New Roof

It is finally done! After a month of hard labor, waiting for parts, getting the wrong order and then ordering again, our roof is finally finished! When we bought our house, the home inspector discovered a small leak in the roof so we needed to repair our roof as soon as possible. We debated on whether to just replace the shingles or put on a metal roof. The metal roof was a bit more money but the warranty was a lot better than the shingles. We decided to go with the metal roof and install it ourselves. With the help of my dad, brothers and brother-in-law, Russell was able to replace the majority of the roof over one week and it looks great.

This is what our roof looked like before the work began. It was not bad just a little leaky. Russell didn't have to scrape the old shingles off he just laid the metal over the top as an added insulation. He started work on the roof February 10th.

Saturday, February 12, the crew came over and began the reconstruction. That whole day, they worked on the valley portion of our roof. This was a difficult part because they had to cut the metal to match the angles of the roof. Putting all of their geometry skills to work they got the valley done and started on the front portion of the roof. This was much easier because all of the metal sheets were cut to size and all they had to do was lay them down and screw them in. Russell was worried that he used one of his long pieces on the valley by mistake so he thought he would be short on the back section of the roof so they saved that part for last. After getting everything laid; however, he had just enough sheets.

It was then on to the air conditioner, the most difficult part of the roof. Technically we should have lifted the air conditioner up and slid the metal underneath it but we were not exactly sure how to do that without hurting the air conditioner. Russell ended up just leaving the AC alone and cutting the metal to fit snugly around it. It took a little bit of brain power to think of a way to put this section together to prevent leaks but they did it.

For the next week, my dad came over and helped Russell finish laying the metal sheets and putting the finishing touches on the roof including under the eaves, and the ridge caps. Like clock work, right after this was done, we had a big rain storm. The roof held up so Russell figured they must have installed it correctly!

The last part of the roof was to put the gables along the sides of the roof to prevent wind from blowing up under the roof and raising it. These also put the final finishing touches on the roof. This part took the longest because we originally did not order enough gable pieces so we had to order more. Russell called and ordered four more pieces but when Scholzes delivered the parts, they only brought two! Russell was mad because the next day the price of metal went up so the gables each cost $5 more. Luckily, after talking to the guys at Scholzes, they gave us the original price because they realized they were the one's that screwed up. So finally Russell had enough parts to finish the roof. Russell completely finished the roof on March 21, one month after beginning. (Keep in mind he worked on it in his spare time but the majority of the work was done on Feb 12 and the few days that followed.)

And here is our final product! Isn't it perty! I think the roof turned out really good and Russell did a great job. Our neighbors have even commented on how nice it looks. This roof is a great investment and we will never have to replace it again. After all is said and done, we ended up with enough metal to re-roof our shed in the back yard and possibly make a little lean-to for our four-wheelers. We also have a garbage can full of scrap metal that we are going to take to the recycle center and hopefully get a little money for. In all, our new roof cost us about $3,000 which is the amount the seller paid of our closing costs so we were not really out anything. Then we got $3,000 for our tax refund so really our roof was free! The nice thing about being a homeowner is that all of this money we are putting into this house is ours and we are just improving our investment every time we do.