The Joys of Home Ownership

Or, “The drip that keeps on dripping”

Today, the new sunroom, which we replaced because the old one had a leaky roof, is officially and finally completed — Norm came over and puttied over the last couple of nail holes, we swept out the dust and moved in the rest of the furniture. It looks great; I’m really pleased with how it came out.

Yesterday, we discovered a substantial roof leak over on the other side of the house. Emily was sitting in her office, I walked in to talk to her, she looked up, and I noticed that instead of looking at me she was kind of looking past me. “Is that ceiling lamp full of… water?” she asked.

Indeed it was. So was the one in the next room over. And the windowframes in both rooms are seeping little rivulets. Also all of the insulation in the attic space above is soaked through, because as it turns out pretty much that entire section of roof is one big ice dam, base to peak.

This is the roof we replaced about five years ago, if you’re keeping score. And there’s probably not much we can do about it until spring, so we’ll be keeping buckets on the floor and lots of towels on the windowsills for the next few months, and hoping no major mold problems develop while we wait.

(It leaves me in the awkward position of hoping it stays really really cold for the rest of the winter, no more of these nice thaws — because those are what cause most of the dripping. As long as it stays cold, or doesn’t snow (ha ha ha), we’re in good shape.)

Someday I would like there to be a, let’s say a three-year period of time during which we have no carpenters in the house. Two years, even, would be nice; I don’t want to be greedy.