When we bought our house almost 3 years ago, we knew that two things would have to be addressed within a couple of years. The first that we would need to tackle was painting the exterior of the home. Cement block homes are the best for the harsh weather of Florida, but the stucco on them starts to crack over time. The inspector when we bought our home recommended painting it within a year or two of ownership. We did that last October and the house looked fantastic.
The second project was a bigger and more expensive one. We were told that we had 3 to 5 years of life left on the roof. We were surprised at that as roofs in Indiana normally lasted 25 to 30 before they needed replacement, and ours was only 18 years old. The weather in Florida, however, is a lot tougher on home structures and most have to be replaced within 15 to 20 years. It still looked OK, but we knew that looks wouldn't help during hurricane season. Last fall, our painter told us that we probably had two more years of life on the roof. Thus, I waited until this summer to do research on roof replacement. I found out that our homeowners could cancel our policy if our roof was 20 years old. I didn't want that to happen so I decided to have two local roofing companies come out and evaluate it. One suggested that we also have our insurance company look at it as well. All three of them got up on our roof and inspected it. Each said that there was some hail damage but nothing major. The shingles, however, had very little granules left, so it was definitely time for a new roof.
Neither Doug, nor I were surprised by that reality. Thankfully, I had saved money from our last year‘s budget for roof replacement. The two local roofers that came out to inspect it also gave us quotes. They were both had great reviews, were highly recommended and were very knowledgeable. We ended up going with Big D roofing. The name sounded strange, but they had the best quote and we really liked their sales person. He was extremely honest and answered all of my questions. He came out twice to meet with us, offered to have our existing attic fan vent painted to match the roof and didn't talk us into new solar tubes when they weren't needed. We would also get all new vents and drip guards. We signed the papers and picked September 9th to start. We were hoping to get it all finished by the time that we left for Indiana in late September.
The roofers arrived yesterday morning at six a.m. At first, I thought it was thundering, but then realized that it was them walking on our roof. They worked until dusk before picking up for the night. We were impressed with how much they had gotten done even with taking a short break for rain. They had just started the shingles when they quit for the evening. Today they arrived at 8 a.m. and by 4 p.m. were pulling out of the driveway after thoroughly cleaning up. I swept up afterward and only found two nails. Both of them were hidden under something and almost impossible to see.
Doug and I walked around the outside of the house this evening when he got home from work. We were extremely pleased with the look of the roof. The brown on the previous one did not match the gray very well and our roof had a lot of staining in the back. Our new hearthstone shingles matched perfectly and the house looked fantastic. All we have left to do is wait for the wind mitigation test and we should be completely finished. As much as I was dreading the process, it was a lot less painful than I ever thought that it would be.
BEFORE
DURING
AFTER
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