I don’t know if it’s waiting on my electrical contractor, haggling with my roofer, or arguing with my “roommates,” but I’m getting burnt out..
As for updates: As you could see in the last post, the garage is enclosed and being used pretty extensively. The dormers I wrote about didn’t pan out for a number of reasons, the most important being that I can’t stand it when some aspect of a house stands out in a bad way. You know that house you drive by and think, “Wow, that little window on that BIG wall?” Or, “That _______ looks really out of place with the style of the rest of the house.”
I still really think a couple dormers would look good with the house. The problems we ran into pertain more to the pitch of the new roof than to the dormers themselves. As we ‘mocked up’ our dormer project, we found that in order to make the “face” of the dormers as big as I wanted them, pretty much everything else would have to look really bad. One of my trusty volunteers described the effect you see sometimes where the dormers jut out so far that there ends up being mini-hallways protruding from the roofline. Not only that, but then I’d have to buy windows to go in the dormers, and that decision was not one I wanted to make in a hurry. The whole thing could have been smoother had I bought the steeper 7-pitch trusses vs. the 6-pitch that I bought. Price difference: $200 per truss x 21 trusses. No thanks.
Long story short: shingles went on the garage without dormers. I can always add them later, though it will take a little more effort.
Which brings me to the issue of the shingles. I’m happy with the actual shingle I picked – it’s a good mix of black, grey, brown, and blue (if that makes sense) so it will hopefully go with anything. It’s the work that I am not happy with.. in retrospect.
Initially, I was in what you could call a honeymoon period with my new roof. I was just so dang happy to have it! Once the rose-colored glasses came off, I started adding things up. Not only was the end cost noticeably higher than the bid (with extra charges for nails and other materials that one might assume would be included), but the yard was a mess as was the house itself. Then, to top it all off, I have to pay for the dumpster they filled with the scraps. Again, you might assume this would have been included..
This is another reason I feel like absolute crap for hiring people I don’t know from out of town – there’s no accountability.. I traded that for a big, fancy crew that could slap a roof on in a short amount of time for less money than a local. Both of which turned out to be untrue. I’m disgusted with them, and with myself for going against my gut instinct.
As for new updates, I had soffit and fascia delivered the other day. That will finally close the gap between the top of the walls and the edge of the roof. I’ve decided on a siding material – I’m going to spring for the slightly more expensive cement board in exchange for spreading the siding project out over this year and next. That way I’ll get the new construction and a good portion of the back of the house covered in new siding, and I’ll take care of the front half – which is more labor-intensive – next year when I have the money to do so.
Oh, joy!
