Whoever coined the phrase “happy homeowner” should be shot. I like my house, but you know I’ve had to repair almost every major system in the house since I bought it. It gets old after a while. Money pit, but at least it’s an investment (small comfort when you look at the checking account balance).
The latest repair, after last month’s lovely new sewer line and flooring in about 500 sq. ft., is a new roof. I could have had the roof repaired for about $1000 — but the full replacement was $2400, for the least expensive, reliable roofer I could find. He came recommended by the home inspecter. (Which is a good thing — because if I’m not pleased with the roofer’s work, then I’ll tell the inspector…)
The guy I bought the house from was a really sweet guy. He’d bend over backwards to help you out. I’ve found some places where the home improvement he had done were not quite up to snuff. Sloppy stuff — not using tape when painting so edges are finished. Not having floor boards pulled neatly together. Things like that. Much of the time, it’s just little things.
Well, I don’t know if this current problem was before or after the guy I got the house from. The roof has two layers of shingles. Not bad, but not good either. The roofer said that two layers can cause the newer, top-layer shingles to degrade faster due to heating from the lower layer. Whether this is the case, I’m not sure. I’m having 30 year dimensional shingles installed. Hopefully the roof will never have to be done again while I’m living here.
Every time construction workers have done some work on my house, they have found some major issue. I don’t think it’s guys trying to take advantage of me. It just seems to be the way this house was put together. I’m trying to correct things properly, but I’m out of funds.
So on top of everything else I’ve had to pay for, there is the cost of the roof. Since I bought this house, I’ve gblown through my savings and have gone into some debt. Sigh. At least I might be able to get my investment out of the house? I have major bills to pay and mild anxiety over all of it.
