2018 Home Front Challenges

After the year we have been through in 2018 I will never again take for granted having a good roof over my head.

Christmas this year brought great gratitude for our beautiful home being whole again after a summer disaster.

It happened in late July, ironically, while the sunroom roof in the back of the house was being replaced.

Ceiling water spots and leaky windows during rain had been a problem for a while. The problem I knew came from the early 1990s house not having a gutter system.

In the front and back of the house, the roofing has valleys that pour down intense rain like a waterfall on the sunroom and front porch roofs beneath them.

Several years ago I was able to repair myself the front porch section that had a large hole in the plywood beneath the shingles due to the erosion over time caused by the roof valley.

It was about what I expected when I tore off the shingles this summer above the sunroom. Revealed was a big hole in the plywood and soaked insulation. I replaced the bad plywood, insulation and shingles. But there were still ceiling leaks in other parts of the roof by the windows. So that's when it was time to bring in professionals. The chunk of ceiling shown in the above photos collapsed late in the afternoon as the crew replacing the roof scrambled to complete the job amid pop up showers, one of which was very heavy (and the workers did not have their own tarp to protect the then completely exposed roof).

This unfortunate event would trigger SERVPRO to be brought in with the guidance and help of/from State Farm, our home insurance company. What these guys did was stabilize the sunroom as much as possible, remove anything wet including walls, ceiling and insulation. Rotten wood problems were found in couple sections near the door.  

Some months would go by as we met with insurance agents and adjusters, contractors and subcontractors. Eventually, we went with Done Rite Construction and could not be happier with the work performed by Joe Rubenstein and the various crews he brought in to replace and refinish sections of the hardwood floor, put up the new walls and ceiling, and prime and paint everything to perfection.  

The floor refinishing, fortunately, coincided with our December trip to Chicago. We kept our three cats in an upstairs room and had our fine cat sitter, Gina, come by daily to check on them. Gina is great- call her at 843.412.5267 should you need cat sitting help in the Charleston area. 

During this arduous process we were able to get our entire roof replaced, something long overdue. For this work, we were in the highly competent hands of Superior Windows and Roofing.  This company has replaced many roofs in our neighborhood, including just recently our neighbors across the street who gave a glowing recommendation (which will get them $100 from Superior). 

We are especially appreciative to Superior's John Ketchum for his initial work for us with State Farm. We also met finance guy Blake Mitchell (pictured below right) at the end of the process.

I recognized Blake's name for his tenure at the University of South Carolina where he was a star quarterback under two legendary coaches, Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier. Blake and Superior definitely threw a touchdown for us! Blake even has his own Wikipedia page- impressive!

After more than five months of having sunroom then living room furniture and other fixtures crammed into other rooms in the house, the work was completed one week before Christmas on December 18. This may have been the best possible gift this year!  

We are again happy campers- all of us! 

Next up, we are having a proper gutter system installed. This should happen early next year with Ultimate Gutter Guard getting the job.