Looking at roofs.

Turns out, nobody really looks at roofs.

At least I don't.

Turns out it's one of those fade into the background things -- literally. You'd have to have a hideously ugly or an outstandingly gorgeous roof for people to notice.

Our shake roof is in it's 23 year; they are supposed to last 20 to 25 years. I posted a blog a couple of years ago about ravens pulling up the staples on the crown of our house; we looked out our window and saw these weird shadows and squawks and they were having a great time of it. The roofer laughed when we told him that, and said he'd never heard of such a thing.

"Oh, sure," I said. "You have those ravens trained, don't you?"

Anyway, there are a couple of patches that were looking pretty iffy and I've been thankful for the mild winters these last few years.

It is time.

Linda and I aren't thrilled by our house color (tan) but it appears to be a recent paint job, and still looks solid. We put in new stairs and a couple of decks with the gray trex, which limits our color palate a bit.

We drove around looking at roofs.

Wow. Lots of roofs really don't match the houses very well, but I don't think it's something you notice unless you're looking. Most others just sort of blend in.

The one color that I noticed looked sharp on almost every house was a dark charcoal gray. This would be a safe color to pick.

We also noticed that variegated colors looked a bit classier than solid colors on most house. Of course, we found out that these cost more money. (Hey, why is that? Because they know there is a demand, or because it costs more to make?)

We decided on a variegated color that incorporates both the tan and the gray colors of the house. It's going to limit our house colors in the future, but the gray decking had already done that.

Makes one nervous, not knowing how it will really look once it's on. You can look at pictures, but you never know.

The pricing is interesting. You can get a nice roof, a 30 year mid-range quality roof, for about 4/5th the price of a 50 year, extended warranty higher quality and richer color roof.

When you start averaging out the cost over the life of the roof, you're talking a couple bucks a month.

My first inclination; my knee jerk reaction, is to always go cheap. I usually override that enough to move into the middle range of quality; lately I've been pushing myself to get the higher quality, since I think we can afford it.

We'll be living with this roof for a long time; same thing with the landscaping; same thing with the house furnishings. May as well do it right in the first place.