When we first bought the house, my husband and I were aware that the roof was reaching the end of its lifespan.
We had hopes of replacing it within a year or two.
However, a long list of home repairs and renovations took precedence. The water heater burst and flooded the basement. A corroded pipe leaked and caused water damage to the ceiling in the kitchen. We replaced most of the major appliances, added gutters to the exterior and tore out the old shag carpeting. Eventually, we needed to run around with buckets to catch the drips during every major rainstorm. The following day, we’d find stray shingles in the lawn. We knew the leaking roof was going to lead to major structural damage if not repaired. Because so many layers of roofs had been added over the years, it was necessary to tear everything down to the bare studs. We hired a roofing contractor who completed the project during the month of July. It wasn’t possible to run the air conditioner. The outside temperature regularly climbed into the high eighties. The house felt overheated and there were problems with dust, debris and bugs. When the roofing contractor finally packed up and left, I figured the air conditioner would take a full day to lower the indoor temperature. I was surprised when every room felt perfectly comfortable within a couple of hours. The new roof has definitely tightened up the thermal envelope and improved the efficiency of the home. Over the course of the following winter, I noticed a significant difference in the performance of the furnace. The money we’re saving on our monthly energy bills is going to help to pay for the cost of the new roof.