This past winter I went up in my attic to put some things away and noticed that water had been dripping from the wood near my roof vents. There was still a foot of snow on the roof, so I put down some plastic sheeting and bins in the attic to catch the small leaks. Once the snow melted I went up on the roof to assess the situation and nothing looked “wrong” so, considering I didn’t really have a load of money set aside to fix what seemed like minor drips, I bought a few tubes of roofing caulk and slathered it around the vents. It seemed to fix the problem, but I knew that a new roof would be in my not-too-distant future. I asked on social media if anyone had any suggested roofers and noted them so I could contact them when I was ready.

I started saving money toward replacing a roof, not really knowing what it would cost. Friends of mine said they had theirs replaced about eight years ago for around $6000, new plywood and all. Another friend, with a much more complex roof had theirs redone for around $7500, and that was just replacing the shingles, etc. (Their plywood was fine.) I knew that my plywood had some areas of concern, so my goal was to save $10,000 before calling for estimates.

This spring I decided to look around in the attic after a rain and noticed that one of my vent pipes had drips on it. I went up on the roof and saw that the pipe boot had deteriorated, so I went to Home Depot. For around $10 I bought a new boot and some more roofing caulk, and I replaced the old pipe boot. The leak seemed to be fixed, but now the writing was clearly on the wall.

Just this past Monday we had some really heavy rain, and I decided to check how my roof was doing while it was pouring outside. I went up in the attic and there was dripping from not only where I’d repaired the leaks this past winter, but also in three new places. Saving to replace my roof was as a part of my budget since the winter and now that I’d met my savings goal, there was no point in putting this off any longer. It was time.

Monday night I made a list of contractors based on recommendations from friends and family. I contacted five roofers through their websites and asked for an estimate to replace my roof. (Note: If you’re a roofer and you don’t have even a basic web presence, I’m not going to consider you for work. A fancy website is great, but even something basic shows you’re a “real” company.  If there’s NOTHING, no website, no Facebook, no anything I can find within a few minutes on Google, I can’t take you seriously with thousands of dollars and my house’s well being.) All five roofers responded to my inquiries within a day and I’ll be writing up my impressions of getting estimates in the next post. I’ve already had two people out for quotes and it’s been eye opening.