency of Japanese wallpaper...
We think of it as a $30,000 investment in not having to build another house...whilst getting a much better one in the process.
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@dr-zoidberg Looks like you found a good roofer. Keep their name and number on file!
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As we were planning our move from Texas to Florida, I knew our roof needed replaced due to age and was not looking forward to that expense. As luck would have it, a bad storm rolled through DFW shortly before we moved. Called the insurance company, adjuster looked at roof using drone(!), authorized replacement. So no matter what they say about insurance companies, I love Farmers Insurance!
(Farmers Insurance not affiliated with FarmersOnly.com.) -
@dr-zoidberg Good to hear it's fixed. Finding a contractor that does a respectable job is a tough thing to do!
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@dr-zoidberg said in Roof repair: follow-up:
...got up my wife so she could steady a rickety ladder for me to climb up and pin a tarp down in the pouring rain. Plus wind!
This reminds me of the night I heard something banging on my bedroom wall at 2:30 AM in a storm. Turned out it was a section of vinyl siding that had been pulled away from the section below it but was still securely fastened at the top. I removed the window sash to gain access to the roof because I hate ladders, climbed out, and clipped it back in place. Never even occurred to me how bad an idea that was until I was getting back in bed.
Glad to hear that repair turned out on the good side of the estimate! Keep that company's contact info, for sure!
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@just-a-scratch I'm gonna wait until winter ends before I plug them, just in case something else goes awry
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That reminds me. I should put gutters up. At LEAST on one side of the house.
We got 'lucky' and insurance bought us a new roof. Hailstorm curb stomped the life out of what was left of our existing one.
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@dr-zoidberg Mind sharing the company name? I'm in need of some roof work this summer and want to start compiling some quotes
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@dr-zoidberg said in Roof repair: follow-up:
So the fact they didn't rip me off is great. Should that be a compliment? These days... Yeah.
That company sounds fantastic. At least in the communication, photos, not ripping you off when they easily could have dept. The quality remains to be seen of course. Although you can easily see the flashing, drip mold details, etc.
It is so damn hard to find good help. Roofers redoing my roof in Milwaukee inserted the flashing around my chimney backwards. They inserted the uphill flashing underneath the lower flashing such that the water would have flowed directly into the attic. Caulk was used but you never caulk flashing for water tightness. Year later I found that detail and had to go up and recaulk every other year or so.
@chariotoflove said in Roof repair: follow-up:
I recommend gutter guards if you can find a little more in the fund. They help prevent overflowing after clutter fills them up and the risk of water getting under the edge that way. Plus then cleaning gutters is easier.
I definitely second that advice. So much easier keeping the leaves out of the gutters. I went through four different types of the shields before finding one that works.
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