I talked to several roofing companies, and got very different estimates, some of which were double the amount that the other had given me. The lowest estimate I got was from the Quick Roofing. They had already fixed roofs on a couple of houses on my street. Their sales people that went from house to house offering their service were very persistent. This all was happening few days before my trip to Bosnia, so I told them I won't be able to get back to them for a month. But, they called few days before I came back, left couple of messages, and then came to my door again. I did a little research to make sure the company is reputable and BBB accredited, talked to the neighbours whose roof they had replaced, and because of their persistence and low price decided to go with them.
Because of the lower cost they offered, I decided to upgrade to a 35 year shingle, instead of 20 year that was there before, and accepted their recommendation to install ridge vents. They also install 30lb felt, instead of 15lb, by default. I added replacement of chimney borders and new gutters (only half of my house has them) to the bill. The only thing that was left to decide was the shingle color. The house used to have dark gray roof, but I was leaning toward reddish color, as it reminds me of red clay roofs from back home. There was some miscommunication, and before I was able to let them know my final decision on the color, the material showed up at our door Monday evening, with the correct shingle color.The timing actually worked out pretty well for us, because I had to go to the NIWeek on Tuesday and Wednesday, which meant I'd have to leave the house before 8 am (I usually leave after 9). So, I had to get up early those two days anyways, and not be waken up by roofers at an inconvenient time. Before leaving in the morning, I noticed that they brought 15lb felt, so I had to call them and straighten that up to make sure they bring the correct material before workers start putting it up. They did it during the day.
There was not much I needed to do to prepare the job site. I only closed the awning. Thanks to the decapitation of St. Joseph statue at my friend Sharon's house when they had the siding replaced, I decided to take down all the pictures and shelf decorations. Some of these have not be dusted in a long time, so it was a good opportunity to do that now.
When we came back home just after 5, there were 5 adults, one teenager and a nine year old working. They all appeared to be Mexicans, and only kids and one adult spoke English. At that point, the old roof was gone and hauled away, the new felt was up, some of the drip edge installed, and they started with putting up the shingles. I did a little inspection, but there was really nothing for me to do. I thought how if this was happening back in Bosnia, I would have to feed the workers, provide drinks, and probably talk to them and supervise to some extent. These guys did their job, and didn't need any supervision, from me at least. It was 104F (40C) that day, and I was uncomfortable outside after just 10 minutes. They started working probably little after 8 in the morning, and didn't leave until 8.30 PM. That is a 12 hour shift in the worst summer heat. God bless them! They had coolers with water bottles, and the kids were handing them out to the workers frequently. One thing I was wondering about was where do they go to the bathroom the whole day, but I was afraid to ask. :)They ran out of daylight time and shingles on the first day, so they had to come back on Wednesday. I am not sure if they worked in shifts or did any work during the second day, because there was nobody there when my brother got home around 5 PM, but when I came home at 6.30 there were about 10 people buzzing around cleaning the site after all the roof was complete. There is still the chimney and the gutters to be done, and few minor things about the roof that I'll have to point out, but at least there won't be any more banging and it looks all done. I am pleased with how it turned out.
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