A roof over my head

We finally had the roof replaced last week and now have the peace of mind that comes with knowing that we shouldn't have to replace it for another 30 years.  The whole process took two days and with the exception of tromping on a few plants didn't cause too much disruption.  The arrival of the roofers did startle me a little bit.  I had stayed home that day to take care of Molly as she spent her first full day in her new home and recovered from being fixed.  I was dozing on the sofa when I heard footsteps outside the back door.  I would be lying if I said it didn't spook me before I realized what was going on.  The rest of the day proceeded with no small amount of banging and hammering which Molly took in stride.  I was a little worried the noise might scare her, but I guess she was used to the noise of the shelter.

We had asked the roofers to take pictures of the underlying structure of the roof so that we could see the condition of the wood.  We were concerned that they would have to replace a large portion of the roof running up the total cost of the job.  In the end it didn't turn out to be too bad, even though the pictures look pretty scary.  We had expected a certain amount of damage around the chimney where we had a leak due to the improperly installed flashing.  In addition, we were really worried about the roof of our addition.  At a house warming party a few weeks ago one of our neighbors mentioned that there was a problem with the roof.  It was previously shingled but because it is almost flat, we decided to install a rubber roof instead.  While not attractive, it is the right thing to do.  It will last longer and won't be as prone to leaks as shingles on a flat surface.  We were happy with our contractor and with the results.  His quote was fair and he didn't charge us for the wood that they had to replace.  I like the color of the shingles and siding that we chose and think that it will look even better when we get around to repainting the woodwork.  Now we can tackle the next item on our extensive list (repairing and refinishing the windows, replacing the gutters?), although it may be awhile before we can afford to do some of them!