The Roof, The Roof…

…is not quite on fire.  Following up on yesterday’s post, I had an estimate from Phil DiBello Roofing this morning.  I have two options available to me to correct the problem at hand.

1. Correct the immediate problem: My immediate problem comes from some poor decision-making on the part of the plumbers who performed the rehab of my house.  Essentially, they ran their vent pipes and the pipe for the exhaust fan through the roof somewhat badly.  Instead of using rubber and tar to seal the areas where the pipes emerge, they decided to use the flange/collars that one tends to see on shingled roofs and sealed it with some roof cement.  The problem is fairly flat roofs do not lend themselves to these collars, so you eventually get a leak.  Phil suggested that we could correct the immediate problem by removing the pipes and collars and redoing them with rubber and tar.  The cost of this option is $650.
2. Tackle the whole darn thing: I could take care of this the right way and have the pipes redone, the current roof ripped up and replaced with a rubber roof with a silver coating to reflect sunlight.  This obviously gives me 20-25 years, and the concomitant cost as well.  The cost of this option is $2200.

Honestly, I am leaning in the direction of just redoing the roof right.  I am probably going to talk to my grandfather and my uncle, just to get their take on it.  The only problem is that I really cannot afford to do this repair at the time.  In a couple of months, I can definitely do it, but not at this time.  I have to admit, though, that my impulse is to do this right so that the problem does not come back to haunt me in the time I own the house.

As Sally said yesterday, home ownership is bliss.   The bliss part becomes slightly painful when you have to pay for home repairs.