New Roof!

 

I've been monitoring a couple of water marks on my living room ceiling for a couple of years. They started small, as such marks often do, and they haven't grown quickly, but this spring's series of storms had the dark streaks getting longer and darker. It was probably past time to get the problem fixed.

The water streaks are in an unlikely spot for a roof leak  - in the middle of the room, far from the walls, with bedrooms (and NO plumbing) directly above. I called in my favorite roofer. He climbed up, looked around, and said he'd happily take my money to replace the roof, but he suspected the chimney was the root of the problem. I called in a stone mason. He climbed up. looked at the mortar, and said, yup, the chimney needed a face lift, but he wouldn't guarantee doing that would fix both leaks; he suspected the one was caused by faulty flashing.

I decided to cover my bases, and hired both crews. I had to wait a bit for the stone mason to get to my job, but he came out a couple of weeks ago and got the chimney looking downright spiffy! Re-tuckpointed, a new cap, an acid wash - it probably hasn't looked that good in fifty years.

To my pleasant surprise, the roofer was able to fit me in just two weeks later. The crew showed up bright and early on Tuesday this past week. They rang my doorbell to let me know they were getting started at 6:45 AM, were finished by 4:00. (Angel did NOT care for the process. Once the roof started making noise, she headed straight to the basement, where she stayed, in a defensive crouch, eyes wide, for much of the day.  Sorry, kitty...)

I probably won't know if we managed to fix the leaks for quite a while. We're past spring rain season, and there clearly wasn't too much water getting in, since it took a good two years to make a foot-long mark on the ceiling. That said, I have every confidence that, if it's not fixed, between the two of them, the stone mason and roofer will come back and make it good.

As part of the roof process, I wanted the roofing crew to tighten up a piece of flashing on the north eaves. Squirrels once used the opening to get into their condo, and with the squirrels gone, some birds had nested there last year.

The crew missed it on their big work day, but when Raul came back to do some cleanup work, I brought him around the side of the house to point it out. As we were standing there looking up at the roof, a little bird came to perch on the roof just above the eave. He peered curiously down at us, his black head cocked at a questioning angle. Raul's first language isn't English, but the look on his face said it all, and mirrored my own. "Eggs", was all Raul said.

I sighed. I'd thought the birds had moved on this year, the presence of the little guy on the roof clearly said I'd been mistaken. I didn't have it in me to tell Raul he had to go destroy the nest, and he clearly didn't want to do the deed.

Fine. The birds can stay for the rest of the summer. I'm pretty sure I can get someone out here to set up the ladder this fall, and it'll take about five minutes to set some new screws so they can't use the nest again next year.

The chirps I heard coming from the eaves early yesterday morning as I was working in the driveway told me I'd made the right decision. There is more than enough killing in this world, we need all the birdsong we can get to right the balance just a bit.

Sing on, little guy!