Putting a Roof Over Our Heads

Last week there was a big project going on at the Cape of Dreams. For once, it was someone else doing the work. I spared Douglas this time because I was nervous to take on the roof and Douglas does NOT like heights, so I do not think I could have gotten him up there anyway. It would also be impossible for us to have taken on this project during the school year. We have too much work at this time of year. I must admit that it was nice to watch someone else do the work for once, but I was not as happy paying the bill this week. Putting on a new roof is EXPENSIVE. Thank goodness it is ensured for fifty years.

I was impressed with the efficiency of the guys doing the work. On Saturday, I received a call from the boss, asking if they could start the next day. That afternoon, they dropped this load on our front lawn.

Sunday morning, they arrived bright and early. Within moments, or so it seemed, they had set up protection for the gardens and windows. Here is the view from inside the house. As you can see in the picture on the left, they covered the lantern to keep it from breaking before putting the tarp over it. These guys were very professional about everything. I never would have thought to do something like that.

And from the outside.

Then, they started scraping the shingles. There were three layers of shingles on the roof, so it was a lot of work.

However, when I left at 9:30, they had pretty much bared the entire front of the roof. You can see, in the close-up to the right, that there was a big hole in the wood under the shingles.

By the time I got home from Staten Island, where I had been helping with the relief effort for Hurricane Sandy, it was too dark to get pictures, but I could tell that they had finished the front roof. Douglas took this picture of them putting the shingles on the front while I was gone.

On Monday, they worked on the back. We had to put a different kind of roofing on the back because it is flat. I do not know what this means, but that is what they told me. Just makes me even happier that I did not try to do this myself.

Last Monday was the first first day of swim practice, but we did not have the swimmers get in the water. We had a short meeting and let them go. I rushed home, hoping that it would still be light enough for me to check out the roof. Dusk had settled by arrival, however, so this was the most that I could see.

The sad part is that eight days later, I still have not seen my house in the daylight. I leave in the dark to go to work, and it is past sunset when I arrive home. Last weekend, we went to Chicago to celebrate the marriage of dear friends Michael and Mo, so I was not able to see the roof in the light on Saturday or Sunday either. I had to ask Douglas to take some pictures for me so that I could see how it turned out.

He climbed on things to get this picture in the back. I think that the camera was at an angle because he was holding it over his head. I do not think that our house was sliding into a pit.

I like the look of the copper in these pictures. I know that it will not stay this color for long, but it looks great now. The copper cost $350 more, but the builder assured me that the flashing would last longer. I think that flashing is the right word, please, let me know if not.

So, we have a solid, good-looking, and well-constructed roof over our heads that will hopefully last for a long, long time. We are keeping our fingers crossed that there will be no more drips in the bedroom now that we have a new roof. Here is one more look before and after. It is hard to see the difference. If you click on the before picture and look closely, you can see that the shingles were peeling up around the dormers. The new shingles are slightly lighter as well.

Happy Homemaking!