It’s been such a long time coming, for a minute I thought I might not ever get it done. Though I may be prematurely celebrating, getting the shingles perched atop the roof ridge let alone actual workers up there was a victory in itself.
So lets recap on the journey thus far…
It all started with a leak after the snow that turned into a torrential downpour in the living room. Mind you the living room is on the first floor of a three-story house. The leak wreaked havoc in the shortest amount of time ruining plaster ceilings and disintegrating a beautiful 100-year-old 1 1/2″ width oak strip floor (which is hell to find and will cost you your first born). My poor floor joists suffered as well, but I suspect there was some damage before the leak.
The first roof estimate was $28,000.00. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing on the proposal. Granted it is a 3000 sq ft roof that is far from humanly scale-able… I’m far from throwing money in the air like Bobo the fool. The company rep tried to convince me that I had cedar shake under my asphalt shingle without stepping one foot on a ladder to look.
This happened with every roofer I called out until I met Mr Manuel. Licensed roofer and as legit as they come… he climbed to the apex of my roof and perched like spiderman over the city, with a cigar in one hand and a tape measure in the other. He yells down to me on the ground, “There is no cedar shake up here… I hate when contractors try to get over on women… I’ll do it for $8000.00”. I was in awe at his skill and left speechless by his price.
He had quite a few good reviews online on various sites. I signed the contract asked for the date. They told me 3 weeks. Two months later… still no roof. He didn’t ask me for a down payment so no money lost but my time was precious… all of my projects depended on the house being water tight and dry; plus the summer was primetime to get things done … contractors are allergic to winter you know.
So what happened to Mr. Manny… Trump happened. Manuel was legit, but his crew… not so much. He lost most of his crew to fear of crossing the border to work when Trump initiated the travel ban. Manny (also of latino decent) was honest about it as he explained had to make due to keep his business afloat. I can respect that, but there was my steal of a deal up in smoke.
Six estimates later I found a young guy named Steve who quoted me $13,000.00 with quality materials (tiger paw underlayment, 3D architectural shingle, a little copper flashing strategically placed for historical looks) and the construction permit was included in the price. He got his guys up there just before the end of summer which was pushing it as far as temperature goes to ensure proper sealing. But who was I to complain, at the end of the roofing season everyone worth their ladders and nailguns are scheduling at least 5 weeks out.
Originally, I was going to go with the Timberline color Barkwood (pictured left) which was flat brown, but I did a last-minute mock-up which helped me see the light.
I changed to Weathered Wood which is a brown-grey variation (pictured left). It looked way more dimensional than the Barkwood and it complemented my paint chips for the half timbers and stucco (Valspar “Betsie’s linen” and “Fired Earth” featured directly below roof colors).
Here was some pics of the installation progressing.
It took them about 3 days to finish the installation. I was so happy it wasn’t going to rain in the house anymore. Plus we could finally put the sub floor back down in the living room.
