As were so many others, our house was hammered by hail a couple of months ago. It came down so hard it sounded like a machine gun blasting against our garage door. We stood under the cover of our back porch and watched for a while…long enough to see it pile up in heaps on the patio. “Oh no,” my husband groaned, “We’ll be needing a new roof again.”
Shortly after that the mailbox was full of cards and letters, not the sympathy kind, but from roofers everywhere wanting our business. We received at least one a day on a continuing basis. But the folks who put our last roof on were Johnny on the spot to show up at the front door. They did a great job three years ago (yep, it was only 3 years) and five years before that and five years before that, etc. I’m fairly certain this is our 5th roof. Seems like when we first moved in it was ten years before we were fraught with hail damage. That original roof must have been a dandy! But just like everything else these days replacements are “new and improved.” So not!
As memory serves me it was two roofs ago when we opted for the “impact resistant and guaranteed for 50 years” version. It was more expensive but its name sounded far more substantial. And because of it the insurance company gave us a break on our premiums. But despite their reputation these tiles continue to be out muscled by the hail.
The new roofing arrived a couple of weeks ago, piles of it at the end of our driveway. The delivery guy took pictures of it and also a picture of our mailbox address. We asked why and here’s an interesting tidbit he told us: scavengers come at night and take some of the shingles away. Then when the roofers show up they run short on material and blame the delivering company for the shortage. This way they have proof that they brought all of the order and weren’t trying to scam anyone. Sterling idea!
As I write the house roof is being replaced. OMG I’ve got a headache. If you’ve never lived through this you can’t understand what a disruption it is. If you venture outside you’re liable to get hit on the head with nails or plastic covering or pieces of shingles. If you stay inside you get to hear what sounds like a war overhead. When they drop huge bundles of the tiles on the roof the house shakes and one would think it might very well cave in. And the loud roar from the air compressor that feeds the nail guns is but a hum compared to the rat-ta-tat-tat and pounding of hammers. It truly is a loud and very annoying process. Unfortunately, the roofers have to disconnect the DISH while they repair and so no TV to watch, not that you could hear it above the din.
On the bright side it will only last a couple of days. On the down side it will be weeks before I quit finding nails and those little orange discs that have a screw through them, the ones about the size of a nickel. It will be imperative that I not wander out in the yard without shoes.
And while I complain I’m thinking about the poor roofers…105 degrees on the ground yet they’re on the roof with that black under roofing material, sun beating down and not a breath of air. Wouldn’t want their job for anything.
The rest of the hail damage was minimal. Not one dent in the garage door, and only a couple of screens that were torn up. The worst of it was my poor flowers ~ many of them looked like and still do look like they’ve been put through a shredder.
So we should be good to go for another few years until another hailstorm at which point we’ll say, “Hail no, not again!”
Originally published in the August 2011 issue of The Cross Timbers Gazette.
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