Monday, March 24, 2008

About To Rip The Roof Off The Sucker

txrad and I are in a slight disagreement. We're about to replace the roof which is currently a brown shingle. Every house in the neighborhood has brown shingles. I want something that is going to make this house stand out and have major curb appeal just in case we need or want to sell it in the near future. And even if we don't, I want something I like even if it's not the top of the line roofing material I might select if I thought we'd be here forever.

Here are the choices. I'm going to reference them in order from left to right, top to bottom, as:
1,2
3,4
5,6
etc.



#4 is my favorite. Actually I like #5 but knowing how the color would pull in the Texas heat and txrad's aversion to that, I dismissed that choice immediately. I like #4 because it has green flecks which would tie in with the sage green I'd like to paint the wood siding on the backside of our house.

Now, keep in mind most of our siding is that yellowish-white Texas limestone and that's pretty much all you see from the street. Brown shingles just don't convey the look I'm after if I'm spending $6,600 based on the first estimate we've received.

My 2nd choice is #6 followed by #3 with those reddish tones. I think red tones look really cool with limestone but I'm trying to stick with the cool dark gray/greens.

All of these choices are the same price so that's not the issue other than the possible increase in cooling costs. And by my thinking, it might be offset by the decrease in heating costs in the winter? Aside from that, we keep our thermostat set at 83-ish in the summer and I doubt that's going to represent a huge difference in our electric bill.

txrad chose #2 and #8. That shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who knows him. And yes, it might not absorb as much heat but it would look like cheap shit on this house, and in the event we do need to sell it, I don't want any downsides. And in the event we decide to keep it, I don't want to retch every time I come home from work.

No offense to anyone with similar colored roofing shingles. This is just my personal aesthetic trying to cover my personal ass.

Opinions are welcome, just be advised I am a Taurus and will probably do whatever the hell I think is right under the circumstances. This is our current roof although this picture is probably 5-6 years old. The front yard looks like shit now.

And the windows are about to be replaced. That's another $7k-$8k. $8,721 for single-hung from the same firm that gave us the roofing estimate. $9,322 for double-hung. I'm leaning towards double-hung.

Pontificate at your leisure.


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