Roofing, Part Deux

In part one, we learned that our hero (me) was getting ready to re-roof his house. Well, that original plan was pushed back a week and we're now going to start the fun this coming Wednesday. Good timing, as things turned out, since this past Wednesday (which was the original start date) was the first day in a month which we saw rain. Today I went and got the material ordered and scheduled for delivery Wednesday afternoon. My original quote from Menards for $50 delivery plus $.75 per bundle for rooftop delivery-by-boom is now a no-go. I thought I had a great deal with that, but it actually got better. Now the $50 delivery includes a forklift instead of the boom to lift the pallet to the roof where I unload it. Either way I had to unload the material, now I just have to walk a few feet per bundle. I can live with that! I had also expected to use my Home Depot pocket-peeler to save 10% per bundle on the shingles, but they're on sale at a price which saves me $.50/bundle off of the price I expected to pay, which almost pays for the delivery charge! Yay for me! Menards must be having a sale on roofing, because only the felt and shingle starter strips weren't on sale. Material cost: $1240.50 with tax and shipping. I expect to have to purchase some additional misc material like flashing for the chimney, but hopefully I'll find no surprises as the old roof is removed and the decking is exposed for the first time in 45 years. Considering the good luck I've had with the material costs, I'm probably screwed.

People Still Buy Wood Paneling?

So I'm going through the local Menard's, minding my own business, getting prices on shingles and roofing. Heading past the checkout lines, I made room for a guy carrying what I thought was a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood. Figuring it was heavy, I gave him the right-of-way. After he passed, I looked back and saw that it wasn't plywood, but two sheets of paneling, and I was looking at the back of it. This wasn't just your everyday run of the mill paneling though. This guy was taking the Express Train to hell by buying fake brick paneling. Yes, paneling made to look like bricks. Gray bricks. Ugly gray bricks. 64 square feet of ass-ugly fake gray brick paneling. What could possibly be so hideous as to look BETTER by putting this crap over it? The guy wasn't old enough to have that as an alibi. I was tempted to grab a hammer and put him out of his misery. It's all downhill from here for him, his mind is gone.

Our Water Sucks, Part XIIV

Anybody who's bored enough to have read most of this blog knows that I've been fighting excess iron in our water system since we moved in. I like to think I'm winning, but there are days I'm not so sure. I've installed a whole-house filter to catch the iron & rust particles before they clog the water softener, I've found some great (and many not-so-great) cleaning products, and learned more than I ever wanted to know about rust in wells. What still surprises me is how fast (and sneaky) rust can be. This is a typical work shirt for me. I wore it about a week ago and threw it in the wash a few days later. It was washed and dried, and then hung up. I noticed that it was looking a little dingy, but when I looked more closely, I found that there was some pretty large rust-staining on the back. Luckily I found it before wearing the shirt again - it was on the back, so I probably wouldn't have noticed until my co-workers pointed it out.




Again with my blowing kisses and smoochy-talk about Iron Out. I ran a small load of whites with Iron Out instead of detergent, and let the whites soak for about 10 minutes. Then I drained the water and ran the wash with regular detergent, resulting in a much more presentable shirt. Perfect? No, but the shirt is a few years old and I don't expect miracles. I'm going to do a little experimenting to see if I can just throw in a little Iron Out with the soap and get the same results. If so, I'll just make sure to do that when I wash lighter color clothes.

Pimp my Toyshelf

Or, as my son call it, his "Flaming Green Toyshelf of Death". My father-in-law made this for him a few years back and I finally got around to painting it. As you can see, I watch too many car shows. Chip Foose makes painting flames so easy, I had to try it. For a first effort, it wasn't bad. Two-tone green, with blue pinstriped flames.

Roofing

If all goes as planned, I should have a new roof installed about a week, including the tear-off of two layers of existing shingles. Based on my public high school math calculations, I'll need 20 square, or 60 bundles of 3-tab for a 2,000 square foot roof (size is rounded up and includes some extra material to be safe, plus it accounts for the pitch of the roof). Including the roofing felt, starter strip, and ice & water shield I'm expecting to spend around $1,300-1,500 on materials. I found that the local Menard's will also accept the "10% off on up to $500" peel-off coupons I have for Home Depot. Suck it, HD, I'm not buying from you unless I have to! The coupons are only good for orders up to $500, but the guy I am working with at Menard's will do multiple $500 receipts for me allowing me to save more. Those savings will pay for the delivery charge (I'm having the shingles delivered directly to the roof) and the building permit. Yeah, I actually have to pay $50.00 to the city for the privilege of re-roofing my house. The following picture sucks, but the Owens Corning Skyview 25 Year shingles in Sienna look to be a good color match for our house. From a short distance, they look very much like the more expensive shingles. Having a new roof on the place will really be a load off of my shoulders, and should help boost the value of the house at the same time.

Product Testimonial

It all comes back, full circle to the toilet. Today was the day to do some housecleaning, which includes the previously mentioned toilets. Well, I'm not one to shirk my cleaning duties for more than a month or two, so I jumped in and cleaned the already-renovated half-bath. In a previous post, I had mentioned how well Super Iron Out worked at cleaning rust stains out of the toilet, the basement laundry sink, the water softener, etc. It was time to put it to the test again in cleaning the toilet. For your viewing pleasure, I've included pictures of the drained tank before and after pouring in about 1/2 cup of Super Iron Out. The "during" picture is about 2 minutes after pouring in the powder and you can see how much rust it's dissolved in that short time. Mind you, the final result picture is after only pouring in the powder and letting it sit for 10 minutes. No scrubbing, no effort beyond flushing after it sat and worked.

Before - this is what I have after not cleaning the tank for about 45 days. I did have one of those bleach tablets in there which doesn't appear to have done anything. Then again, maybe this would have been much worse without it?




Two minutes after adding the powder the tank is pretty clean. I assume the powder "eats" the rust or dissolves it somehow, as there is little to no residue in the bottom of the tank.




Ahhh, sweet, sweet, clean-tank goodness. How I've missed ye.





On a completely unrelated note, my wife and I took a walk to an open house about a block from us. Well, actually we drove. We didn't want to look like neighbors just stopping in to see what the house looked like. The place was priced $35K more than we paid for ours four months ago, but it is in better cosmetic shape. It does need some updating to make it shine, but it is mostly cosmetic work like painting, replacing carpet, etc. I'm guessing they will have to drop at least $15K to sell it any time soon though. For their asking price I think buyers could find better. My house had a much heavier case of "ugly" than the other one, but our lot is larger, the location better, and the layout is a little nicer (my wife disagrees on that last point, but she's not running this blog...). I've been keeping an eye on what has been selling in the area (I need a new hobby) and would bet that if they spent $5,000 on carpet, paint, new storm doors, and a few other little details that they could get their asking price.

What really stood out during this open house was just how completely freakin' lame the realtor was who was "selling" this place. They had a one hour window for the open house and we were there right at the beginning (11:00). Nobody else was there the entire 15 minutes we looked it over. Never once did she ask us anything about what we were looking for in a house, she didn't ask if we had kids (the fenced back yard would have been a great selling point for kids or pets), she didn't ask if we were selling a house (hey, maybe we'd need a realtor for that, too!), she didn't point out any other positive features of the house like a newer roof, new driveway, or maintenance free windows. In fact she only pointed out a small sunken area of the back patio which she said should be mud-jacked and some outdated fake beams in the living room. Nice... I'm sure the current owners would be happy with your work, realtor-lady. She didn't even offer us a business card. I'll admit, my experience with realtors has been limited, but I know lame when I see it.

Countertop Quandary

Solid surface, granite, or granite tile... I'm still far from needing to have a decision on this, but I figure if I write down my options it might help me make a choice.

Granite slab has been a very popular choice recently for counter tops, and I really like the look. I've installed granite tile tops and like how they look too. For me, tile would substantially cheaper than slab (since I can do all the work myself and don't need to hire a fabricator) but I don't like the finished appearance quite as much as a slab installation. It's still darn good looking - don't get me wrong - but I'm a little worried about the long-term life of the grout lines and the potential for staining. Then there's the whole issue with cleanability, regular sealing of the surface, chipping, etc. With two kids in the house, there are good odds that juice or other staining liquids will be left on the top. The dark granite we are looking at would help hide that, and as long as I seal the surface regularly I should be reasonably safe.

The other option which is really starting to look good is going with a solid surface. The main brand everybody seems to know is Corian, by DuPont. Typically this is also expensive, as you need to work with a fabricator for measurements, fabrication, and installation. The company I work for recently acquired a company which makes solid surface (basically the same stuff as Corian, but with our own color palette), so I can buy at a pretty decent discount. 70 colors to work with, and I'm confident in my abilities when it comes to measuring for and installing the pre-fabricated pieces. I just don't know if I'm sold on the looks of solid surface compared to granite yet. The stuff would be great for durability and cleanability, but I'm still torn. I'll probably bring a box of color samples home next week to see if I can convince myself one way or the other. Considering I sell the solid surface now as part of my job, I probably shouldn't be having this mental conflict.

As long as my boss doesn't read this, I'll still be employed on Monday.