Ooooooh rough day so far.

"Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo" (thetomselleck)
11/03/2020 at 13:13 • Filed to: Casa de Zoidberg

I’m halfway out the door, keys in hand, when I hear a little pitter patter nearby. I know the sounds. It is the drip-dropping of that one liquid known as water. I follow the sound, then look up. Water is running down the edge of an exposed beam in my kitchen. Quite a bit of rain this morning along with some gusts...

I wake up my wife. We bundle up and she holds the 16' ladder while I climb on the roof. I am virtually certain where the leak it. Is is my believe the flashing where the vertical siding of the upper level (unfinished small attic) meets the composition shingle on the leaky floor is failing, and leaks into the home when the winds blow west. Get out my jumbo tarp, roll it loosely like a fluffy yet soggy sad burrito and pin it down with some bricks. Also found signs of a botched repair right where I pinned the tarp. A friendly reminder that home inspectors may not only miss shit, but I suspect the really bad ones won’t even get on the roof if you’re not around.

While I’m there I notice something else: the gutters are flooding. Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. I spent an hour or so scooping out the gutters and get the water flowing.

Back inside the home, the leaking has stopped — apparently, anyway. I have a roofer coming out in a few days to do an inspection and give an estimate. While I know more that I lead on about things, I am not a roofer, and I don’t like being up there any more than I have to be. Yet I’ve been on roofs so many damn times and I’m still just in my 30s...

So... Could be worse! Hole is presumably blocked. And AND... if I wasn’t 2 hours late to work, I could have come home to a small disaster 8 hours later. Positivity.... Positivity...

DISCUSSION (36)

TorqueToYield > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
11/03/2020 at 13:21

I’ve found houses are 90% just keeping water in the right places. The outside waters stays outside, the inside waters needs to stay inside.

I have a flat roof like 25 ft in the air , the other side is at nearly a 45 deg pitch so I’ve never even been up there. And when it leaked I learned how to repair drywall. Then I learned that drywall is ugly as hell the first time you do it and I put a painting over that spot.

Houses are non stop fun .

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
11/03/2020 at 13:22

File an insurance claim if you suspect that your roof was damaged by wind or something. Free*** roof!

***subject to coverage, insurer’s whims, the alignment of the stars, etc.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
11/03/2020 at 13:23

You prevented a much larger problem. That’s a win.

I refuse to even get onto roofs, not because I don’t like roofs, but because I don’t like ladders.

CalzoneGolem > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
11/03/2020 at 13:28

I’m with you on the ladder thing buddy.

UserNotFound > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
11/03/2020 at 13:30

I’ve very recently experienced a similar issue, except involving a Land Cruiser sunroof -_-

Oh and my brick chimney is leaning aggressively . It’s scheduled to be rebuilt the 1st week of December and we’ve been having lots of fun windstorms lately. Woo!

UserNotFound > TorqueToYield
11/03/2020 at 13:30

100% of homeownership is water management.

Cash Rewards > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
11/03/2020 at 13:38

Good luck. Make sure you run a dehumidifier as necessary to dry things out. But yeah, focus on the positives there.

I work from home every other day. Last year when we had our flood it was a day I was working from home. People were trapped in roads, hours to get home. My wife would likely have not left to drop the kids off at daycare, and would have been staring down two feet of water in the backyard solo. Sometimes things come up Milhouse after all

Cash Rewards > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
11/03/2020 at 13:39

Roof is fine, the edge I'm not ok with. But yet, that's where the gutters are.

Cash Rewards > UserNotFound
11/03/2020 at 13:40

We're probably going to knock down our home and rebuild just because flood management is impossible with our current house

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
11/03/2020 at 13:41

When I bought our house in sacramento the inspector said “roof looks good” I thought it was okay, not terrible but not great either. 2 years later I dropped $9,000 on a new roof. Good times, good times indeed. Too bad this isn’t 2008 downturn and contractors are hungry.

UserNotFound > Cash Rewards
11/03/2020 at 13:44

Oof.

user314 > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
11/03/2020 at 13:45

On the one hand, you’ve got three issues you didn’t know about yesterday, oof. On the other hand, you kept those issues from becoming a catastrophe, so, yay?

Here’s hoping for a quick and inexpensive estimate.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
11/03/2020 at 13:48

I think that’s coming in a few more months, after COVID round 2 wrecks the economy.

On the plus side, people will probably be selling cars cheap. So, you know, trying to be positive.

subexpression > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
11/03/2020 at 13:50

I have an almost paralyzing fear of heights.

I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve been on a roof because I used to get recruited to help clean a chimney and I was the lightest person.

gettingoldercarguy > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
11/03/2020 at 13:50

Hey, at least you caught it! Hopefully before anything major was damaged.

Our garage almost collapsed from the previous owner doing a discount repair job, omitting flashing and some other things that allowed a structural beam to rot. My friend who owns my favorite watering hole came over to help before we knew the damage. Once he saw the condition he immediately threw in a structural stand that I had and called in a favor from his buddy who’s one of the best contractors out here. What should’ve cost me 11k he only charged me 4k to fix.

I’ve been meaning to ask you where a good place to go for a salmon fishing trip is. I remember you went on one a while ago and it seemed like it was reasonably priced and successful.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Snuze: Needs another Swede
11/03/2020 at 13:52

I bought my mazda the spring of 2009. Got a heck of a deal. I think it would have been $2,000-3,000 more if it wasn’t for the great recession.

Mid Engine > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
11/03/2020 at 13:53

I proactively ripped my roof off last year and redid it with metal. Also replaced all the gutters, kinda glad I did all that work now.

smobgirl > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
11/03/2020 at 13:55

My house had a “new” but apparently shit roof installed right before I bought it. Thankfully we had a hail storm a few years later that got me a new roof for the deductible plus a small fee to upgrade the shingles.

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
11/03/2020 at 14:02

Fun fact, falling off both is bad!

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > gettingoldercarguy
11/03/2020 at 14:03

IIwaco. I think it was 150-250 altogether (day license and charter)? Seemed worth it, but I recommend lodging nearby the night before. Horrible drive, 11am to 5am from my house lol

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
11/03/2020 at 14:03

I unloaded my RAM and bought a brand new 2009 Chevrolet Coblat LS for like $11,000.

My father-in-law bought a lightly used 2006 Tahoe around the same time, window sticker was like $45~50k, for about $20k due to the combination of recession and gas being $5/gal at the time.

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > TorqueToYield
11/03/2020 at 14:05

Aft er dozens if not hundreds of home renovation projects in my family, drywall taping/mudding remains the one thing none of us will even attempt to do.

There’s a reason good drywallers are expensive, it’s cause they’re wor th it.

Cash Rewards > UserNotFound
11/03/2020 at 14:08

We have a split level where it’s lower in the back, and a stream defines the back of our property. It’s about 5 feet below yard level and goes under a road. We’re on the corner of two streets. That drain backs up or gets overwhelmed, and we have 2 feet of water in our yard. Because it’s a slit level, we have two doors that walk out into the back. Hello, water ingress. And our kitchen, living room, laundry room, everything but bedrooms are on the lower level. It’s a problem that can’t be solved without massive regrading and losing those doors. So real basement with solid foundation has to be there to elevate living spaces. Our flood insurance agent said “things are getting worse. I’m busier every year. This won’t be the last time”.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > subexpression
11/03/2020 at 14:08

I was incredibly scared of heights my whole life. I mean that kind of fear when you walk across a bridge and you can’t let go of the handrail. And then when you peak over, you feel like your feet are being pulled towards the edge and you’re going to plumment to your death.

Then I bought a house that needed work and we had no money, so... Actually it's been nice because I can look down and walk over bridges now. I would just prefer not to be on roofs.

gettingoldercarguy > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
11/03/2020 at 14:08

Thanks! Y ou were happy with everything?

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > gettingoldercarguy
11/03/2020 at 14:09

Well I caught four salmon (kept 2) so I definitely can't complain. I took dramamine the night before and the morning of.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > smobgirl
11/03/2020 at 14:16

My old place had...a pretty horrifying kitchen and two bathrooms. After a few fortuitous back to back losses, I had a fairly significant renovation done. Major win (except the part where I couldn’t get insurance for 5 years except at a massi ve premium with hardly any coverage).

Before:

Kinja'd!!!

After:

Kinja'd!!!

Before:

Kinja'd!!!

After:

Kinja'd!!!

Chariotoflove > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
11/03/2020 at 14:20

We installed gutter guard screens years ago. It doesn’t mean you don’t have to pay any attention to your gutters, but it does stop them from becoming a home garden. Highly recommend.

Glad you caught it early. Positivity indeed! We didn’t find out leak for far too long and ended up having to replace a wall and entire floors.

krustywantout > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
11/03/2020 at 14:34

I cleaned my gutters this past weekend before it rained since they are all filled with leaves right now. I had a section of roof on my house that transitioned from a higher pitch to a lower pitch and ice dams would form there in the winter . I ended up taking the shingles out and putting a membrane roof since that part of the roof faces the woods and no one would ever see it. Haven’t had any issues since.

facw > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
11/03/2020 at 14:47

Yeah, my parents had their insurance cancelled for too many claims (apparently three in six years is too many). Which made it very difficult to find new coverage. And even then they had to take their house off the market a little early because apparently there was only one company that would start coverage for them with it for sale, and even then only for $500k max if it was occupied ($1M unoccupied, which would still leave them with a hole). Eventually they found a broker who was able to get them expensive, high deductible coverage.

Though... they put back on the market this summer, and a few weeks after they accepted on offer they had a really bad storm and probably at least 20 large trees down. Most didn’t hit anything but one clipped a garage and several others damaged stone walls, which meant that things did get expensive enough to use even that high-deductible insurance (after verifying that it wouldn’t affect their ability to get insurance for their new place), so maybe all those other insurers were smart not to want them at any price.

facw > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
11/03/2020 at 14:50

I supervised a friend’s home inspection and that guy used a drone rather than going up on the upper sections of the roof. Which frankly seems fine, with a good quality drone you should be able to see pretty well. No problems found by the inspector or my friend anyway.

facw > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
11/03/2020 at 14:53

Also, it’s only very tangentially related to your gif and not at all related to roof leaks, but I’m still going to post this:

Kinja'd!!!

smobgirl > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
11/03/2020 at 15:48

We have some pretty different definitions of horrifying. I’d love your old kitchen and my entire bathroom is about the size of your tub.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
11/03/2020 at 19:34

Psssh, your previously- shitty bathrooms would be a welcome addition to my life.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
11/03/2020 at 20:00

So green!

shop-teacher > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
11/03/2020 at 21:56

Well that sucks, but it definitely could have been worse!

I paid a roofer to do my house. That's a brutal job.