Well, at least that's the last ...

It's hard to believe that I've reached that delightful age when I can start beginning sentences with the phrase "Well, at least that's the last ..." as in "Well, at least that's the last time we'll need to put a roof on this house."  The shingles we used are rated 50 year lifetime but even if we only get 30 years out of them, I'll be 98 and probably won't be thinking too much about the roof.

Regarding the roof, we actually did it right this time - getting all the bids in a timely manner, checking out licenses and referrals, giving ourselves plenty of time to look around the neighborhood and city for comparable roofs, and not waiting until the rain is  pouring through the ceiling to sign a re-roofing contract!  After each windy day we canvassed the yard to see how many shakes had been blown off the roof.  We saw a noticeable drop right after Carolyn got on the roof (in the middle of a windstorm) and nailed the ridge line down.  But this year we started seeing the occasional shake on the ground after a storm so we thought the time was arriving.

The quotes we got were all in the same price range and about the same as what we paid for the first house we bought in Long Beach in 1970.  We have been getting quotes for the past five years, noting how some of the contractors didn't even last that long.  When we finally decided to move ahead, we had to wait 3 weeks to get on the contractor's schedule.  Then they moved fast.


The old shake roofing was removed and all remaining wood securely nailed down and replaced if necessary.












































Plywood was  laid down next on the entire roof and covered with roofing fabric (tarpaper).  That took a little less than 2 days.






























The contractor made quite a mess during the day but cleaned up everything before winding things up for the day.  The crew  varied between 1 and 6 people at a time.  it sounded like we had upstairs tenants learning how to line dance.







































A little over a week after they started, the job was finished.  The workers disappeared.

An interesting note is that the law (local? statewide?) now requires that a re-roofer ensure that as part of the scope of work, a home be equipped with a working smoke detector and a working CO detector.     I thought we had signed a statement to the effect that the contractor had complied but for some reason it wasn't with the rest of the papers when the inspector made his final inspection of the job.  So I answered the doorbell and answered the inspector's question about the necessary detectors.  Then I made a flippant comment about wishing I had checked out the job myself  but with my walker I didn't get on many roofs.  The inspector chuckled politely then added, "Well, you don't need to worry about this job.  Zimmerman always does excellent work."  I thought that was a great unsolicited comment.