There was a ferocious downpour here Wednesday night (we got 4" in 2 hours). I was preparing dinner and heard an odd dripping sound. Water was suddenly coming from my ceiling! I ran to grab some plastic bins from the basement. Just in time, too. It got worse real fast, coming from 3 spots close by, but mostly from where I had a plant-hanger ceiling hook.
Fortunately, the rain did not last as long as forecast, so it could have been a lot worse. And I didn't sleep well later, listening for more rain. I had a branch poke a hole in the roof (at a different spot) 10 years ago and had the plywood replaced and the whole roof re-shingled (it was 25 years old anyway).
So in the morning, I called the original installer to repair the leaky roof. First, they knew the roof, and second, since 10 years isn't long for a roof, I figured they owed me a decent price.
He said he couldn't get out to me until Monday. That made sense, downpours get them real busy. Maybe I should have called a couple other roofers, but at the moment I was fixated of having the original installer do it.
I was fortunate that rain forecast for Thursday-Sunday didn't happen. Monday morning, he called to say it would have to be Tuesday. Thankfully he showed up Tuesday.
Funny story there. When I pulled the original installation documents from my paper files, they were only 5 miles away from here. I discovered (when he called Monday) that he had moved 2 counties away since then AND mostly just did work for businesses these days. But, because he did the re-shingling, he would come out and fix it. And because I still had a pack of the existing shingles, he agreed it was likely to be a quick job.
And he arrived Tuesday and did the repair. There were 2 missing shingles. He replaced those and 2 others (just to be sure).
He was friendly, and the cost was OK. But he also pointed out the shingles had been missing for a while.
Mea Culpa! I had found a couple of shingles on the lawn last year. But my upwind neighbor has about the same color shingles and I thought they were his (blown into my yard in a windstorm). Really, I looked at my roof from the front and back then and couldn't see any missing. It was a bad assumption!
Last month, I happened to use a flashlight in the front hall closet (near where last week's leaks occurred). The ceiling was black with mold. I should have called a roofer immediately, but I assumed that since my attic is gets very humid, it was just something to clean and repaint with anti-mold paint.
Well, I was wrong, and paid for my procrastination!
I have stipple ceilings. I didn't ask for them when the house was built, but I generally like them. Visual stimulation... But they are more expensive to repair. So "great", now I have stains in it in 3 places and there is a 4' mildly broken line in the ceiling. Apparently, stipple is formed on a 4'x4' support and one edge is loose.
But it all could have been worse and on Thankful Thursday, I am thankful for that...
1. The roofer went out of his territory to do the repair.
2. The cost was low.
3. The ceiling didn't actually fall down.
4. It didn't rain more even though forecast to do so.
5. The damage is fixable.
6. I learned a lesson about procrastination.
