Friends,
This is the story of two houses. One built in a tract of single family homes during the early 1970s suburban speculation boom. The other built as a vacation getaway in a small mountain resort town during the late 1940s post-war construction boom. Both houses need a new roof.
The 50-year old house needed its red asphalt composite shingle roof replaced 20 years ago and the owners did what any self-respecting cheapskate did in the 90s—cover the red shingles with gray shingles. Now that those shingles have failed (curling, tabs breaking off, whole sections breaking off and flying away), we needed to do something.
The 75-year old house has, apparently, only had its issues addressed once (omg). At that time, the cedar shingles were covered with asphalt composite shingles. I suspect that this wasn’t necessarily to address leaks, but to satisfy a nervous insurance agent trying to justify renewing a policy deep in the urban/wilderness interface. Well, it leaks now, so we need to do something.
There are a lot of roofing contractors servicing the area surrounding the 50-year old house. We read good recommendations for a fellow named Ray. We had a chat, and he agreed to do the work for ten and a half thousand dollars, give or take. Okay, that’s not entirely true. There’s no take, and after the additional carpentry that needed to be done, we gave up a couple thousand more, and after maybe 12 hours of work, they were packed up and gone. The results are just right too. Right color, right amount of fuss (none). If you need a roof, call Ray.
If you’ve taken this cue to stand in your front yard yelling, “RAY!” He’s probably not going to answer. Send me an email instead, and I’ll give you his contact information.
The problem with the 75-year old house, which you might remember as my Secret Alpine Laboratory, is that there’s nothing under the cedar shingles. They’re nailed to thin wood stringers spanning the roof joists, and that’s it.
To put on a new roof, the asphalt shingles, the tar paper, the cedar shingles, whatever paper is underneath that, and the stringers come down. Then, the new roofer who is not Ray will do all of the math and cover the steep pitches and deep valleys with plywood. Although the square footage is nearly identical to the younger structure, the cost is estimated to be over double.
That job hasn’t happened yet, but I’ve sent a very large deposit. This adult stuff is nerve-wracking.
Your very best pal,
– bob