New Roof!

We knew when we bought out house about a year and a half ago that a new roof would be needed in the not to distant future. And late last week, we finally took the (expensive!) plunge.

First, some "before" photos.

Gratuitous street shot to show my pretty fall mums in the mailbox planter I made this summer

Our roof wasn't in horrible shape, it was just old, although there were several places where past leaks had been patched. But roofs are definitely something you want to replace before it starts getting too bad, so that is why we decided to do it now. We were also excited to get rid of the original cedar shingles above our bay window that for some reason the previous owners hadn't replaced when they got a new roof 20 years ago.

Another odd thing we inherited when we bought the house, no gutters. And in turn, we had a lot of the fascia board that was in pretty bad shape. This part by the front door was the worst, with the visible paint peeling, so we got new fascia boards at the same time as the new roof.

We also got new soffits put in on the left half of the house and new ridge vents, to replace the very old and inoperable fan we used to have. And this week we're getting Leaf Guard gutters put on, since as you can tell from every one of these photos, we've got some serious fall leaves falling!

And the after photos. So much cleaner than the old dark stained and dirty roof.

And I love the new shingles above the bay window!

New, non-peeling fascia board.

I think it's harder to tell the difference with the new roof in photos than it is in real life. In person you can definitely tell the roof is a huge improvement over the old one. For as much money as we spent on it, you'd better be able to tell! ;)

Unfortunately the roofers confirmed what we'd already known, that we also need new siding. But that will be a project for another day, maybe this spring. And once we finally knock out these important, higher priority home updates, we do still plan to get the front yard landscaped, which will make an even bigger difference to our curb appeal!