The old English major in me can't resist a metaphor, and one I always lived was providing a roof over my family's head. It occurs to me that I am inordinately concerned with matters roof -- dating back to our first house when we had a skylight installed over our dining room, and it leaked. I took a day off from work -- rare for a first year associate -- just so I could be with the roofer as he fixed said leak.
After Hurricane Andrew, we rebuilt an essentially new house. The GC picked a new company, Fitzgerald Roofing, which was two Irish brothers who came to South Dade to make a killing on the post storm construction. They did a poor job on our Falls house -- the first rain after we moved back after close to 2 years of construction, rain poured in from a joint at the bottom of our atrium. I was livid. The Fitzgeralds blew off my concerns, and our GC George had gone out of business and moved out of state. I actually asked my friend Craig, a commercial lawyer, to sue the Fitzgeralds, which he did, and I got a judgment which remains, 32 years later, uncollected. Fortunately our talented handyman, Joe, a Canadian Jewish, former hippie from Toronto, was able to completely fix the problem.
We bought Villa Wifey when the house was 3 years old, and it has a clay tile roof. Somehow I thought that was a 50 year roof -- but turns out while the tiles last 100 years, the real roof, the membranes below the tiles, don't. I had corresponded with Richard, the architect and builder who, with his late ex wife, built the place, and he told me he hoped to get 25 years out of it.
Well, after Hurricane Wilma, in 2005, we had to have the tiles refastened -- the Cat II winds loosened them. And since then, there were leaks, almost all on the outside over the porch areas, which I had repaired. Two years ago the roofing maven from Andrew Palmer told me I had another year or so left, and sure enough, at 29 years, the old roof is now removed.
The company has been banging away, sawing, and working for 3 weeks now. They thought the job would last that long -- turns out -- not so fast. They have the two membranes mostly on, and will finish that next week -- and then the outer one needs 4-5 days drying in the sun before the new tiles are installed. Jose, the boss, told me they'd likely start the tile work a week from Monday, it will take 4-5 days, and then...new roof. He said he thought it would last 35 years.
Wifey, who prefers we move, got some good news. I told her I would NOT undertake another new roof, so that means we WILL move out before I turn 100. She smirked.
Meanwhile, Wifey continues to work on her bad back and hip. Vegas is now offering odds on whether she makes it on her mah jong cruise -- set to leave 2/17. I haven't checked the latest odds, but I know she dearly wants to go.
Tonight, a Zoom and a few vodkas and my beloved firepit await. The weather should be ideal. And tomorrow, we re-home Lemon, the spry Spaniel, who is really a better old person dog but D1 is insisting we bring him back to the boys. Harumph.
He'll have a roof over his head both places...
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