Roofing Virgin

I normally like rainy days. Being outside in the rain is always fun for me, and unless it's freezing rain or I'm wearing a nice dress, I don't even use an umbrella. When I'm inside, I cuddle up with a blanket on the couch and watch the rain pouring down from the safety of my dry home.

Until the roof started to leak.

For the last year and a half or so, Ray and I have had to put out a bucket for the leaks that drip down between our bedroom and the sunroom. Apparently the geniuses that built the addition to our house didn't install the flashing on the new roof where it abuts the old roof. Thus, the leak.

For a while, it leaked through the wall and down onto the first floor, which led to water stains on the ceiling of the living room, something that I never thought I'd have to ever think about, but now, as a homeowner, every little stain, crack, creak, and smell in my house I'm acutely aware of.

So now, after a year and a half, we, the ultimate procrastinators, have finally decided we didn't want to spend another winter with a leaky roof, so we finally decided to interview contractors to get bids for the job.

Now, while Ray has some knowledge of how roofs are put together, he's not a roofer himself, and I certainly had no idea what to ask for when talking to roofers. But now, after a week of interviewing contractor after contractor, I know exactly what to ask and what kind of presentations are sketchy.

We got bids of all types, from a guy who took measurements and left an estimate in our mailbox to the guy who spent two and a half hours to give a presentation complete with playing an infomercial DVD (which went over exactly all the things he had already explained). That last guy, by the way, got to our house at 8 PM and didn't leave until 10:30, way overstayed his welcome, and would not take no for an answer. I tried hinting, I tried saying "no" outright, and I tried standing up and helping him pack.

We finally picked a middle-of-the-road price with a down-to-earth sales guy. I'm comfortable with our choice, although we're still spending more money than I would like to, given that we've got a wedding to plan. However, I think most people would agree it's good to have a roof that doesn't leak.

When I was a little girl, my grandfather built the addition to the little house my mom and I lived in. He wasn't a contractor, but he sure liked to build things. I don't think anything in our house was up to code, though. When the roof started leaking in that house, my mom hired some guys (not contractors) to fix the roof. They never finished the job, so my mom had to hire someone else to finish it. Of course, those guys were so high the roof was too low for them, so my mom had to get someone else a few years later to redo the roof again (and do some other work on the house).

After those experiences, I vowed to myself that when I was a homeowner, I'd only get a reputable contractor. So here I am. I found a (hopefully) reputable contractor, and we'll see how it goes. If they do a good job, I'll be sure to let everyone know. And if they do poorly, I'll let everyone and the Better Business Bureau know too.