Finally! My roof is done!

Today is the day! The roofers are here! The roofers are here! (Well, technically, July 31^st was the day, since I’m covering a few days here)…

Here are some "Before" photos, to show you my horrendous roof....

Right side of House/Roof

Left Side of House (Front Porch)

I went to work this morning (still at The Other Office), but the roofers hadn't shown up yet.  All day long, I was ‘expectant’ – you know how when you are waiting for a phone call or an email, you can’t focus? I was like that all day.

I think I called home around lunch time to check in with The Kiddo to see if they showed up, and she said that they showed up shortly after I left that morning. She said that the pounding and noise was kind of freaking her out. I told her to call me if she needed me.

Around 2ish, as it does in Florida, it started to rain.

And rain.

And rain.

Harder.

I’m talking crazy torrents of rain.  

West University Avenue & 13th Street - Look how deep the water is on that truck!

Puddles in the street were being splashed onto my office window from 20 feet away when cars hit it. Crazy, crazy rain. (Later, I read that we got 3.47 inches in only 2 hours!)  All I could envision was my house flooding. No roof + rain = swimming pool!

Five o’clock couldn't come soon enough (of course, the rain had stopped by then), and I hurried home, parking the car in the yard, in case the rain came back in the morning.  My neighbor was outside and he said that the roofers tarped the house just minutes before it started! 

So, tonight I have a plywood base layer and tarps all over my roof.

Left Front of House (Above porch)

Right side of house, from teh front

We woke up the next day, and got in the car to take Hubby to work.  As soon as we got on the road, I hear a “whump whump” from my front left tire. Oh, hell. Flat? Nail? Oh, man, did I run over a nail?!?  We pulled over, but I didn't see anything, so we kept driving. Still ‘whumping’, and wobbly.  When I dropped Hubby off at work, I had him look at the tire while I drove slowly (so he could see the entire tire), and sure enough, there was a roofing tack, stuck through roofing paper, in my tire…

It looked like this, but with a piece of roofing paper stuck over the nail

I drove home slowly, and looked at it again, and then, assuming that I’d need to change the tire anyway, I pulled the tack out. Luckily – it wasn't actually IN the tire (it wasn't long enough) – the paper was stuck to the treads with the tack IN the tread, but not long enough to penetrate!  I made a mental note to NOT park on the grass again until the roof was done - these things were all over the place!

All that gravel and wood came from the roof, plus lots of tacks mixed in there

While I was at work today, the roofers came back and put the actual roof on.  They were gone when I got home, but I could tell that they weren't done because the roll-down was still hanging over the sides. I figured that they’d be back tomorrow.

Front Porch - roof hanging over the edge 

Seams not rolled down, edges not trimmed at all

Overhang along the length of the roof edge

For the next few days, no roofers showed up. Still got floppy roof hanging over the sides of the eaves…. No communication from the roofer, either, as to what was going on.

On August 5^th, when I pulled into the driveway, I noticed that the Permit Sign was facing a different way. I figured at first the wind just blew it around, but as I walked by it, I saw that the final inspection had been signed off on, so duh… that’s why it took so long!

Good thing it's in a baggie! 

The next morning, bright and early, a different roofing crew was here before I headed to work – up on the roof, trimming the overages and doing the final work on the roof.

They were up there before 8am this morning!

The best company you'll ever hire to do your roof

I am so happy to finally have this done.  I have a lot of repair work to do, both inside and out. I need to paint all the fascia, then I need to patch and/or replace some drywall on both the kitchen and my office ceilings. 

I'm not so happy to pay for it though, yeesh!

The check is dated so late because, no really, the bill got lost in the mail!

Lesson learned from this: 1) Ignoring things doesn't make those things go away. 2) Emergency funds are important for a reason!