The Roof, The Roof, The Roof is on... Our House!

So, I told you here that we were getting a new roof.  Well, that sucka is DONE! It's amazing how fast they can build a roof. I thought it would take like a week...but one day to build it and then a couple hours the next day to clean up and we've got a new roof. Ok, ok, I'll get to the after picture:

Isn't it so pretty?!?!?! Ok, so maybe pretty isn't the right word... but it's definitely an upgrade. I took this picture early in the morning, before the roofers came back to clean on the second day. 

Can I just tell you that I don't know if it's humanly possible to be more happy with a roofing company? I want to give them their due, because they were awesome. If you live in the Houston area - RAD Restoration & Construction gets an A+ in my book. Here's why:

• Pleasant to work with - easy to talk to, walked us through the process of the insurance claim without making us feel stupid, picks up the phone when we call, always in a good mood when we talk to them, willing to drive to my place of work to get some paperwork needed.
• Great communication skills - the guy in charge of the group that built our roof was in constant communication with me. He knew I was at work and couldn't talk a lot so he texted me with any questions or concerns. 
• Goes the extra mile - (I don't know the right name, so I'm probably calling it the wrong thing, but) the vent pipe (thingy?) for our water heater was really old. Not only did they replace the vent (normal part of a new roof), but they called and asked if they had permission to enter my home and replace the vent pipe thing all the way down to the water cooler. They had to go to home depot and buy a separate piece and they did it free of charge. When they called for permission, I was like 'You want to fix something old in my house for free just because it is safer for my family? Um, Yes, you may do that.'
• Respected that it is my property - besides asking for permission to fix something, the foreman also called at the end of the first day to ask if they could leave their trailer in my driveway. He already knew I wouldn't be in the house that night. He could have just left it, what was I going to do? Go move it on my own? But he called specifically to get permission before he let the workers leave for the day.
• I think my front yard is cleaner now than before they built the roof (like I said, pic is taken before clean up).

Let's look back at the old roof:

Man, I knew our roof was old and needed to be updated, but now when I look at this picture the roof looks like it's actually sagging in the middle. How did I not see that before?

And all the vents that they took off look so gross. See that black trash bag looking stuff wrapped around a vent?

Well, in our home inspection (when we bought the house) the inspector included this particular old vent with the bag. He basically said that the vent was super old but it looked like it was functioning. He said he couldn't figure out what the bag was for, but that we probably shouldn't move it just in case it was keeping everything together (and, of course, he suggested replacing it). I'd be lying if I said in the past I hadn't wondered if the bag was going to rip and we'd end up with a leak in the middle of a storm or something. But now the bag and the old vent are history. Just look at our clean new vents that are only like 1/4 the size of the old ones. They're hardly noticeable at all:

I can't tell if I'm properly conveying how big of a difference this makes when you look at the house in person. A roof isn't the type of thing you normally notice, so you wouldn't think it would change much, but it really does. I think if you were to see the house in person you may not notice the roof was new (without being told) but you'd just think the the house looked better. I think it's the little details like the vents being small and unobtrusive or the fact that there is no visible silver flashing in the valley of the roof. For example, here is our first house picture (before we bought it - notice the sale sign). See how you can see silver where the entry roof meets the main roof?

Well here is that same valley now!

SO much better! In fact the roof looks so good... it makes me want to paint the siding. If we did that then our house would look pretty darn new (well, not the style, but the actual materials). 

Here is the before and after side by side for ya: