We Are Not Impressed

We received a belated Christmas gift from our insurance company.

But first, some background.

In the late fall of 1993 we were lamenting at paying over $600 a month rent for a small 3 bedroom apartment with no yard. I was driving and M.D.B. was dispatching taxi's. We could afford the rent, so we figured we could afford a mortgage. But with no down payment, and being self employed, nobody would touch us. Then one of our taxi drivers who was also a part time real estate agent left that months catalog at the office.

There it was.

Butter yellow, 1 1/2 story, 2+1 bedroom, 40' x 125' lot, shed, and a yard. Thing One was toddling and Thing 2 would be any day now.

List price?

$42,500

Bank repo.

Been on the market for three years.

It was some might call a handyman's special.

Most said it needed a wrecking ball.

A friend in real estate took care of everything, even arranging our financing.

My Darling Bride and I took possession of Our Humble Castle on January 1st, 1994 with a $40,000 mortgage and a $15,000 renovation loan.

Now I digress even further. (if that is possible)

In late 1992 we had 2 Things in car seats and a 1986 Mustang. While Mustangs are renown for a lot of things, a family car isn't one of them. With us, 2 car seats, diaper bag and stroller on board, we had to have the groceries delivered.

A single friend of ours had a 1977 Suburban Trailering Special. He heard echos inside that beast.

So we proposed and agreed to an even swap.

James, the Suburban was mint inside, and mechanically perfect. It needed very minor body work so the next spring I fixed it and painted it.

Flash forward to 1994.

In April while still doing renovations to Our Humble Castle, James the Suburban was stolen from a parking lot. He was recovered with a broken wing window, smashed column, and a blown engine. The blown engine wasn't discovered until after the window and steering column were repaired.

At that point, the insurance company balked at replacing the engine on a 17 year old truck. I had to remind them of 2 things: a) we hadn't made use of the rental vehicle provisions of our policy and b) we had replacement insurance. They would have to replace a Suburban, in the same condition as ours was before the theft. After a few nasty phone calls, a visit or two from an Adjuster and affidavits from a mechanic, they finally relented-- then canceled our replacement clause.

...Meanwhile, back at Our Humble Castle:

at $40,000 even in 1994 prices, it was you might call a fixer-upper. One of the things that needed fixing-upping (?) was the roof. The shingles were at least 15 years old and showing wear, and, they were an ugly tan/diarrhea brown too.

As there was only one layer of shingles, a tear off wasn't necessary.

As soon as the weather turned warm, I ordered enough 25 year shingles to do the job, as I didn't want to to it again anytime soon. I devised a ramp to pull them up there on my dolly, and spent two days banging away on our roof.

Now to the present day...

the roof held up well these past 15 years, keeping us dry. Last fall I noted there was curling happening and I would have to replace it sooner than the projected 25 year lifespan of the shingles. At this point we felt metal roofing would be best, as it would match the vintage of the house, and we would definitely never need to replace it. But due to the cost, it would have to wait till tax time next spring.

Sunday, December 28th there came a wind that would have made Dorothy poop her pants, and poor Toto would have had kittens. I came home from cooking at a charity breakfast to find shingles in our yard.

Many black shingles.

We have the only black roof in the neighbourhood.

I looked up, and I could see ugly tan/diarrhea brown shingles looking back at me. I had almost forgotten how bad they looked.

So I called our insurance company. When the Adjuster called me back, he apologized for the delay, as he was handling many of these types of calls, and he was waiting for his Adjuster to call back about the damage to his roof.

Great, at least he'll be sympathetic.

A crew of two guys came out the next day to assess the damage and take pictures. They inspected everything, I signed some stuff and they said a real crew would be out the next day to tarp it off.

Sure enough, a crew showed up, laid out a pretty blue tarp and nailed it down. At least we were protected from the elements.

The next day, the Adjuster calls back. Due to the age and condition of the shingles, the decision is to not replace the roof.

Not repair the roof.

We get a tarp.

But they aren't going to charge us the $300 deductible and we can keep the tarp.

How magnanimous.

A free blue poly tarp.

Installed even.

A further call from the insurance company states that they are not going to cover us for any water damage due to leaks until we replace the roof. Oh, and we must replace the roof before they renew us.

We have news for them.

We will replace the roof as planned, with lifetime steel, take all the pictures they want and forward them to whoever they want us to.

Then we will replace our insurance company.

We are not impressed.

DJW

If anyone needs a roof sized blue poly tarp, we will have one available in April.