We finally have a new roof on our garage remodel! This is a big deal for many reasons, the main one being that we’re miraculously this far into October and it hasn’t started raining consistently yet.

When we purchased this house, we knew the garage addition would need a great deal of work. We didn’t expect it to be a full tear down. Between bats, termites, mold we couldn’t see, and a lot of creative work done by the previous owner, we realized that it was best to start new. The concrete was cracked, and the garage door was broken. He broke up the concrete and dug the dirt down to prepare for a new slab a few months ago.

We found a great deal for a garage door off Craigslist and the guy came and installed it with his son. The total cost for the door and install was over $1500 less than the nearest store, and he was able to put it in within three weeks instead of three months.

Last winter, my husband went to an estate sale and purchased nearly all of the shingles needed at rock-bottom price. We did end up having to buy four bundles outright (although they’re high end, so they were an expensive four bundles), but overall the material cost was a fraction of the price. We’ve referred a lot of work to the person who did our roof, so we thankfully got a discount on the labor as well.

The roofer had some Black Jack left over and we used it to seal around the door to the shop, which helped as there were some gaps we needed to fill. Black Jack is to exterior what Locktite is to bathtub caulking- it’s durable but definitely not for the beginner.

As we painted the house ourselves, we also ended up having to scrape some of the paint in areas it was damaged. After sanding it, I painted over the exposed parts with Through The Roof, which made it easy to paint over without the area standing out.

All that’s left now is to finish the electrical (the electrician is here now, so this should be done today), then jack it up a bit to pour the new concrete, side it and paint it.

I am always enthusiastic at the beginning of projects, but the middle certainly can wear on me. This is especially true for home projects when we’re living in it (thankfully I can shut the door to the garage and pretend it’s not a construction zone).

It will be worth all the effort when it’s done, though! By doing a lot of the work on our own and holding out to get materials on sale, we’ve really cut the costs of the project. We’re ten months into this fixer-upper and I’m looking forward to this huge project being completed.

In other news, my tomatoes just never ripened so I currently have loads of paper bags overflowing my kitchen, hoping to ripen the tomatoes as I plan to can spaghetti sauce. I’ll let you know how that goes.