We have had ridiculous weather as of late. Crazy heat and big storms. For the most part, I’ve lucked out. No real damage and no lasting power outages (though Pepco can’t tell me why my power randomly went out for 2+ hours last night).
I do have a leak though.
In my master bath, there is a nice paint bubble where water has leaked in. I have pierced the bubble so that if more water comes in, it won’t do any more real damage and have a place to go. But for now, there is a bubble.
Because it’s on an exterior wall and far from the shower plumbing, I’m fairly convinced this has to do with the roof. I haven’t been up to that part of the attic to check it out, mostly because my attic is hard to traverse and I’m a little scared of it for no apparent reason. I have a roofing company coming to check it out, but because of all of the storms, I couldn’t get an appointment for two weeks. From my knowledge of roofing earned by hours of watching Holmes Inspection, I’m fairly certain this is a simple issue, but who knows what the inspection will all uncover. My roof was in good shape when I bought the house, but with all this weather, anything can happen.
Also, I’m fairly convinced my house doesn’t have enough downspouts, but that’s another issue.
So next week, I’ll get an idea of just how much this is going to cost and how much repair work it will entail. I’m hoping it’s not too painful.
And then, it’s time to repair the bathroom wall.
Megan is a 30-something government employee in the Washington, DC area. She got interested in Personal Finance when she got out of college and realized that her paycheck wasn’t going to go as far as she had hoped. Since starting this blog, she has managed to buy a house and make a solid start on her retirement goals, and hopes to help others do the same. Here is her story:
In 2007, I was a gainfully employed 20-something with no debt but not a lot of knowledge about personal finance. It was a co-worker’s comment about Roth IRAs that sent me to the internet, searching for information. It was then that I realized that I really didn’t know a whole lot about personal finance and that my current financial situation was due a lot to inherent frugal tendencies, generous family members, a fear of debt, and good luck. While that was working for me, clearly I needed a better plan.
While I had no debt, I was also pretty much living paycheck to paycheck and not worrying about going over budget (I say this as if I had a real budget) because I had an emergency fund set aside to cover any overages.
Except that’s not what an emergency fund is for.
So I did a lot of research, read a lot of blogs, and decided that I needed a plan. I needed to budget. I needed to know what I was spending my money on. I needed to prepare for the future.
I decided to create a blog not only to make myself accountable to others but also to share the knowledge that I gained along the way. I’ve learned so much from my fellow bloggers, and I hope that my readers can find something useful in what I have to share as well.
May I suggest that you get more than one estimate. After storms in the midwest, roofers have been known to inflate prices or recommend more service than you really need. Also check out your local Angie’s List for recommendations on local companies. Using this service has saved us from hiring the wrong company for several projects.
Good luck getting the roof repaired quickly.