Our quick we’re-getting-a-new-roof post on Thursday elicited so many questions that even we were surprised. So we’re back with the info for you along with the before, during, and after pics. Hold on to your hats. It’s about to get exciting. But first, here’s our roof before:
You can see when you get up close that it’s one of those flat grid-like grungy twenty year roofs without any sort of dimension or crispness. And did we mention it was on its last legs (as in about to leak at any moment)?
And here’s our brandspankingnew roof (pardon the lighting inconsistency, we wish we could control the sun):
We were especially proud that we negotiated a great price but also scored free hauling of a bunch of demolition junk and old rotten wood that we had piled up in our garage (we sweetly asked while they were tossing the old roof into their dumpster if we could add our stuff to the pile). So there’s a tip for ya: think about killing a few other birds with the ol’ hiring-someone-to-do-something stone when you can (we looked into hiring a man with a van but got gunshy about the $100-300 estimates- so we happily kept that money in our wallets and came up with this odd-but-accommodatable request). Of course we volunteered to haul it all in there ourselves, so here’s John up on a ladder after tossing about twenty garbage bags worth of stuff inside:
We also negotiated a nice $15 price tag for each of the two low profile vents that they installed on the roof instead of our old metal whirly-gigs that stuck out so high from the backside of our roof that they were visible from the front (see ’em peeking up over the roof line in our second before shot?). Here they are all installed and a lot more current and modern looking (it was a total of just 30 beans for this entire upgrade). We also considered adding a roofline ridge vent as well (for $325 extra, as noted by SWS Roofing), but we talked to a few friends and neighbors who had them done and actually never saw any difference in air flow. Plus our house has side vents and awning vents along with these two new top vents, so our attic is actually really nicely ventilated as it is.
And just because you know we love a progress shot, here are the guys hard at work on the top of our house in 90 degree weather. They rocked it out up there (while Clara and John did this inside).
But on to the questions that you guys shot our way last Thursday:
How did we save for it? For the past 24+ months we’ve been saving because we knew this day was coming. Our roof wasn’t leaking yet but everyone else in the neighborhood had actually reroofed already, and our inspector said we had about 3-5 years left on ours when we moved in back in 2007. We also learned that our sunroom already had a few compromised areas that were causing water to collect in the glass bulb cover on our ceiling fan (water + electrical = yowza) so it was definitely time to get ‘er done. Thankfully we saved enough to finally pull the trigger before stormy hurricane and acorn-pelting season hits in full force (which we’re sure would have done the old roof in within the next few months).
Did we get a deal for being Young House Love? Someone actually commented to say “I hope this company gave you a discount because they will receive a lot of leads from your blog. Mr. Sanders (your floor guy) said 50% of his business comes from you website.” That was definitely news to us! For those who don’t recognize his ironic name, Mr. Sanders is the guy we hired to sand and stain our floors, and we loved him so we’re happy to endorse his work on our blog and we’re happy to hear that he gets work thanks to our recommendation- nobody deserves more praise! He really did amazing work. So that’s what’s supposed to happen when people do a great job.
But to answer the question about if we got any special treatment or snagged a discounted rate because of our blog the answer is: nope. Nada. We actually were offered a free roof from two companies but we sweetly declined. We never mention our blog when we get estimates from local businesses, we just call a bunch of people in the phone book (and those who come recommended by friends and family members) and try to find the best people for the job (at the right price of course). It just feels odd to promise people “good press” or “lots of referrals” so we prefer to pay people for their work as any other homeowner would. In fact everyone who works on our house has no idea who we are and we like it that way. It makes it easy to endorse their work if they do a good job because we’re confident that they’re like that to everyone (and aren’t just being especially thorough or sweet to us since they want a good internet review). And we really liked who we found for this job. Read on for more deets.
Why we didn’t do it ourselves? We definitely like to take on our share of DIY projects. Especially the ones that sound like fun (like gutting a bathroom or running around on the roof). But after some heavy thought we came to the conclusion that it wasn’t something that we could tackle this time (there’s always next time though…). Basically, we knew our roof had such little time left before it started leaking and potentially damaging our house and our stuff, so we decided to leave this undertaking up to the pros. And it’s a good thing we did because the flat roof that we have over our sunroom stumped a few professionals that we had over for estimates (so it definitely reinforced the conclusion that we would be biting off more than we could chew this time). The good news is that we’d been saving for quite a long time, and we always believe in getting a ton of estimates to find the best people for the job (at the best price). Although one estimate came in at nearly 10K, the one we went with was around half of that price, and we loved that we could rely on a fully insured family owned local business who had been in the roofing game for nearly 60 years.
What kind of roof did you end up with? We went with a 30 year dimensional roof (made up of GAF shingles) to add some extra definition and protection to the house (the previous roof that we were replacing was a 20 year one). Many roofing experts that we talked to said that although you could save around a thousand dollars going with a 20 year flat roof, the dimensional ones were a lot more in demand, so they’re great for resale. And to get ten more years out of a roof is definitely less wasteful and less work to deal with in the future – so it seemed like the smartest choice. When it came to the color, we went with “Pewter Gray” since we had seen other similarly toned brick homes with that shingle color and we liked the look. So we didn’t have any nerves about picking a color since we just drove around to find homes that we liked and then modeled our decision after our favorite ones.
Why not a white roof (or lighter more reflective color) for the eco benefits? We actually did a lot of research about light colored energy efficient roofs (lighter tones can reflect heat and light instead of absorbing it, which makes for a cooler house) but every expert we spoke to said that our property was far too wooded/shaded for the roof color to make any detectable difference. They also pointed out that in heavily wooded lots like ours, lighter roofs more easily show stains and discoloration which pops up thanks to all those trees dropping things on the roof. And because darker roofs show less staining/discoloration, that choice can actually extend the life of the roof and keep it looking better even longer (which makes for less waste and a longer life, so that seemed to be the more eco-conscious decision in our case).
Why not solar panels? Same reason as above. Unfortunately our property is just too shaded to get any sort of energy saving benefits from solar panels. Sniffle.
Why not metal or slate? We got more than a few quotes for metal and slate roofs, since they charm us to no end (seriously, I fantasize about them). But not only did they come in at two to ten times more (!) than shingles, they would also have priced our house out of the neighborhood. Since everyone else has shingle roofs in our area, we knew we wouldn’t ever recoup the cost of a metal or slate roof since it’s not a standard that has been set in our area. So it would have been amazingly gorgeous, but it was sadly out of our budget and above our neighborhood’s value.
So there you have it. A new roof and a ton of a’s to your q’s. Anyone else have any roofing going on at their house? Was anyone brave enough to DIY their own? Are you proud that I resisted the urge to work any raise the roof puns into this post? John is.
I admire you guys so much – and now even more so after hearing that you always pay for your home repairs, and don’t take freebies just for the sake of getting a freebie (and being forced to give an advertisement on your blog). I also love how smart you are! You always give such great tips!
Thanks, Sherry and John!
Congrats on the new roof! It may not be a glamorous project, but it’s still a great one to have done. And know everyone will appreciate knowing how you went about it. I know lots of people who have been scammed by roofers. It’s great for people to see that there are honest companies out there. :)
http://40daysof.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/the-powder-room-is-done/
Looks great! Just wondering if you took the black wooden decor detail off of the chimney for this improvement and will be putting it back on soon (i really admire that detail). If not what happened???
Hey Christa,
It broke a few weeks ago! So we have to fix it and rehang it soon!
xo,
s
1. i love your blog.
2. does this mean that you guys will be changing the main picture on your page?
thanks for the wonderful posting!
Hey Amy,
We were actually debating whether we should reshoot the header with the new roof or keep the pic we have now since the roof is mostly in shadow and everything is blooming (right now stuff is less spring-like around here). Maybe we’ll wait until spring and reshoot so we don’t have to sacrifice blooms for the new roof!
xo,
s
The new roof looks great! My parents have solar panels on their roof and on really sunny days my dad says he’s actually watched their electric meter either stop or start to slowly go backwards!
Congratulations on your new roof! Replacing my roof is one of the first things that happened once I moved in. I went with the same choice, different color. I know how relieved you must be to have it finished.
The new roof looks awesome!! I love how you save up for projects and plan ahead. Very smart!
That is amazing that you don’t take freebies – love it!
Congrats on the new roof! Looks like it should keep your heads dry! It’s cool that you don’t use your star status for evil :)
p.s your site needs an updated logo image now!
Love your new roof…we replaced ours with the exact same materials, only it ended up being a 2 year project for my husband (front 1/2 1st year – back 1/2 2nd year). I just want to congratulate you on saving for your projects and not just jumping into debt because “you need it”! That is a lot of money to save…and your patience and dilegence paid off! You are a great inspiration! Thanks for a great blog!
From personal experience I hope you guys don’t have problems with the roof like we did. Kudos for the new roof anyhow. If you do have any issues in the future we’ve got a great local contractor to keep in your back pocket.
Happily the roof is warrantied for a few years by the roofing company and the roof materials themselves are warrantied for decades so we’re crossing our fingers that it’s a nice looooong time before this house needs another “hat” so to speak…
xo,
s
After you showed the difference between your old roof and the new one, I got what : That your old roof was in really bad shape! I just realized how little I know of this stuff and am surprised that I didn’t recognize it from the pictures you post. It looks obvious now!!
Great job done.
Looks great! We had our roof done several months ago and we’re still in love with it, it makes such a difference in how the house looks.
We went with the ridge vent in ours and it has made a difference. However, our attic was not well vented before.
It looks so nice and makes a big difference!!
Do you guys save for a big project like this in regular ol’ savings account, or do you try to find something that will pay better interest? Paying cash is our mode of operation as well, but sometimes the length of time it takes to save is discouraging (even though I know it’s the right thing to do)!
-Megan
Hey Megan,
We have a high yield savings account at a separate bank than where we do our day to day checking or saving, so it’s an out of the way account that we slowly add to (and aren’t tempted to touch for things like groceries or other everyday expenses).
xo,
s
One of the things that helped tip us over the edge when we bought our house was that it had a brand new roof. Our inspector said it probably had 35 years left on it! And my husband can see in the attic that all the plywood is new/was replaced too. It is reassuring to know that we won’t have that expense any time soon.
When I was a little girl (’84, hmmm were you even born yet?!) my dad re-roofed our house with two friends. Took them most of two weeks I think. A couple of years ago my parents got it done again and it took the company 2 days!!! Seriously! They did a great job and Mom and Dad were really happy with it. (And Dad was glad not to be up on the roof again, 20+ years later.)
The new roof looks great! I vote for waiting til spring if you decide to take a new header pic!
So . . . this post discusses property value and sell-ability . . . are you thinking about moving one day?
You never know… we do love a project!
xo,
s
Hey Guys!!
The roof looks great!! Not that I would have thought it was bad if you got a brand new roof for free, but I am totally impressed that you want to pay people for their hard work. And of course I love that you try to go local whenever possible! Great job!
Hi! Do you have 2 chimneys? Never noticed until I actually stared at your roof.
Yup! We love that our house has two fireplaces (one in the living room and one in the den). You can check those out by clicking the House Tour page up under our header. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Hi,
From where do you access your attic? Is it a room that you can live in?
Joanna
Hey Joanna,
We have a drop down staircase in our hallway that leads to our attic, but sadly the ceilings are too sloped and not tall enough for it to be a livable space. We did dream about opening things up to create taller ceilings on the first store with the spare attic space (or even creating a little sleeping loft above one of the bedrooms for future kid sleepovers or something fun like that).
xo,
s
You guys are lucky they let you pitch your garbage in their dumpster for no extra fee. We did the same thing when we had our roof replaced (they said we could), then they ended up charging us for it! They said they had to pay more to dump it because of what we threw in there.
I like that you don’t solicit freebies; I hate when blogs write about how great a product is because they were sent some for free. I don’t trust those reviews at all.
Roofing is totally easy. Surprised you didn’t do it yourself. My husband and I did ours in a weekend.
DIY-ing a roof has to be insane! There’s a time and place but I wouldn’t screw around with a roof. I think you made a wise call.
“we knew we wouldn’t ever recoup the cost of a metal or slate roof since it’s not a standard that has been set in our area”
I saw your response to Cassidy, but…. you mean this isn’t your “forever home” anymore : /
Hey Liz,
Don’t get us wrong, we LOVE our house, but John has recently pointed out that we enjoy home transformations so much that the day we feel “done” could be the day that we look for a new house to lovingly restore and enjoy!
xo,
s
I never noticed your roof was in such bad shape lol. I don’t like to spend money on home renos we can do ourselves, but I think you made a good call having the pros do your roof, especially in 90 degree heat! They really understand what they’re doing up there. I have so much respect for roofers working hard in the dog days of summer, that has to be one of the toughest jobs. Nicely done!
I saw that someone already asked if you guys were planning on changing your main picture, so I won’t ask twice – but just out of curiosity did you guys make your own header? and if so what program did you use? photoshop?
Thanks!
Hey Allison,
Yup, plain ol’ Photoshop did the trick. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I really admire that you guys turned down the free roof offer and stuck with your gut and your research. Especially since you have a baby in the house, and I’m sure $5000 would help out a lot. Another reason why I love you guys!
So, does this mean that creating a second story is out of the plans? I know you had mentioned that as a possibility in the far-off future. Also, I am surprised to see that you are open to moving, I know that you’ve always said you were there to stay, but then again, that’s what we say, and we’re always open to changes in the future! :-)
http://www.wordsonwendhurst.com
Hey Jenny,
We have definitely daydreamed about additions to Casa Petersik (either out or up) and have watched a few homes in our area take those on with stunning results – so they’re definitely still things we fantasize about as well!
xo,
s
We DIY-ed our roof (http://www.chezerbey.com/roof) and it was the dirtiest, most labor-intensive thing we’ve done yet. Definitely worth hiring out, but ours was a complete tear off and would have been at least $10k-$15k to hire the pros. Fortunately, it was our first major undertaking and I think our new homeowner enthusiasm was the only thing that got us through it!
The new roof looks great! We had our porch roof replaced right after we bought our house in May, but the inspector and roofer said we had at least a few more years on the main roof. Did any of the roofers from whom you obtained estimates give you any tips/suggestions for how to tell if your roof is on the outs without waiting until there’s an actual leak?
Hey Kim,
Good question! We actually could see roof tiles that had loostened and areas that looked almost threadbare so it was fairly obvious that our roof was on it’s last legs. We didn’t learn any telltale signs for anyone with a roof that’s in better condition and not obviously on it’s way out. Anyone have any info on that to share with Kim?
xo,
s
That is so funny! I just commented on your first post about the roof that we replaced our roof around this time last year with GAF shingles in Pewter Gray and that’s what you guys chose! We also have a red brick house (ranch) that is similar to yours:)
By the way, we also DIY-ed our roof and it is doable. A LOT of work (we had to remove the old shingles and also replace some damaged wood). We would have loved to have it done but could barely afford doing it ourselves (it ended up costing over $3,000 to do it ourselves).
It looks really great! My congratulations!
The new roof looks great! I like how thorough you guys are on all your decisions regarding your home.
Off topic: Saw your article in Southern Flourish Magazine. I enjoyed the read, and had no idea how busy you guys are!!!
glad you guys did your own research and planned for it…looks great! I know this is off subject….but didn’t you have a HOW-TO tab up top? Am I imagining it or did you make off with that one?
We just renamed it, so click the Projects page for tons of ideas and tutorials. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
It’s beautiful! Congratulations! And thanks for sharing all your insights and thought processes.
You are such a cute writer! I love the title of this post!
-Jess
We just replaced our roof in May because it had been leaking around our skylights for about year and a half (well…only through the winters). It took us about 8 months to save up for the roof (yes, we lived through two winters with a tarp over the skylights and towels on the wood floor whenever it rained or snowed) just so we could pay cash. Just a little note for those who are going to hire someone to reroof. Plan to save to save at least another $1000 for incidentals. We had to replace very old wood planks and other roofing items that could not be quoted until the roofer saw the damage. Or make sure to negotiate that your quote includes any other items that need to be repaired. If you don’t use the $1000, then that is some more cash in your account for other projects. We also ended up getting a bit of a discount because my husband helped with the tear-off and ran all of the errands.
The roof looks great. My first house desperately needed a new roof and it was required by my lender that I replace it within 6 months of closing. Luckily, my best friend’s brother was in the roofing business and gave me a major discount. Part of the reason I bought my current house (out of the many on the market) was that it had a fairly new roof. It’s not one of those glamorous things you can show visitors like a rain shower, but you sure are glad to have it.
If you sell your house, I’d totally be tempted to move to Richmond and buy it. I’ve never been there, but the way you describe it makes it sound like a cool place to live.
Haha, it would be fun to House Crash our own house if someone else bought it and moved their stuff in!
xo,
s
I was beginning to wonder a new Casa Petersik might be a possibility one day….you’ve about run out of new projects to do. And your blog is more fun when your posting about the desperately-in-need-of-love house! Perhaps a nice big farm house with a barn :}
Looks great! You guys are always doing something interesting!
IMO, there’s no such thing as “forever”….
What about…
… two young people, baby & burger, falling in love with their second house and putting all that DIY knowledge learned on the first house back to work!
it never would have occurred to me that home upgrades could eventually price your house out of a neighborhood! sherry, you teach me something new so often!
Hey Guys-
The new roof looks great. I read through the Roof FAQ, but you didn’t give a cost break down. I found it really helpful when estimating my bathroom renovation, and I was noticing this weekend that my roof is looking a little gray and shabby. Could you give a rough estimate of what the project set you back? It’ll give me a good savings target, as I also live in Richmond. Thanks!
Hey Eric,
We got a few estimates that came in as high as 10K (since we have a peaked roof plus a flat roof over our sunroom to deal with) but we happily paid about half of that thanks to going with a company who knew what they were doing and could get it all done in one day (amazing). Things like the cost of a roof replacement vary a ton by location, the size of your house, the kind of roof you’ll be getting, etc- so it really is best to get some estimates for a much more accurate cost analysis when it comes to a project like this. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Could you do something about the loud video advertising? When I first popped in it was blaring at me and I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. Thought I was safe, but 1/2 way through reading the post it started again. Then about 1/2 way through this comment it started again. I know you all are trying to make a living at this, but this ad was too much.
Hey Joanne,
Ugh! We’re so sorry about that. It’s a sound glitch on Google’s part and we’ve already logged a few complaints and tried to block ’em. Still working on it! Muting your computer should safeguard for your now, but we’re definitely working on a true resolution to have those off our site asap! We actually had them gone for the last few hours so it’s a bummer to learn that they’re back. Off to contact them again…
xo,
s
Thank you so much for your honesty and ethics about using or not using your blog for the purchase of your roof. It’s so refreshing! It makes it much easier for your readers to relate to projects.
You are absolutely right about using materials that price you out of your neighborhood. My old (and first) house came with a an eighty year old slate roof… the only one in the neighborhood. When it was appraised to sell, I thought for sure the character and durability of slate would add to the the value of the house, but it didn’t add a dollar more (although having 100 more square feet would have.)
THAT was a fun experience. Almost as fun as DIYing the roof on our new place- it took 2 months of weekends and rained a lot – never could have DIYed it if there was actual stuff inside that couldn’t get wet. You guys made great choices with this one!
Looks great! And hooray for saving money. Sometimes, I feel like people are just too shy/hesitant to ask for things like you did with having the stuff hauled off by the roofing company.