The Carolina Cottage Gets a Shiny New Roof

The Carolina Cottage gets a shiny new roof this week! Now it has me feeling like things are really looking up {see what I did there- dorky, I know}! As you may recall from last week, we encountered serious issues while working on the chimneys in this little house.

There were three chimneys total: large main one off of the front and then two smaller ones in the back. While none of them were actually functional, the main one couldn’t go in my mind. She is just too pretty and is connected to the large fireplace in the main room.

In addition to the exterior character this chimney provides, it would totally change the look of this little cottage. You can clearly see the chimney from the outside, as it takes up a large portion of the front of the house. Additionally, it would take away so much character inside of the home. However, little did we know what restoring chimneys entails.

Bringing in the Roof Experts

We decided to bring in a Roofer! After the inspection he said it would be best to remove the smaller chimneys on the back to prevent any future leaks. {In the middle image above you can see the tops of the chimneys poking out of the roof.} Also in the images above, you can see how stinkin’ beautiful the interior exposed bricks are that are part of the chimney systems. While I kept that interior character, I realized the chimneys on the roof needed to go. As we started removing them from the roof we realized how fragile it had all become. We didn’t even need tools to move them, just our bare hands. We just picked up each brick individually by hand!

A Completely New Roof

The Roofer suggested we go ahead and give the The Carolina Cottage a shiny new roof instead of patching the chimney spots. The new roof would not only look nicer, but ensure there aren’t any leaks or surprises. We also needed to add a roof cricket to the large front main chimney you can see from the front.

A Roof Cricket: A sloped backing that diverts water away from the chimney and down the roof. A roofer builds a roof cricket out of wood and then adds metal flashing or asphalt shingles on top. During installation, the roofer incorporates the chimney cricket into the chimney flashing system. Now you get to join me in learning other things you never thought you would to know, so you’re welcome!

The roof cricket will also prevent further wood rot and water damage to the front of the home. If you recall, the front fireplace and surrounding wall was in terrible shape {I’m noticing a trend here.} Water was pooling up on the roof behind the chimney which caused it to become totally rotten.

Carolina Cottage’s Shiny New Roof

Initially, we were just going to put on asphalt singles again, but after getting quotes back on both shingles and metal-the price difference wasn’t as different as I expected it to be. For longevity and (if ever) resale value, metal was better. I decided to go with a black metal and a 12” overhang to the front and back of the home over the doors (instead of awnings).

I knew metal was the right choice in my mind, but I have to admit, my heart wasn’t in it. If I am being totally honest, I literally kept myself awake the night after it was installed regretting the choice. My vision had not included a metal roof on this little cottage. Of course, seeing the home for the first time in absolute disarray it was hard to see any vision, but metal updates certainly were not in the initial plan. 

Are you seeing the Carolina Cottage Vision?

Speaking of vision, if you’re having a hard time seeing the full vision of the roof and house too, imagine with me. Imagine a creamy white siding, beautiful cottage style exterior lights, door hardware and black window planters to tie in the contrasting roof. I’m still unsure of the front door color, but I’m leaning towards a smoky blue/gray.

I kind of always take these house renovations one step at a time. While I may have small foresight on my end goal for the most part, I take each step day to day. I figure it out as I go, much like my own life, flying by the seat of my pants!

I wasn’t ready, but I was determined to figure out how to be ready.

This is one of my favorite quotes and phrases to live by honestly. We aren’t always truly ready for what’s ahead in life since we can’t predict the future. But, I believe we can work to get into a place to be ready for what’s to come. A dream without an action is just a wish. If you feel scared, that’s exactly when you should jump. Otherwise, you’ll stay in the same place your whole life without progress or growth or accomplishment. I certainly don’t want to look back on my life and see just a lot of “wishes” that could become realities if I had taken more steps!