And don't forget the Drip Edge

One day this spring I was headed out to the front yard with a rake to do some cleanup. When the rake handle accidently bumped the corner of my lower roof in the back, I uncovered the mess pictured to the left. The rake board is completely rotted out from water seeping in being the aluminum fascia cover - installed by a vinyl siding contractor about 5 years ago. When they did the installation and noticed that none of the gable edges of my roof had a drip edge, they simply ignored that fact and happily went on their way installing the aluminum wrap. Somehow, and I'm still dumbfounded by this, they didn't think it would be a problem to leave the upper edge of the aluminum exposed in such a way that water can easily get behind it. A ticking time bomb that blew up in my face 5 years later.

So, boys and girls, the moral of the story is: Learn what drip edge is and how utterly important a role it plays in a properly functioning roof. That's what I should have done.

My wife and I were clueless when we bought the house, I'll admit it. I didn't know what a drip edge was and that's why when the vinyl siding guys did their installation it never occurred to me that it was wrong. There needs to be a mechanical seal where the roof shingles and the fascia boards meet. I'm no roofer, but I now know this and I learned it the hard way.

Our new roof is going to be installed next week (I'm told). Stay tuned for that ... I'll take lots of pictures.

Introduction

It has been almost nine years since we bought our first, and only house. The past nine years have been, well, I suppose some might call it a "learning experience". We've done a lot of work to this house: replaced the entire heating system, brand new vinyl siding and added a two-story addition to name a few. Along the way, we have met an interesting cast of characters - the contractors. In my opinion, most home improvement contractors are evil. It makes for great storytelling, though, and that's what brings me here. This blog allows me to do two things:

1. Work on my writing skills. I enjoy writing, but most of my writing over the past 10 or so years has mostly been in the form of work emails or software design documentation - pretty boring stuff.

2. Vent about all of the wonderful home improvement projects that my wife and I have endured over the past several years. That's like healthy for me... or something ... right?

If anyone happens to find this by accident (that google indexer is aggressive) I encourage you to comment on my entries and hopefully share your experiences. If there's one thing I've learned it's that there's no lack of content when it comes to home improvement.

Oh, yeah, and the blog's title is clearly a reference to the 80's classic "The Money Pit" , starring Tom Hanks and Shelley Long. Anyone that has embarked on a home improvement project has certainly had a "Money Pit" moment. Classic.

And last, but most certainly not least, I'd like to dedicate this blog to my amazing wife who has stuck with me through a lot of stressful moments in our home improvement experience. She has definitely given up her share of blood, sweat and tears over the years.