The Aftermath

I was looking forward to a white Christmas and I got it -- along with some undesired repercussions!

The snow was beautiful while it lasted.  The little tree in the back yard looked like a marzipan treat.  Pete and Clara did some cross country skiing through the streets of Greenport.  The streets were clear enough by Monday to get out and about and finish all the last minute Christmas shopping, but . . . 

On Monday evening I was sitting in the dining room and heard a noise that every homeowner dreads -- the slow drip, drip, drip of a leak in the roof -- the brand new roof on the brand new addition!  I couldn't believe it.  I turned off the light, put a bowl under the fixture and yelled to Pete to come down.  There was an ice dam -- what had melted during the day froze up and backed up under the shingles.

Our contractor (the fabulous Dan Finne) came first thing in the morning and had a crew shoveling off the snow, breaking the ice and putting down a new roof -- a torch down, I think they call it -- and the whole thing was sealed and safe by 3 pm on Wednesday.  Turns out the pitch of the roof on the addition is a 1 1/2, and shingles should not be used on a pitch that is less than a 4.  This is just the last in a long list of mistakes made by the architectural firm (Fairweather-Brown) we hired for the project.  (I'll write a long post about the many mistakes and inadequacies of this firm at a later date -- after I submit the $3,000 bill for the new roof to them.)

So now we have the ugliest, but driest, roof in Greenport.  The whole experience made for an extraordianarily stressful few days leading up to Christmas.  My sister Barb joined us Thursday afternoon and stayed until Saturday.  Paula and Ann celebrated Christmas Eve with us, and our old friends Anne-Marie and Mike and their daughters Natalie and Charlotte arrived on Christmas day and stayed over until Monday.  I was so exhausted from the stress by Christmas morning I could barely keep my eyes open. It took me days to recover.  I am looking forward to 2010 -- we won't be renovating a thing!