Roofing and Siding Projects and Decisions

The shock wore off the unexpected need for roofing and siding (click here if you missed the details), and it was time to decide on who we would hire for the projects and decide on the materials that would be used.

Choosing the Details

We focused on the siding first since the color of the new roof would depend upon the siding color. Ultimately, we chose a slate blue/grayish color scheme for the projects.

We chose James Hardie siding which would come with wrapping and foam insulation layers under the actual fiber-cement pre-colored siding. Extra insulation is a good thing when you live in the mountains of Colorado! With new soffits, fascia, gutters, and roof, bring on that unpredictable Colorado weather!

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Hurry Up and Wait

We moved quickly to get these services scheduled but nothing happened on either project for months. The roofing, which had to be done first, would be delayed for months which would in turn delay the siding and gutters for months!

Assessing the Financial Damage

Both of these major improvements were unplanned and would cost a big chunk of change. Thankfully, we were able to secure funding with 18-month and 24-month interest-free promotions. The many projects we had planned we knew would increase the value of the home tremendously. We figured we could easily pull the cash out of our equity to pay off the loans and avoid the much higher interest fees on the money borrowed. We worked hard to be sure we could accomplish this endeavor and it felt great to meet such goals once all of our major improvements were completed!

Doing Our Part

Before either the roofing or siding projects started, we did have some work to do to prepare the house. We planned to add a window to the master closet (for natural lighting but also because there was a huge space screaming “window” on the front of the house)! Exhaust fans planned for the bathrooms needed to vent through the roof, which needed to be done before the new roof was installed.

Our projects were done quickly, so as not to hold up the roofing and siding work. We would later learn that we actually had a great deal of time to complete our projects. Delays, delays, delays. Those delays would be our first taste of having to depend upon others to get stuff done. We weren’t comfortable having projects outside of our control but what’s a DIY’er gonna do when you need to call in the experts for those bigger improvements?

Meanwhile…

I’ll catch you up on these major projects a little later but in the mean time, we moved forward with the projects we did have control over. And there were plenty of those for sure!

Thanks for reading and see you next time!

{Shelley}