New Roof

So the house needed a new roof. It has needed a new roof since we moved in....8 years ago.

Finally this spring the leak above the kitchen window was bad enough that we had to do something about it. And I wasn't about to add another patch.

First, we went to the Home Show, talked with some contractors, and decided who we wanted to go with. Then some contractors came by looked things over, gave us some lip service, and headed for the hills. Despite my inquires after the initial visit in April and an assurance in May from the Office Manager, I still haven't heard from one company, AT ALL. Another company specializing in metal roofs never even bothered to give me anything other than a sales pitch.

So we bit the bullet and went with the "Largest Local Roofing Company" (LLRC). They just about own the roofing business in this town. They have 6 crews with 6 people in each, their own dumpsters and do gutters.

Now anyone who knows me personally, knows compliments and high praise don't come easy from me. It's just not me. I'm getting better at it for the kids sake but I'll never be one to write a company and tell them how good of a job they did. Which is also why I won't name names here. However these guys are almost deserving of that kind of recognition.

Here's the time line of events:
June 4th: I call the roofers for an appointment.
June 9th: The salesman comes by. He's the typical shmo salesman only younger. We make a deal that night to strip the entire roof, plywood over the main house, the kitchen and the front porch fixing any rot along the way, shingle all of that plus the garage, and new gutters everywhere (thrown in for "free").
June 19th: I call the chimney guy they recommended.
June 20th: The chimney guy comes over to look at it. We needed the entire top of the chimney pulled down 3 rows below the roof, rebuilt, and a stainless steel liner installed.
June 27th: The chimney guy does the job and hauls off the debris from the other chimney I didn't want intersecting the roof anymore. How cool is that?
June 29th: The roofers leave a message that they will be starting the roof on Wednesday the 1st.
July 1st: 7:00am Roofers start the job, dodge raindrops and leave by 1:30. The garage and kitchen are done. The rot was repaired above the kitchen.
July 2nd: 7:00am they're back!! Main house is done by 3:00. (they were caught in a downpour and had to slow down)
July 3rd: 7:00am and starting the front porch. Done roofing by noon and gutters done by mid-afternoon. By 5:00pm the entire job is done, cleaned up, and the dumpster hauled off.
July 6th: Final inspection by the Senior Supervisor of the company. He cleans up a little that they missed and fixed some bent drip edge issues I had and passes off the bill and a survey.

Holy $41T!!! They did the job in less than three days and from what I saw looked like a well oiled machine doing it. There was no BS around their coffee cups when they arrived, they just got to it. Since I've been asked at work, yes, they all spoke English.

Kudos to the Chimney Guy and the Roofers. This is proof that there are still people willing to bust their hump to get a tough job done. This is poignant because there is a house on my ride to work that has been getting it's roof done, with only sporadic progress, for over three weeks now. That house is smaller and in better shape than ours.

It took them considerably less time to do the roof than it did for me write this entry. So if you live in the "Happy Valley" and need a roof or chimney work done, I got some names for ya.

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