One or two steps forward

I have a roof man! The man who came out yesterday afternoon, James, emailed me his bid for my roofs, house and room, and to take down what's left of the patio and put it back up over the back door.

I'm not going to try to replace the whole aluminum cover. It was
too big to begin with, and it never served the purpose it was supposed to. It's too high and didn't provide that much shade in the late evening with the west sun beaming in or protection from rain if it was blowing. So, a simplified patio over the back door will be about 14x16, which is still a nice sized patio cover. Looking at the picture, it will measure out to just past the kitchen window (3rd window from the left side of the picture)

The price he gave me for the house roof includes windstorm approved and he's considerably less than Home Depot, who was admittedly too expensive. The insurance is still short some on the roof, but it's not too bad. This is a much more reasonable bid.

As for the back room - well, he told me it was too nice to destroy and he would relocate it for himself if he took it off. As for my alternate decision, he gave me an estimate for a "proper" roof, which was about like Home Depot's price -- too darn much!! Insurance isn't giving me hardly anything for the roof, but I can't get more from the insurance on it because regardless, I've maxed out my adjacent structure portion of the policy. I wrote him back and made a suggestion of tar paper and roll roof and simultaneously he wrote me back thinking about some kind of tin!
This morning, after hearing him talk about how nice the room is, etc, I guess I moved from 50/50 to keep or not keep, to say 60/40 keep. Since there wasn't anything really pressing for the day, I decided to work on my desk project. The tables I'm painting for the base are in that room, and so is the door I'm staining that will be the top. So, I proceeded to put the last touches of paint and the last coat of varnish (which, by the way had bubbles and I had to sand it off and do it again - lol) -- but while doing these things, I knew for sure I do not want to get rid of my room. It's so nice to have that space. If I didn't have it and I wanted to do some project, I'd have to destroy the order of some room in the house or go outside in the hot sun.

So, I have decided -- I'm keeping it! I won't set my office up in there though. The central heat/air is not ducted into that room, so I have to use the window unit and a space heater, which, with fuel prices ever climbing, that's wasteful when I can simply put my office in the front room. I had it there before. Then the back room can serve as sort of a hobby room.

I don't think I'll replace the wood floors with new wood floors but will take them up and put down some indoor/outdoor carpet, touch up the ceiling with paint where the water spots are. I can keep my file cabinet in there and my treadmill, and maybe a few other things. And of course, keep that closet!! I still need to continue throwing away junk, just the same.

As for the room roof -- I feel confident that between James and myself, we'll come up with something that will work that won't be so exhorbitant. When I'm talking "exhorbitant," he and Home Depot were bidding in the range of $2,000 for a 16x16 room! That's only 3 1/2 squares! That's exhorbitant in anybody's book!

He didn't bid for the porch, but he said he will do it. We'll work out a price for it. I'll probably do all the painting myself, but he said he would come up with a better design for the posts. Also, my steps were not built to the proper proportions of rise and run, and I've always hated them. They're too steep and not even equal heights. He said he can redo those for me, as well.

Nothing has been signed yet other than the gentleman's e-mail agreement on the house roof and the patio; but I feel good about working with him on the room roof and the porch, as well.

The Sheetrock/mold people really didn't set good with me. Their bid will be helpful to finalize my insurance claim numbers, but I might not use them - depends on the prices, and the attitude. But the more I think about how I called them for a mold inspection, "Yes, we inspect. It's free" - and then he comes out here and doesn't even have one instrument or anything - what kind of fool do they think I am. They just wanted the work. He did tell my insurance lady they're "mold certified." If they are, then why didn't they give me a "mold inspection"? That's really bugging me.
I think tomorrow I'll put my desk in position and anchor the top to the bottom, and find the appropriate place to put the cabinets I stained. I have an idea where to put the cabinets in my new office but will have to wait to see if it will be how I'm envisioning it. If not, I might only use one and put the other in my middle bedroom - or both in the middle bedroom. They sure won't go to waste.

Once that's determined, then it will be time to decide on a top for them - maybe those preformed formica tops would be nice - either one over both cabinets, or do each one separately. Then I can pick out the hardware for it and pray I drill the holes in the right place the first time!! Well, those decisions are for tomorrow.

For now, I have decided on a roof contractor, what I'll do with my patio cover, and to keep my room - even if it will have a blue roof for a while! So, all in all, I'd say it was good day.