Between Awnings and AstroTurf

Living the American Dream of Homeownership in The Nation's Capital

Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin Roof. Rusted.

So remember when I said I had a ceiling incident? Let me take you back. Picture it. Washington, DC, September 2018, I’m on my way to work and I come downstairs and find mom eating breakfast…with the ceiling collapsed behind her in the sunroom on the main floor.

Thankfully no one was hurt.

I called around, asked some friends if they had anyone that could come and clear it out safely. And hopefully get to the bottom of what happened, what caused it and what needed to be repaired pronto.

But wait – if this is the main floor, the water must have also leaked from above…?

You’re absolutely right. And I didn’t even notice because the sleeping porch off of my bedroom had quickly become my storage area for things I didn’t need or think about any longer.

Not great.

So what to do. Well, we needed to get the roof fixed. And that’s where Edwin the roofer comes in. Referred to me by two different friends, I felt that was good enough of a sign for me.

They stripped my roof down to the original WOOD. 😳

Now children, roofing takes a special kind of crazy. You have to like heights. You have to work quickly, because the weather can make or break the project. And sometimes people have solar panels (post to come on solar panels!). But Edwin and his team basically laid down a new roof for me in just about 2 days.

Sealed up all the potential leak points.
This is the east facing part of the roof where I sit to watch 4th of July neighborhood fireworks!
The western part of the roof was also stripped, given new metal roof, and coat of reflective paint.

How do people afford new roofs? These can cost tens of thousands of dollars. People borrow against their mortgages and I honestly had no idea how adults did this. Turns out, you can finance this stuff. And Edwin was cool and I paid him in two installments over the course of a month.

What’s the moral of the story? When they say your roof has 5-10 years of life left in it, turns out, they were right. Find yourself a trusty roofer, sooner rather than later – and preferably one who backs their work with a warranty.

With the “problem” addressed and under control, it would take me another seven months to get around to fixing (read: affording) the interior “cosmetic” issues. And that was on the main floor. My sleeping porch upstairs would take another three months after that to get done. And that is worthy of another post entirely.

Not gonna lie, friends. This one HURT. Both mentally and financially. Easily the most expensive thing I’ve had to do for the house. But it is the roof. And it will last another 20-30 years. Just gotta chalk this up to #homeownership.