I went with aluminum railings to save a few bucks, and honestly, I’m not sure I’d do it again. They looked sharp at first, but the salt air started ea...

Had a roofer try to talk me out of upgraded underlayment when I replaced my shingles last year—said it was “extra.” I stuck to my guns since we get th...

That’s exactly what I ran into last year. I thought I was being clever, spent a chunk on those mesh guards, and figured I’d finally be done climbing u...

That chicken coop story cracks me up every time. Makes you look at those big brands a little different, huh? I’ve stuck with Heritage on my last two r...

I get where you’re coming from, but honestly, I’m not convinced that going above code is always worth the extra cash—especially if you’re on a tight b...

I get the logic behind “the small stuff helped keep maintenance costs down between storms,” but honestly, I’ve found the little fixes are sometimes al...

Good point about the underlayment—I learned that lesson the hard way. When we did our roof a few years back, I tried cutting corners there to save som...

Had a similar runaround with my shingle roof last year. Warranty clearly said wind damage was covered, but when I called, suddenly there's an obscure ...

I get what you're saying about flexibility, but honestly, when we built our place, budget was king. Rafters sounded great until we priced them out—lab...

Had something similar happen when we switched to stone-coated last year. Installers accidentally squished part of the ridge vent—noticed some condensa...

Yeah, gotta agree here. When we bought our place about 15 years ago, the inspector said we'd need a new roof within five years tops. We went with basi...

I ran into exactly that issue a couple years back. Our roof warranty required inspections from a specific company, and of course, they were pricier th...