Thursday afternoon one of my customers, Mr. D, offered to go with me to the house in the country and look around. He owns the best roofing business in town and is going to be extremely busy for the next few weeks. I was thrilled that he came to check on me. All I knew is that a tree had fallen but it didn't hit the house. He said that we'd experienced a lot of wind and that alot of people had shingles missing and roof leaks. He went immediately out there while I finished up my last customer. I met him out there and it was bad news.
While the tree missed the house, (thank goodness!) it was soon apparent that some of it's branches did not. The roof is leaking and the ceiling in one of the bedrooms now has a large hole in it. *sigh* The flooring is pretty much a loss.
He made the call to our insurance company for me. The insurance company just put us on the list for the adjuster to call us to make an appointment to come see the damage. It's a good thing Mr. D is friends with the adjuster or we'd still be waiting. The adjuster was within a mile of the house so he buzzed right over.
Mr. D showed him the holes in the roof and the damage to the ceiling and floors in the bedroom. The adjuster told me we would need a new roof, new ceiling, new insulation, new flooring, paint, probably a new mattress set, electrical work, etc.
Then the adjuster did a walk-through himself. He found a tiny leak in the master bedroom and another in the living room and yet another in the main bathroom. We hadn't even noticed those. By that time, I was feeling a wee bit overwhelmed. Then he looked at the tree that had fallen in the back yard and told me how lucky we were that it didn't hit the house. He said it missed the house by a little over 4 feet. A tree that size would have completely destroyed the house had it fallen directly on it.
All told, we had $16,972.00 worth of damage. Wow. At first glance, I was thinking the roof could be patched, the ceiling patched, new flooring put down. I estimated about $5,000. Now you know why I do hair instead of home repair insurance adjusting. Heck, maybe I should work for an insurance company. I could have saved them almost 12K on myself. I already deserve a bonus.
Mr. D told me he could start on the roof first thing the next morning. Wow! I told him to get busy and put on a non-leaking hurricane-proof, tree-proof, limb-proof, tornado-proof, hail-proof, soccer ball-proof roof preferably in a nice shade of little old lady grey or blue. He and the adjuster got a good laugh out of that.
I called my Hubby and gave him the news. He was less than thrilled but was very happy that I had things under control. He's been working from 5 a.m. until at least 9 or 10 p.m. every day and will continue that schedule until all the damage is cleared up and the roads are in full repair. He's been going from site to site checking on his crews, making sure they have what they need to make repairs, making sure they are actually working, making sure they are doing so safely--driving over 300 miles a day. He can't handle our personal stuff right now so I'm doing that. He's trusting that I will make some good decisions and will live with it if I don't. He did mention that he probably would not love a blue roof. Meh.
Yesterday, Mr. D started on the roof at 6:30 a.m. After I took Son to school, I drove out there to see if they needed anything. I brought sausage biscuits and coffee with me. I think they enjoyed that...or seemed to since the food and coffee were gone within a few minutes.
Mr. D asked me to take a look at the "designer" shingles he'd picked out. He said he had looked at hundreds of shingles before he made his decision. He said they're a "lovely shade of grey with a little brown marbeling". HA! I got Mr. D to use the word "lovely". I wish his wife had been there to hear him. Surely her bosom would have swelled with pride. He said it would look like weathered cedar shingles when he was through. I think Mr. D enjoyed shopping for me. I found a photo of what the shingles are supposed to look like.
They had already completed half of the roof by the time I got off work yesterday. I went inside to finish cleaning up the mess in the bedroom while Mr. D and his crew were packing up their tools. One guy was driving the big truck out of the yard while the others were playing "find the scattered roofing nails" with a huge magnet. About that time I heard Mr. D start cursing. I mean serious cursing. The guy driving the truck had run over the water meter and it had burst the main water pipe that leads to the house. Not only had he driven over the meter, he had driven over the posts that mark the meter.
Mr. D quickly cut off the water. I've never seen him angry. It's not pretty. He called me outside immediately to show me what had happened. The poor guy in the truck was so embarrassed. I told Mr. D that accidents happen and asked him who should I call to have it repaired. He said he would take care of it himself. He was still quite upset. He called a plumber that he knew and told him he what supplies he would need and to come on out and fix it.
The plumber got there and had to dig up a little bit of the yard to fix the leak but he did say it was no big deal. He got that fixed and Mr. D seemed to calm down a little.
The poor guy driving the truck sat on the porch with me and apoligized over and over. I told him that it was entirely an accident and to stop beating himself up about it. I found out that he was Mr. D's nephew, his sister's boy. Mr. D had taken him under his wing last Spring when he'd gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd and dropped out of school (his senior year) in Florida. He loves his uncle so much and always wants to please him. He's already taken his GED and found out last Tuesday that he passed. He is so thankful for the opportunity at a new life that his Mr. D and his wife had afforded him. Bless his heart.
Mr. D came over and asked the boy was he ready to head home and handed him the keys to the truck. The boy said that maybe he shouldn't drive. Mr. D laughed his big belly laugh that I know so well and told him he had to get back on that horse.
I told them that I'd see them today and I'd have a real good Whipping Cream pound cake and coffee for them to eat on their break. They both patted their stomachs and said they could hardly wait.
I smell the cake cooling in the kitchen now. I'm cutting the boy an extra big slice. He's earned it. So has Mr. D.
Cheater glasses - November 20, 2008 Don't mess with my iced tea - November 18, 2008 Happy Birthday Danny DeVito - November 17, 2008 Mrs. Beasley - November 13, 2008 foot ailment - November 12, 2008
Current . Archives . Profile . Notes . Email . Designs . Host
Sign by Danasoft - Images for Myspace Layouts