When Your Roof Starts Leaking, You Don't Get to Ignore It

 

Nailing down nails on a roof

There are some home repairs you plan for.

And then there are the ones that decide for you.

A roof leak falls into the second category.

We recently found ourselves dealing with leaks on the roof of our home here in Southeast Michigan. And what started as something we knew needed attention quickly became one of those projects where you look at your house and think:

"Well...I guess we're doing this now."

Debris from stripping off a roof

The Roof Had Become a Problem We Couldn't Ignore

Owning a home means there's always something.

A faucet starts dripping.

Something needs painting.

The furnace needs attention.

The gutters need cleaning.

And every once in a while, something bigger comes along.

For us, it was the roof.

We knew there were leaks that needed to be addressed. And when you live in Southeast Michigan, you don't exactly want to gamble with a roof that's already letting water in.

So instead of putting it off any longer, it was time to figure out what was happening up there.

And that meant taking the roof apart.

Shingles stripped off a roof

Then We Started Pulling Shingles

Standing on the ground, it's easy to look at your roof and think, It's just shingles.

Until you're the one removing them.

Layer by layer, the old shingles started coming off.

And suddenly, the roof looked completely different.

What had always been something I barely thought about was now right in front of us; an exposed section of our home that needed to be repaired before we could put everything back together.

And that's one of those moments where a home project stops being an idea and becomes a job that has to get done.

Repairing the leaks and the shingles

This Is What Real Homeownership Looks Like

This isn't one of those projects where everything goes perfectly.

There's no dramatic home renovation reveal.

We're not tearing the whole house down and rebuilding it.

We're just homeowners trying to take care of the house we live in.

Sometimes that means doing the fun projects.

Sometimes it means working on something you've been putting off.

And sometimes it means standing on your roof, surrounded by old shingles, because water has a way of making decisions for you.

Repairing in the roof and adding shingles

Getting the Roof Back Together

Once the damaged areas were addressed, it was time to start putting the roof back together.
New shingles went on, and little by little, the roof began looking like a roof again.
There's something satisfying about that part of a project.
You start with a problem.
You tear things apart.
For a while, it looks worse than when you started.
And then, slowly, you begin putting everything back together.
Until you can finally stand back and say:
Okay. That's better.

Completed roof repairs

And That's Really What Our Life Is About

This roof repair isn't an extraordinary story.
It's just one of the things that happened in our life.
We have our home here in Southeast Michigan, our place Up North, two adult sons, a dog, work, projects, responsibilities and apparently, roofs that occasionally decide they need our attention. 
That's what we're sharing on Homestead in the Mitten.
Not a perfect life.
Not a perfectly renovated home.
Just real life, real Michigan living.
Because sometimes the story isn't about the finished project.
Sometimes the story is about what it took to get there.