Our New Roof – Finally!

Even though our house is a 1928 craftsman bungalow, the only two big purchases we have had to make for it are a new Carrier furnace and now a new roof.  We found out the furnace was almost shot during our inspection, so we were able to get a lower price on the house.  As for the roof, we knew it only had a couple of years of good left in it.  So the moment we moved in, we started putting money aside every month for the project.  Luckily, we got almost three additional years out of it.

Living here in the north for the first time, we discovered a local problem called ice dams.  It is when ice forms inside the roof and causes it to leak inside.  When that started happening in our house, we knew the roof needed to be replaced before we experienced another winter here in Syracuse.

Just in case you are new to the blog, this is how our house looked when we bought it.  It was all white, with no grass and overgrown bushes.  Since then we  added color and removed all the ivy to plant grass and new plants.  We also had it painted gray and added shutters, window boxes, and red doors.

Here was our house a couple weeks ago before the new roof.  It looks 100 times better than when we bought it.  It is now getting some cute curb appeal.  One thing bothered us about the house, though, and  that was the porch roof.

I am not sure when this porch was added, but it was not original to the house.  It looked odd and since it was flat, the snow piled up on it and made the porch ceiling slant and lean down.

We also were having major gutters issues, as you can see.  As for the wires on the roof, they are heaters to help prevent ice dams.  They worked somewhat, but now we won’t need to use them!!!

The back was just as bad.  You can see the gutter issues, the fading color in the roof ,and even trees in the gutters.

We decided to go ahead and do the garage since it was just as old, and then it would match the house.  The hosta garden and window boxes are new for this year.  Whoops, I forgot to blog about those projects.  Mr. Spring built the window box for me, and we planted the hostas in this shady area to add some interest.

Here is the first shot of the porch removed!  Next summer we hope to get new stairs and get rid of the wrought iron railing and do a wood railing.  It will go better with the house.

Now that we have the porch removed, it will mean more shoveling for us in the winter. Plus, the very small overhang means guests could get wet if it is raining when they stop by.   I am okay with all of that since it is going returning to the original look.  Plus, a lot more sun is now coming in the front of the house.  I’ll take that on all the gray/cloudy days we have in Syracuse.

I told the workers I would be taking pictures, and they wanted to get me on the roof to show me doing an action shot.  Even though I have been skydiving, I am not a fan of heights.  You can also see the gutter going down to the rain barrel.  They moved it so our porch would have a clear view.

Ahh, the garage is looking much cleaner.

We no longer have trees in our gutters.  We added leaf guard so we will not have that issue in the future.  Plus, I love that the gutter is not right in the middle of the window.

It looks so much better, and now we won’t need to stress about ice dams this winter.

See those stairs?  The black paint or whatever is on top is peeling off in huge chunks.  I am thinking of a temporary fix before winter to make them look better.  Since replacing them is in the works for next year, I might hold off.

I had to do this just because who doesn’t love a side by side of before and afters!

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Cheers!