We had a flat roof over the front and east side of our house, and as I’ve learned, this is not good. Flat roofs have a tendency, over time, to hold water. Certain spots will droop and allow water to pool. This means, by default, they eventually leak. Which ours did. Big time.
So hubby and I decided to put a new roof on our house. Being an interior designer, I set out to get us the most bang for our buck. Because of where our house was located on the property, we couldn’t add a garage, so the next best thing was to have an attic that would allow us to have tons of storage. So I designed it.
I talked to the roofer and structural engineers, and let them know what I wanted; a 6/12 pitch with a queens attic, one that allows you to easily walk around in the area. This raised some eyebrows, as it would take quite a bit of wrangling. But I had faith in Wayne, the engineer. I told him, “Hey I designed it, work your magic!” He grinned, and came through for me. Now everything was in place to begin.
The roofer, Mike, checked the weather reports and felt he had enough of a window to make this happen. The only problem was, so much time had passed that now hubby and I were set to go off on our 6th honeymoon (October 31st) less than a week after Mike was scheduled to start. He didn’t think that would be a problem. Four days, he said, we’ll have it done by then. And he began removing our old roof. So we'd be topless for a couple of days.
Now I’m not sure how many of you have ever done remodeling, but nothing ever goes according to plan or budget. The very same night Mike removed the old pitched roof, it rained. Of course. Luckily, for us, the old insulation acted as a sponge, so we heard it hitting above us, but it didn’t leak through into the house. We breathed a sigh of relief.
The next day the new roof began. Since hubby was at work, he tasked me with taking pictures to send to him, as the process went on, at least until he could get home. So I crawled up the ladder he’d set up and documented everything that went on. It was amazing what this crew did. They had to bring a crane in to lift the trusses into place. I watched as the crane operator skillfully lifted each truss from the street, brought it over around our neighbor's house, then gently bumped the truss against our Queen Palm. This started the truss to slowly turn as he lowered it into the exact position.
As each truss came over the house, Mike’s crew secured each one. They worked like a well-oiled machine, as they scampered and moved around, then gave the thumbs up for the next truss to come in. I took pictures until it became too dark for any footage. By then, hubby was home, and we sat out at the side yard with a couple of drinks and watched this amazing process. Even our neighbors got in on the excitement; they brought their chairs over and joined us in watching the magic happen.