Tom and I got a new roof for our little house!  Merry Christmas!  Even better, our insurance company, State Farm, paid for it.  That’s the short version of the story.  Read on for a more detailed version.

Back in August, the neighbor who watches our house when we are gone sent me a picture of a water spot on the ceiling of what he calls “the Jesus room.”  He meant my office where I have lots of crosses and church stuff as decoration.  I like the title “Jesus room” and like that description of my office.  Dave had been checking out the house after a big wind storm.  He had some shingles blown off his roof, so he decided to check our house as well.  Tom and I looked at the picture and figured waiting until we got home at the end of September would be soon enough to take care of it.

We wasted no time in contacting roofing companies when we got home.  The first person who looked at the roof said it was storm damage and the insurance company should pay for it.  Tom and I were surprised because we didn’t think there was that much damage to our roof.  But Kirk, the owner of Roofmasters, said our shingles were discontinued and the insurance company would pay to replace the whole roof.  There is a law in Ohio that says if they can’t match the shingles, the insurance company has to pay to replace the whole thing.  That was news to us.

Kirk seemed to know what he was talking about and he has lots of experience dealing with insurance companies.  We signed a contract with him saying that he would negotiate with the insurance company on our behalf.  I filed the claim and a week later the adjuster came out to look at our roof.

The adjustor agreed that we had some storm damage, but felt the repairs would be less than our deductible.  Kirk, who met with him, pointed out the discontinued shingles.  The adjustor said he needed to take a shingle into the lab.  The lab would determine if the shingle was discontinued.  Kirk handed him a shingle.  The adjustor said he would call us back the next week.

One week went by, then two.  When we finally reached the adjustor to ask him what was going on, he said there was a problem.  Kirk had given him a shingle that Kirk took off our roof, but the adjustor hadn’t actually seen him take that shingle off the roof.  His supervisor was denying the claim on that basis.  Tom and I both felt that the adjustor should have known this when he originally took the shingle.  But we all agreed he needed to come out and watch the roofer take another shingle off the roof.  The temporary repair on the roof was getting larger.

Two weeks later, the adjustor and the roofer finally came out to take off another shingle which the adjustor carried to the lab.  He promised to contact us in a few days when the lab made its determination.

One week went by, then two.  Kirk, who is tenacious in dealing with insurance companies, kept calling the adjustor.  I also called my State Farm agent to see if she could move the process along a little.  Finally we got the word from the lab – they had found our shingles in stock in a warehouse nearby.  Kirk was skeptical, but he went to the warehouse and picked up a bundle of the shingles.  Then he laid them on our roof.  Although it was the same kind of shingle, the color was different.  Kirk submitted pictures and paperwork that showed the shingles were not the same and, again, we waited.

At the end of November, State Farm let us know that they were changing our adjustor and that the claim had been kicked up to a supervisor in Georgia.  When we asked for a timely resolution (it was getting pretty cold to put on a roof), the supervisor in Georgia approved the claim and authorized a check for the full amount of a new roof minus our deductible.  Hooray!

Kirk and his crew came out two days after the check was authorized and started working as soon as it was light.  They were very efficient and worked hard to replace the entire roof.  Some of the plywood had to be replaced as well because of the storm damage and some bowing from age.  The crew worked through the wind, some snow, and cold temperatures and finished our roof by the end of the day.  They did an excellent job cleaning up – Tom and I have only found a few nails that they missed.

The entire process took almost three months, but the roofing job itself was over in a day.  Kirk and his crew did an excellent job.  I would recommend Roofmasters to anyone in the area, especially if you are dealing with an insurance claim.  Our new roof looks wonderful!