Our new roof is transported to its new home last month.

Even for south Boulder, there seemed to be a lot of wind last fall and winter. We had several days when it blew for almost twenty-four hours straight, disrupting sleep patterns and general tranquility, and several times I thought gusts were going to take out our living room window or rip the pine tree in the front yard by its roots and toss it into the bedroom.

So I wasn’t surprised when I began seeing a couple of shingles in the back yard in late January. Then, a few days later, more pieces over in the side yard. We have lived here fifteen years, and we haven’t had anything done to the roof. Gulp.

In early February I noticed trucks from roofing companies and representatives trolling the neighborhood. Rick Uhlir, who works for Trinity Roofing in Commerce City, was at the front door when Billie came home one day, and we wound up talking with him.

He told us the obvious: Our roof was in bad shape. He also explained that a catastrophic wind event had hit Boulder on December 29, and that our house was probably eligible for a new roof. He suggested that we call our insurance company and have an adjuster come out.

We called our Farmer’s agent, who sent out an adjuster. He arrived with his ladder and tools and said that it would take a couple hours to evaluate the cost. Ten minutes later, just as Uhlir had said, he came back down and said the insurance company would be buying a new roof. He made out a check on the spot for half the projected cost, with the rest to come when the work was finished.

The adjuster explained that normally the roof would be repaired. But our house, like many others in Martin Acres, has T-lock shingles. When they were installed, T-lock shingles were considered state-of-the-art for high-wind-prone areas. But shingle technology has changed; T-lock shingles aren’t made anymore, so they can’t be repaired. The insurance company, he said, was obligated to replace the roof.

Not knowing shingles from Shinola, I sent out a post to the neighborhood listserv and got some advice about roofs. We did some further roof research and checked out several companies before contracting with Trinity, which offered us a low, fair price.

The crew managed to get the roof on in two sessions before the snows came, and we found Farmer’s and Trinity easy to work with, patient with our questions and doubts and eager to make sure we were satisfied with the work. Given the escalating cost of roofs these days, we feel like we got a more-than-fair deal and dodged a bullet before a leak caused more serious problems. Let’s just say I’m feeling a lot more comfortable this morning with all that wet snow melting up there on my roof this morning.

Here are some photos I took this afternoon, mostly along Highway 36 north of the Boulder, Colorado, city limits and just north of Neva Road. The smell of smoke was acrid everywhere, and flare-ups could be seen, mostly on the higher elevations of the foothills west of the highway. Click on the photos for larger images. See my last post for more on the fires.

This is looking west just north of downtown Boulder on U.S. 36. You can see lingering smoke at the top of the shot.

We watched this building north of Neva Road burn last night from a television helicopter camera.

The entrance to this horse ranch just west of U.S. 36 and north of Neva Rd. shows the fire's intensity.

We watched this area east of U.S. 36 burn last night. The fire jumped U.S. 36, climbed this hill and moved east and out of sight in less than a minute.

Small fires are still visible on the higher foothill elevations about a mile north of the Boulder city limits.

At this writing, winds are picking up again in south Boulder. Let’s hope it’s not another long night.