New Roof: Before & After

Right after we moved into our new house, we replaced the roof.  Over the holidays, I finally got around to taking a picture of our house with the new roof.  If you remember, there were two sticking points that made this a very difficult decision.  First, we were told that roof vents needed to be installed on the front side of our roof.  To read more about our roof vent quandary, go here.  We decided not to install roof vents on the front side of the roof and restrict them to the backside only.  The second sticking point was the shingle color.  I went back and forth on this one and if you remember, I even did a mock up of the potential colors. I finally picked pewter gray - a dark gray that works well with our exterior house colors.

Before

During

Here is a good picture of the color difference of the shingles.  They had yet to replace the shingles on the shed (old roof) so I took a picture before they did.

After

Our roof with new architectural shingles in pewter gray and no roof vents on the front side of the roof.  Very happy with our decision!

Thank you again for all your help with this decision.  I received a lot of great input that helped us make very informed decisions.  If you're considering installing a new roof, you should read comments from readers here and here.

Roofing & Other Updates

Based on reader feedback, the consensus was to go with pewter gray for the color of our roof shingles.  I hemmed and hawed about it.  Made a decision, only to rethink it.  Have you been here before?  Anyway, we made the eleventh hour decision to go (away from my initial choice of fox hollow gray) with pewter gray.  It definitely seemed the most versatile color.  Contractors showed up Monday and began their demo and reconstruction (we have 2 courses of shingles laid on top of shakes....which means everything has to come off and a new plywood substrate put down before the new shingles go on).  So, here is the progress.

This shows the new roof on the garage with the shed in the foreground; the shed has the old shingles, which provides a good contrast between old and new.  Note: the shed will be re-shingled too.

Here is a broader view of the pewter gray on the garage and the back of the house.  These were taken in the evening so the lighting is off, but you get the idea.

So far we are happy with how things are panning out and I really like the color.  I will post more photos and another roof update later.

In other news, I put a bid in on a persian rug on ebay (see post here) and 29 bids later, she was mine!! Here she is....

This is the seller....there are some great rugs....check out this one!  Anyway, I'll post an update when she is happily settled in our kitchen!

Shingles: What Color?

First, thank you so much for your opinions on my roof vent quandary.  There were some good arguments!  So, in addition to the the roof vents, I also need to decide the color of our shingles.

We drove around town (again) to look at the various color options (our roofers gave a list of houses they've done in the past).  It was somewhat helpful; but, just like paint, the color looks so different when there is a lot of light vs. when there is shade.  It is hard to know until you see it directly on your own house.

So, I took the color swatches they had online and played around with them in Adobe Illustrator.  I realize it isn't a true representation (I still can't get the shingles to tilt in the software - very frustrating).   So here are the leading contenders:


Option #1: Oyster Gray

Option #2: Pewter Gray

Option #3: Fox Hollow Gray

Option #4: Charcoal

The charcoal is out - in my opinion, it is just too stark for our house.  Fox Hollow is the closest to our current shingle making it perhaps the safest bet.  However, pewter and oyster may be more versatile should we eventually paint the house a different color.

Fortunately, this will be over in a week and decisions will need to be made probably at the eleventh hour! :)

UPDATE:  To see the color we chose, go here.

Roof Vents: Decision Time.

I know ... this isn't the most exciting topics.  But this unglamorous topic is staring me in the face.  It's decision time and I'm torn.  See our house?

The middle window above the front door is the second floor kids bathroom; our master bath is on the backside of the house.  Since we are getting a new roof, we decided it would be a good time to put in bathroom vents to eliminate moisture.  Neither bath have vents (which is typical for older homes) and we think it is a smart move to make especially since we're re-doing the roof.  Note: having done our research, there is a small minority that say it's ok to vent to the attic (not outside).  But the vast majority of people say you should vent to the outside through the roof (or gables).  

The issue is this: if we put a vent in the second floor kids bathroom, the only place they can put a roof vent (that'll be effective) is on the front side of the roof.  

And, I'm worried it'll look ugly.  A lot of times it is form over function with me.  I hate to say it, but it is true.  But, the roofing guy assures me it won't be one of those ugly pipe vents that stick out like a sore thumb.  And, it'll be a flat square top vent that should be disguised, like this:  

Is this more than you wanted to know about roof vents?  Yeah, me too.  Anyway, I am still convinced it'll stick out like a sore thumb.  

So yesterday, my husband and I drove around our neighborhood to see if any houses have this flat roof vent on the front side of their roof.  And, we found one.  

Sorry, for the crooked picture, I took it while driving, but do you see the little vent above the top middle window?  That is it.  It is pretty small, no?  Is it really noticeable?  What do you think?