It was a lovely home, very large, bricked, huge hip roof with a gabled window on each side, and beautiful, newly-installed cedar shakes. Gorgeous! Outside and then inside. And for $1.5 mil it should be!
My client and I had a good time. There was little to speak about really - for a new home I was pleasantly surprised. The supervisor beamed. He had done a good job. My client was impressed and very happy.
It was time for the attic. The pull-down stairs made it easy as the ceilings were 10' high. There was lots to see in the attic - insulation, ventilation, quality of the truss structure, the two HVAC units. I climbed up, turned on the light and waited for my client and the supervisor. He had started tagging along when I complimented him on the house.
Then I saw it. My flashlight came across something I had never seen before in an attic.
It was a stamp. Not a philatelic stamp. These stamps aren't made for mailing. It was a stamp placed on the wood sheathing by the manufacturer. It read:
"This side should be installed up."
Now for me, that was a big Uh-oh! I shined my light elsewhere. More of the same. A lot more of the same! The stamps were everywhere!
Can you say, "Holy Moly Kingfish!"??
I pointed it out to my client. I pointed it out to the supervisor.
That's why I was there, you should know.
My client looked puzzled. The supervisor suddenly stopped beaming.
That's when the supervisor blew it. He said, "Oh, those stamps don't mean anything..."
Given the seriousness of the moment, you should be proud to know I actually suppressed what could have been one really loud, long, bellowing, right-from-the-bottom-of-the-gut laugh.
My client is not a stupid man. He was buying a house for $1.5 million! He said, and you have to appreciate the logic here, "Then why are they on there? Are there stamps on the other side that say, 'This side should be installed down'?"
No answer. So I filled the void, "Yes."
That's why I was there, you should know.
As I looked at the supervisor, his eyes immediately diverted to his feet. I think he was mad. But mad at what? Me? My find? That he was caught? That I discovered something he didn't know about? He has been on site for 120, 130 days or more. I was there a couple of hours, a long morning really. He didn't know? Really?
I have to imagine that removing all those shakes, and sheathing, and not damaging any of those many trusses, then re-sheathing, re-tar papering and re-shingling (cutting and fitting all those shakes ... again), all the while not damaging or letting the weather damage anything inside, well, I have to imagine that it was quite an expensive fix.
I have to imagine that my client was happy ... again.
That's why I was there, you should know.
My recommendation: When you hire roofers, hire the ones who speak English, or can read. If it was your house, which would you prefer?
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