The New Roof

This is really happening. For reference, here is what our roof looks like from an aerial view. I pulled it off of Google Earth, so please excuse the grainy photo. The white square is the flat portion of the roof. The rest has typical peaks and valleys.

Surprisingly, getting a new roof is not nearly as loud as I thought it would be. The actual work requires a lot of crashing and banging, but it is pretty muffled by the attic. That said, the kids and I have decided that we hired the roofers with the loudest voices in the world. I suppose that they have to be loud in order to communicate above the noise, but I am convinced they missed their calling. They could have been in theater instead. We are able to hear their communication clearly from every floor in the house.

While I initially sought the bids for the roof, Andy ended up doing most of the leg work on this project. For that reason, it has actually been quite relaxing to have the new roof installed. I have gritted my teeth about a bit of landscape crushing, and I am still crossing my fingers that the last piece of 125-year-old crown moulding survives the shingle shovels, but overall, they are doing a great job.

The crew removed three (!) layers of roofing. Then, they put down new plywood, a six-foot weather barrier on the edge, and all the typical under layers of roofing.  We chose charcoal-colored, heavy-duty shingles. The new color is perfect. I couldn’t be happier. I do not have any proper photographs of the new roof yet, but I will post some when the job is complete.

Today, they are finishing up the last side. I believe that once they do the flat portion and gutters, BHH will be the proud owner of a brand new roof. We will be really happy to have this high cost job checked off the to do list.