Leaky Roof of Doom

Well, some of you know we recently suffered a leak in our roof. I woke up one morning to find water pouring down an interior window between the kitchen and the sunroom, both sides of course, where it wasn't possible to apply the time honored leaky roof solution: an old cooking pot. After many amusing antics and some odd but sound advice from friends, we called a roofer, who came out a couple of days later to give us an estimate. While we were waiting for them to mail us said estimate, we found another leak, this one in the garage. Thankfully, it was nowhere near a window, or even anything that could possibly mold later, and we were able to use the time honored solution.

Time passed, as it is wont to do, and we woke yesterday morning to the unpleasant-but-necessary sound of elephants on the roof. Figuring they had done the job (yet wondering why they had been walking over the master bedroom--on the opposite end of the house from the two leaks), I called them this morning to finalize the bill only to be greeted with unpleasant news: the whole roof was shot. The culprit was hail damage, probably from one of the big storms that blew through this past fall. Considering that, it's rather lucky we didn't have problems sooner.

As a homeowner challenge, I think this won't be as big a deal as the hot water heater was a few months ago. (Cold showers are a big checkmark in the "NO" column for me, anyway.) Barring any blizzards or monsoons in the next month or so--you never know, it is Missouri, after all--we should be able to get the roof replaced without too much fuss, if the very confident gentleman at the roofing business is to be believed.

However, there is still the matter of the kitchen floor, which is a laminated wood flooring, and not looking so good after stewing in roof juice. Sara's husband Cliff is wrapping up a floor tile/painting/trimming project in their own kitchen--or he will be if Sara ever stops adding things to the project--so we'll probably appropriate him for our slave skilled labor. He did a fantastic job on his very first tile job: our main bathroom, and with all the practice he's gotten in their kitchen, well, I think all we need to do is settle on some tile.

As soon as we're ready to start work, I'll post some pictures.

Wish us luck!