A good solid roof that doesn't leak is one of those things that you really don't think about until it's raining or the magpies are pecking away at it like they've discovered some bird seed heaven. At least I don't. But our neighbors were thinking about redoing their shake roof and thought that if we got bids at the same time, we might both save some money. It sounded like it wouldn't hurt to listen.
Turns out the first roofer that came over and did a thorough inspection began suggesting that we really didn't want a complete replacement of our shakes. Total replacement would cost in the neighborhood of $35,000 for our 5,000 square feet of roofing while less extensive repair and refinishing with fire retardant would only cost $11,000. A bargain. We were impressed with the professionalism and credentials of this roofer but we also visited and spoke with several people whose roof had recently been worked on by this company.
Being the kind of people who want more than one opinion, Carolyn contacted another local roofer who came and looked at our roof as well as our neighbor's. He was even less enthusiastic about replacing the shakes or even repairing them. "You have no holes or 'hot spots' to even worry about," he assured us as he extended his tape measure and pushed a shake back in place. "Pulling out shakes that aren't loose will just damage more of the underlying felt." While at first he had said a $500 repair is the MOST we could need, he ended up saying he would recommend we wait for 3 or 4 years to look at the situation again.
No, I take that back, he actually ended up by saying, "You know your house is just so full of Feng Shui. I can feel the balance and peace and harmony."
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