Where's Mike Holmes when you need him?!

When Kyle and I moved into our house in 2008, we knew that we could have to eventually replace our shingles. The picture on the top of our blog was taken in 2008, and you can easily see the poor quality of the shingles. The previous owners had put a new roof on the house in 1999; however, the shingles were unfortunately from the defective batch of shingles that Certainteed had produced in the mid-90's. Instead of replacing the shingles, the previous owners had opted for a financial settlement.

While on our way out for a walk one windy evening this past spring, Kyle and I noticed pieces of our shingles along our walkway. This quickly prompted us to start the process of finding a roofer. We received 4 bids on our roof, and in the end we decided to go with the company that came in with the lowest bid. This company also boasts that they perform about half of the roofing jobs in the Winona area.

Kyle and I had concerns from the day the project began. "The crew" that put on the roof spoke absolutely no English. They put no barriers up to protect the landscaping. And, within one day, the old shingles were removed AND the new ones were put up. Apparently, one city inspection was performed on the roof upon completion, and it failed. "The crew" came back to fix some ice shields. Because we felt a little (or a lot) uneasy about the roof, we did call the city and ask for a second inspection to be performed later this past summer. This inspection was never performed for unknown reasons.

Last night, we were eating supper when Kyle noticed streaks of dried water on the inside of our built-in cabinets in our dining room. We soon realized the sickening truth that we have water leaking into our house. We initially thought the leakage was due to an ice dam on our roof, maybe due to an insulation problem in our attic. We recently started using a space heater in Micah's room at night, which also has access to the attic. Today, a different housing contractor came to our house and told us otherwise. The leakage is likely due to poor ventilation in our roof. The job was poorly performed and the roof was not sealed right. Kyle and I will have to have our roof redone this spring. In the meantime, we have to "rake" the roof every time it snows and monitor anymore leaking.

Kyle and I are irate! Shingles that are 6 months old should not leak!! We are going to do everything in our power to get our money back. Our first task is to follow up on why that second inspection was not performed, and see to it that it is performed. We'll then cross the next bridge. This won't be the last post on this topic : )

God's timing is perfect though! Kyle and I have been pondering the idea of moving since last April. We eventually will need more space to spread out, and a finished basement would be so nice. We've been casually looking at houses over the past 9 months, but have not found anything that has struck us. We've considered building, and last weekend while driving around, we found a great sub-division. We've been praying about moving since this past summer, and within this past week, the idea of building. This recent roof situation solidifies the fact that we need to stay in our current house for awhile longer. We know that we'll feel better about moving/building when the time is right. Until then, we'll continue relying on God's guidance : )

On the positive note, Micah has been sleeping better (10 hours or more) the past few nights. Below is a few recent pictures of us. Enjoy ; )