Tuesday, August 7, 2007

The joys of homeownership!!

If you follow my blog, you know that are in the midst of planning a remodel to kitchen because of a leaky roof. This morning we awoke at 7:15, the roofers were here to start on the garage roof, which we are also replacing because it wasn't fixed properly when we moved in 7 years ago and it still leaked with moderate rains.

At about 9am, the head roofer guy came to the front door and asked me to meet him out on the garage roof (there is a door that goes out Jack's bedroom onto the roof), there was something nasty! Uh oh!!

I opened up Jack's door and there were holes in the roof (they took all the rubber off already). That apparently is not a problem to fix at all, they just replace it with new plywood. The problem was the gigantico ants that took up residence in the wood plank closest the door and under the door. They were just eating that wood!! He picked up a handful of their dust that they leave after they are eating!! We knew we had an ant problem and we've been getting treated by Orkin every 4 months. The house has been ant free, but the garage roof is not. They hang out there because of the moisture.

I am seeing $$CHA-CHING$$ here!! So, what to do? The head roofer guy said the best bet would be to just totally close off that door and seal it in, pull off the siding, insulate it and replace the window! We don't have much siding on our house, it is 80% brick, but the siding that is there is this horrific yellow that we have hated forever!! When we decided to do the remodeling, we said we'd replace the siding anyway, but then decided to paint it instead since there wasn't much of it, save a few bucks, ya know!! So, this little problem sealed the deal for new siding! I chose Weatheredwood shingles with clay siding.

The morning was filled with phone calls for me! Calling Orkin to see if they could treat the ants while the roof was off, calling Chris to get the go ahead to seal off the door. He actually came home from lunch to check it all out! Then, most importantly, calling the bank to get more money! I have to say I have the nicest people working at my bank!!! She helped me greatly, researching to see what the best way for us was to go with our line of credit! She spent so much time on the phone with me, figuring numbers, getting info! She made it so I didn't have to go into the bank with 2 high energy kids to fill out a ton of paperwork! She did it all on the phone with me!! It's hard to find good service like that these days!! I also had to run to the township office 'cause guess who forgot to get a permit? Yep, us!! That's the last thing we were thinking of! So, that is almost taken care of now!!

ETA: Yes, they are ants, we had them "evaluated" last year. We thought we had termites but they are, in fact, carpenter ants!

I'm so glad I can sit now!! A busy day!! Macy's Bridge to Daisies program starts tonight and Chris and Jack are going to National Night Out.

Here are some pics of the damage and now the progress!! They will be back tomorrow to adhere the rubber. They probably won't get to the main roof tomorrow, but I pray that they don't find such problems there! He sait it's rare for that to happen up there because of the slope. Let's hope that's true!!

Do you know what though? I'm not stressed about this!! I actually feel good and am excited! I know we've got a great company working for us, top notch quality!! They busted their butts otu there today in this horrible humidity!! They put in a 10 hour day!!

The holes:



Ant problem:



The door coming down!



Sealed up!


Done for the day!


And here's a recent layout to brighten the day!!

24 comments:

Lora3677 said...

wow..... that is terrible... now i'm concerned about our ants... are you sure they are ants and not termites????

Rachael said...

Yeah, they're ants, Lora! We had them checked out last year when we thought we had termites. Luckily it was carpenter ants, who also can do some damage, huh?

Alyssa said...

Eewww! I HATE ants. We have an ant problem too. Lucky for us they are not carpenter ants, but they are still a big pain and they show up everywhere. Good luck with your project.

Lynette said...

Sheesh Rachel...sounds crazy! Glad they found it though and you can fix it whilst you are in "fix-it" mode!!!

Unknown said...

Oh my!!! That would have stressed me out. I hope tomorrow is a stress free day. I did make pancakes tonight for dinner and was just thinking about you when I went to catch up on everyone's blog.

Karen said...

Wow, those are some big ants!!! That is amazing the holes they left! Glad no one got hurt from that.

Lynn said...

As I started to read I was like ohhh no.. don't say squirels (if you remember my post a few weeks ago about them). Carpenter ants are no better if you ask me and you know what is just as bad???? Carpenter bees! Yep.. we had a bout with them also. Good luck with everything. I'm keeping my fingers crossed the rest goes smoothly for you. Love the photos of all the work and your lo is just awesome.

Kimberly said...

sheesh! doesn't your stomach just sink when a repair guys says, 'come here'???!! so glad you're calm and feeling good about it all. you have a beautiful house. can i come live with you? ;)

scrappermimi said...

Oh No! Crazy. We get carpenter bees every spring and they make such a mess. I am shocked by all the damage those ants caused! Here is to a better day tomorrow and great customer service at the bank.

That LO rocks!

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear about your bad day, but you can look forward to the remodel and new siding. BTW, great Lily layout just love it.

Anonymous said...

I had NO idea ants could do that!!!
I hate ants too, but then I hate anything that resides in our around our house that is an insect or small or large rodent!!!=)

Glad you didn't stress, I would have had to have Calgon take me away!!!=)

Gorgeous layout. Beautiful photo!!!

Melanie said...

Wow! I'm glad they found it before too much damage was done. Good luck with all of the remodeling!

Melissa said...

oh my goodness-crazy how bugs can do so much damage! hope everything gets fixed a little less stressful for you.

beautiful LO!-love the colors

Nathalie Kalbach said...

wow - that is crazy! I hope they are not termites - funny enough we have a huge termites problem in the old part of Hamburg - they must have come in with a ship once.

Love your layout- gorgeous design and colormix!

Janine Langer said...

Aaah, that's a lot to do, but it's great that your aren't stressed. And I'm sure at the end it will look the way you want!

Love your layout, so fresh and colorful! Have a great day! :)

Anonymous said...

Yuck. My Mom had carpenter ants and they are a nightmare! I'm glad you're feeling so positive!

Ania said...

Oh eek! Love the layout and esp the colorscheme, not so much the ants..ick! Wish you luck with the roof & door :)

Leah's Crafty Life said...

yikes! Makes me wanna send hubby into the attic! Glad you have a good crew working for you!

Trish said...

OMG!

If you guys need anything we are just a short drive away to help!

AnilĂș Magloire said...

OMG!!! Good luck with that :)

AnilĂș Magloire said...

Oh, and gorgeous page too!

Micayla said...

I have a problem with ants too, since I have moved! It drives me mad as we get those flying ones and they love to land on the draining board in the kitchen, so I have to pack my pots straight away which I hate doing, infact I hate washing up too!!
Hope you can get them sorted and btw fab page!

Suzy said...

Love the Lily layout, so pretty!

Anonymous said...

oh my goodness... you have your hands full. Good luck to you and check my blog for some design tips.... They may help! Good luck. Pattye