Our house and our effort to keep it whole.

We've noticed that some people we know have been dealing with Mother Nature's abuse of their homes/cars lately, and we've escaped relatively unscathed up here in God's Country. Until now.

Our 110 year old Farmhouse with 10 yr old roof and 25 yr old siding.

We've had a slew of contractors going through our neighborhood after the last 2 storms. Apparently, there was hail and wind damage in multiple parts of our humble corner of the world (and apparently, the storms came from 2 different angles. We've avoided these guys as usually there are a lot of "grifters" that prey on people and we choose to not be one of the victims. However, my siding has gotten worse and I decided to give a company a chance.

A company came by the other day that got my attention: "Eco-Shield". They have an excellent rating with the BBB and Angie's List. They took me over to the west side of our home and pointed out some serious dents. I told then I'd take their card and get back with them. Last week, our Phone Cable ripped off the side of our house (apparently due to yet another storm)... and this provides our DSL. It was put back up, but in another spot and we had this nice little hole that needed repair (they used silicone to seal it, but it looks awful). So, Eco-Shield came to inspect it 2 days ago and has determined that we have both hail and wind damage (verifiable). They estimate that the roof needs to be re-shingled (it was last done in 2003 and the shingles used are no longer made so if they do part of the roof that is damaged, they won't be able to match it). Our siding is aluminum (and is about 25 years old). The extensive dings in the west and south sides of our home is very extensive (a LOT of dimples). They have talked to a USAA claim rep and we are looking at the entire house being resided along with the shingles being redone. I was looking around today since I was able to get around (my latest gout attack is ebbing now), and the shingles on the rear roof over the Kitchen are seriously damaged.

Just in case people were wondering why I seemed depressed a couple of days ago, that is what put me over the edge (as our deductible is $2,000.00). So, in order to effect repairs, this needs to get done soon before we start getting additional leaking in our roof (we've already went through one 5 inch in 1 hour storm that leaked into our living room, and we can't afford for there to be water damage in our home given our financial situation).

So there it is...... we have to deal with it so it is what it is. I just hate it when the black cloud leaves a wake of damage.....

I am trying to get it so the deductible portion can be paid in installments, we'll see if they will work with us).

Normally, in most parts of the world, this would be considered a minor issue.... but we are required to keep the home from being damaged while we are getting help from Illinois Hardest Hit, so we have no choice but to get this done (we have gone this far in trying to keep the house, so this is just another bump in the road).