The “Money Pit” Strikes Again

I wish I wasn’t the only person these things happened too! I mean really! I decided to have my roof looked at because I have a few leaks. The reason I know this is that I have about 5 water spots on my ceiling that I had been partially ignoring, but silently worrying about. The worrying came to a peak when a neighbor explained how he had seen some spots on his ceiling, reached up and his hand went through it.

So, I called the insurance company to see who they would recommend I call and started the process. Well , BKA was backed up and told me they would have someone call me next week and schedule a time to come out. I basically put things on hold. Tuesday night I got home from the hockey game and found a BKA brochure in my screen door. So, I called them on Wednesday to find out what happened. I explained I was supposed to have been called and I would have made arrangements to have been there. Anyway, the man on the phone explained that they had come out and I really needed to call my insurance company to have a CAT (catastrophe) team come out to inspect. Due to the storms recently this had been considered a disaster area and this way I might have it covered. He said I had some minor work that needed to be done. Basically, some shingles need to be replaced and I have a little bit of dipping.

I decided to get some more opinions and so Wednesday I call Don Kennedy roofing. Again I am told how busy they are and it will be several days before someone will be able to come out, but they will call first. Two hours later, Damien (from Don Kennedy roofing) calls to see if he could come by at 2pm. So much for a few days, but I leave work and rush home so he can take a look at my roof.

Never in my wildest dreams could I have predicted where this would go next. Damien comes in and explains that I have some damage around my chimney that needs to be resealed and worked on, but that there is a bigger problem. It seems that after a tree limb dented my roof a little, that a squirrel decided to use that opportunity for a new home. The squirrel has removed the shingles in that area and dug through the roof into my ceiling and built a nest. I have cathedral ceilings, so there is not attic space just a gap between the drywall and the roof.

I’m sure the look on my face was priceless. I finally had to explain to the guy why I was so astonished. I mean, you would think I had built an ark or opened up and animal hotel.

So, now I am trying to find someone that will extract the squirrel nest from the ceiling and then patch the roof. It seems everyone wants to just patch the roof. I think this is nuts, since a squirrels nest is made of leaves and twigs. It will rot and bugs will get to it. Then I will have a whole other set of problems.

I also have a squirrels nest in my chimney, so I have the chimney sweep scheduled for Monday to clean out the chimney and repair the cap that is on it. I’m still looking for someone that will extract the squirrels nest from the roof, I am trying to catch the squirrels that are living there, and then I have to have the roof repaired. All the while having to pay for it all myself because the big kicker is that my Home Owners Insurance doesn’t cover anything that is related to “vermin”. So any damage to my home from bugs or critters is my own problem. GREAT!!!!!!