according to anna

In search of one good roofer

Yesterday, our insurance company came and inspected the interior damages. They gave us an estimate for repairs.
Naturally however, the exterior is not covered in the home owners insurance.
They gave us a couple names of roofing companies that they’ve worked with before. Before we can get anything done inside, the leaking has to be stopped.

This morning we were lucky enough to have one of the recommended roofers come by. I know that they are booked up well in advance, so I jumped at the opportunity to have them come by — I must have sounded pretty desperate on the phone (they told me that it may be 3 months before anyone would look at it).

The meeting this morning seemed to go well. He took some measurements and will give us an estimate of both the fix and a complete re-roof. He said that the house trim is too close to the shingles. At the very least, the trim will need to be cut so there is at least 1-2 inches from the shingles. Also, the troublesome valley needs to have all the shingles pulled up (and stucco removed) so that flashing can be re-installed under the stucco. Given all the trouble our roof has caused however, I am leaning towards the complete re-roof.

Now comes the bad news. To have a really good roofer do the job, we might to have to wait awhile. Meanwhile our roof will still be leaking! I asked the roofer today about possibly taring the roof, and he said that by the looks of things, the previous roofer sealed up all the openings, so without tearing things up, its hard to know where to tar.

adding to the family

Matt and I finally went looking for some kittens.

This week we’ll be bringing home “Lugnut” and “Tina”. When we first saw them, they were all huddled together. They are 2-month-old, domestic short hairs from the same litter.

They are much cuter in person! We’ll have to take more photos soon!

NEVER USE HESS ROOFING

The horrible experience we’ve had with Hess Roofing Company just keeps getting worse.
Last week, the roofers were out. He said that this would for sure take care of things.

This morning, I woke up to find out that the roof was still leaking.
I called the roofer.

He said that the only thing left to do was to re-roof that area. He then had the nerve to say that he would give us a reasonable rate.

I said, “No, we already paid you to fix our roof. The roof is not yet fixed. We aren’t paying for anything more.”

He said that he already put so much time and energy into the roof. He said he has already lost money on this and that he’ll need to pay for shingles and such.

I told him that it is not our fault that he underestimated our estimate.
He said he would refund half our money.
He said that we could get a different roofer to do it.

“If we get a different roofer to do the job, then I want our full payment refunded.”
“No…I’ll refund half your money, and don’t call me again”. And then he hung up on me!

What a bastard! I am so angry!
So basically we paid the guy $350 and all he did was make the leak worse and cause $5000 damage to our home.

Now we have to find another roofer, and a lawyer.

Never use Hess Roofing, based out of Lee’s Summit, MO. You will regret it.

my roofer is on speed dial

Talked to the roofer today again.

He didn’t come by yesterday, but he said that this afternoon, he is going to address the valley which is the only place left the water could be coming in.
He said that tomorrow for sure we won’t have any more problems.

He better be right.

getting tired of this

We weren’t able to get a hold of the roofers at all last week.
I didn’t rain at all, but we wanted to verify that he did indeed come by on Friday afternoon.
I called, left nice messages, left nasty messages, called his cell, and nothing.

We looked up the company on the Better Business Bureau and saw that they’ve had 4 complaints in the last 36 months, only one of which has been resolved. great.

This weekend, Matt and I went to St. Louis for a wedding. Tonight when we got back, we saw that it had rained over the weekend, and the roof is still leaking.

This is not cool. How many times is it going to take?