“A Roof Over Our Heads”

Original house front

Original houose back

       Originally, our house sat at a smidgeon above 1,000 square feet, a common size for homes in the mid-1960s. Although smaller than the house we rented for a year, it appeared massive in contrast to the one bedroom apartments we lived in for the first few years of marriage. It offered a large, functional kitchen. Our one miniscule bathroom had plenty of storage. We had a room set aside for a studio and a spare bedroom for guests!

          We’d resided in the house for six years before our son came into our lives. By his sixth birthday, my frustration with the lack of space led to two options: move or add on. We spent weekends patrolling new neighborhoods and going through Open House sales pitches. The areas and homes we liked, we couldn’t afford. However, we did get some excellent ideas for doing a major addition to our home. Drawing various sketches, eventually we found ourselves hunting for a remodeler to add on a family room, new master bedroom and bathroom. When a hail storm ravaged our old roof, we pushed into remodel mode with the idea of having the addition done along with a total roof replacement. It didn’t take us long to find a contractor. By the end of 1994, we “moved” into our new home!

Addition in progress

             A mere twenty-seven years later, we again faced an old roof. We saved every penny. I researched the average cost for roofs in San Antonio. I did a Facebook query, “Who’s got a good roofer?” From those suggestions and my own research, I contacted four companies in September to get bids. The bids looked fairly similar until a representative from one company asked if the other proposals included entirely new decking for our original structure as our city had changed the plywood requirements. None of the others had done so. At that time, a sheet of plywood approached $70 a pop. That shot up the other bids immediately. A quick calculation from that manager showed us short on our savings. I told him I wanted to hire his company, but needed time to save. He didn’t push. He didn’t suggest his company finance. He handed me extra business cards, said if our existing roof gave us any problems over the next few months, he’d send out a repair crew to patch things.

            One major side effect of the pandemic turns out to be we don’t spend money on anything but groceries and take-out once a week. With October came an extra paycheck and a bonus! I placed the call to Tomlin Roofing Professionals. Within days, we had a final bid and contract signed, and a promise for replacement in February or March because their crew was booked that far out.

            Then a week ago, an unexpected cancellation pushed our roof onto the company’s schedule! By 8 AM on January 5^th, the team started removing our old shingles. They stripped down everything and replaced the plywood decking on the 1968 portion of our home. The city inspector did his job quickly. The workers finished with every stray nail collected within two days. A final check by the manager, and a check from us, means we now have a roof over our heads. This time for 50 years!

 

Copyright 2022 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman