Brooklyn Limestone

A shiny new roof and other progress.
{22 april 07}

Those who bother to read this blog will probably note that there has been little real "renovation" going on in here. Well, you got us there. When we closed a few months ago, we had hoped to be a wee bit farther along than we are but life has gotten in the way. We've had a little more going on than we would have liked but thats how these things go.

As for the real reno, we are now in the final rounds of finalizing the plans and getting ready to file, etc.. so keep your fingers crossed for us that I'll be making more exciting before and after photos everyday.

Until then, I'll share our most exciting improvement thus far. A brand new shiny roof.
When we bough the house, we knew the roof was shot. See exhibit A.

Its hard to miss when each top floor room had its very own set of quaint brown splotches on the ugly drop ceiling. I submit exhibit B.

Our original plan was to let the company we end up choosing to do the rest of the work take the roof on as well. So we set out buckets and tarps to collect what was coming in and wished for a dry few months. (I think we all know how that wish turned out.)

As the rain kept on coming and the start of a construction crew kept getting pushed out, we realized it was time to get going. Mr. Limestone (Im not at all embarrassed to say that its scares the crap out of me to get on the roof), got a bunch of estimates from roofers as well as a general contractor. After a bit of back and forth, we went with the a roofing company that seemed to get good reviews from the people who have used them. Not surprisingly, it ended up costing us about 20% more than we budgeted even though this company was not the most expensive option.

A few weeks later, we are the proud owners of a shiny new silver roof as well as a collection of buckets we hope to never need again. Our blood pressure no longer goes up when we hear a forecast of rain.


Aside from the roof, there has been some other progress as well. Mostly jobs accomplished by my very own superhero, Super Demolition Man (aka Mr. Limestone) and his trusty sledgehammer. In a few days spread over various weekends he tore down the backyard shed, broke up the concrete kitchen floor and did various other manly tasks that will hopefully save us some money to put toward more fun things like fancy tiles and pot fillers. My hero :)