sunny days, roofing woes, and a helpful neighbor

The past few days have been delightful...clear, blue skies (low humidity - which is a welcome relief in Chicagoland during the warm months) and temps cool enough where we could turn off the air conditioning and open the windows. Rain is coming later this week, so I'm trying to enjoy as much outdoor time as possible, whether that means working in the yard, taking walks, or relaxing on the patio. Running errands doesn't count.

 Flowers are in full bloom, the excitement of kids at play outdoors is heard through open windows, the smell of dinner on the grill wafts through the neighborhood...

and roofing is falling apart during storms!

You might've seen this in my last post.

The insurance adjuster came out and assessed the damage. As you're probably aware, home owner's insurance can be a joke. The boards underneath the roofing were wet, so they claim that's old water damage and won't cover it. Of course, plywood is the most expensive part. The bushes that are damaged from the fallen roofing parts? Not covered. And we have a $1000 deductible, so the parts that were covered are barely enough to even file a claim. We've had two roofing contractors out here for estimates and a third is coming, so we'll see how that all pans out.

In the meantime, the insurance adjuster said we need to get the damaged part cut down before it caused any more damage (which would be another claim!) and so water didn't get into our house. We were wondering what to do because 1) Brian doesn't have the proper tools to cut down gutters; 2) he has a torn calf muscle (that was explained in my last post, too) and can't get up on a ladder; and 3) he is not much of a handyman and wasn't sure how to go about tarping to keep water out.

Enter our nice neighbor next door. We have a few awful neighbors, but this guy is a gem. He is not only gifted in the home repair department, but just so happens to work part-time for a roofer! He worked for two hours cutting down the hanging gutters and soffits and temporarily nailing them back in to give us a quick fix.

Like my mom always said, nothing better than a man with a tool belt!