Young House Love

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Replacing An Old Furnace & Getting A New Roof

When we bought our house, there were two big issues we knew that we needed to deal with right away:

  • the ancient furnace for the first floor was so poorly maintained we weren’t sure it would run
  • the 32 year old roof was at the end of it’s life and there was a hole in it (it was actively leaking into the attic every time it rained)

Roof 2

Thankfully we knew about both of these issues when we bid on the house, and we were able to negotiate thousands of dollars back at closing to go towards those updates (since a new roof and a new furnace are hardly cheap fixes). Then it was just a matter of getting them repaired as soon as possible. So while we were on our book tour, picture us playing phone tag with furnace folks and roofers in order to get those things straight while bouncing around the country. And by some miracle, we were able to get the furnace cleaned and running along with a completely new 50 year dimensional shingle roof within a few weeks of owning the house.

Roof3

It was crazy to see how much rot there was (in some cases, the entire roof, including the plywood underneath, had to be removed and replaced).

Roof4

It definitely got a little worse looking before it got better…

Roof5

… but Clara didn’t seem fazed by the 2′ piles of old roofing stuff around the house. Atta girl.

Roof6

Ahh, much better.

Roof8

Oh and as for how we chose the roofer, we used them on our first house and loved them (they’re a a fully insured family owned local business who’ve been in the roofing game for nearly 60 years). We still got three roofing estimates again, just to be sure, but they came in at the best price plus they were folks we had used already – so it was a nice easy choice.

When it came to choosing the type of roof, we looked around at homes in our neighborhood and noticed that the brick colonials that we loved the most had this type of roof (it’s a 50 year dimensional shingle roof that has nice big slate-like shapes going on, which seemed more to scale with the house) so we pulled the trigger. You can see them best on the lower roof on the left of the house (that’s over the garage) in this picture:

Roof7

You get more of the slate-like look when you get closer. Here’s a photo of a smaller awning on the back of the house that shows how beefy and square-ish the tiles are. The brand is GAF Camelot 2, and the color is Antique Slate. It actually has a lifetime warranty, so although it’s occasionally known as a 50 year roof, it could hold up longer (knock on wood). Plus it has the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, which is nice, but I always wish there was an actual seal (you know, with a ball on his nose) in the logo. Missed opportunity.

Roof Detail2

But while the new roof felt like a nice long-term fix (which was especially comforting after we confirmed that there was no long-term damage or mold from that leak) we continued to have issues with the furnace. So that initial fix felt like a band-aid while the new roof was a nice solid improvement. Apparently the furnace was original to the house (32 years old) and had never been cleaned. Never! They didn’t even think the filter had been changed once. So yeah. It was, in the words of Rob Lowe on Parks & Rec, LITERALLY a hot mess.

Old Furnace

And since it was so old and has never really been serviced or maintained, it was incredibly hard to find parts. So finally after our 5th service call or so (we were smelling gas in the garage, which was SCARY and we worried there was some sort of leak or carbon monoxide issue) we got a pretty amazing call from our home warranty folks. We were getting a brand new Goodman furnace (which comes with an awesome warranty). On the house! As in, it was going to be free thanks to the 1 year home warranty that we got when we bought our house (we paid about $500 for it at closing because we knew if anything major broke in that time, it would be covered, and that peace of mind seemed worth it to us). Let me tell you, when they pulled into our driveway with a new 5K furnace (which included free installation and some new duct work)… that $500 was the best money we ever spent!

New Furnace

So those are two updates that we did way back when we got the house, just because they couldn’t wait. Sorry it took so long for us to share them, we had to clear out some moving chaos that we had amassed in the garage to get that breathtakingly gorgeous after shot of the furnace that you see above.

On one hand it felt really nice to check two major things off the list so early (especially since one was free from the home warranty company and one was paid for with money that we got back at closing), but it was also a nice early lesson that juggling two houses was a lot more overwhelming than one. In fact John’s parents had to meet the service folks at our new house for an emergency furnace appointment once because we were on a plane coming back from a tour stop in Palo Alto.

So we got these two big important things taken care of as quickly as we could and immediately clicked back into “current house mode” in the hopes of avoiding immediate brain combustion (that’s a thing, right?). Then once we wrapped up the tour, the holidays, and the rest of the projects we wanted to complete at our last house, we finally allowed ourselves to switch gears back into “new house mode.” Which was so exciting it made me want to write one word 3,000 letter posts like this:

Squuuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

While doing this dance.

So there’s gotta be a lesson in here somewhere, right? Maybe it’s “seriously consider the $500 home warranty, just for the peace of mind!” And I think there’s something to our roof-picking method (we literally just drove all over our neighborhood staring at the ones we liked best and tried to analyze why we liked them). Did you do a “neighborhood crawl” like we did? Have you ever gotten anything for free within the first year of home ownership thanks to a home warranty?

Update: It has been really interesting to read everyone’s experiences in the comment section. While a bunch of folks have scored new items thanks to a home warranty (and some people renew them every year since they find them to be so worth it) others haven’t been as happy with theirs and have terrible stories of frustration and disappointment. It seems to really depend on the region, warranty company, and each individual situation.

Comments

  1. Anele @ Success Along the Weigh says

    The new roof looks awesome! I love the color you chose. When we move some year, I will DEFINITELY get the home warranty now. (I probably would’ve anyway but that story was enough to reinforce the decision!) I bet you’ll enjoy the heat that much more this winter! It amazes me when people don’t change their filters! The cheapest way to maintain something that is quite a bite in the wallet if you don’t!

    Reply

  2. Leslie R. says

    That is so awesome!!! that you got such a great deal on the furnace. My experience with the Homeowner Warranty repair/replace folks (on a microwave) was not as successful. Did you just call ’em up and tell them about the situation? Was there weeks of negotiating? I’d love to know more about the whole process.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      In our case we called them and said “ok, we had heat for a few weeks and then it shut off” and they sent someone out and it was a $75 service fee I think (either that or $50, I can’t remember) and they said “oh you need this part” and ordered it and came back out to put it in, and it only worked for a small amount of time, and then we called them back when it shut down again and mentioned the smell/leak in the garage and they sent someone back out and that’s when they said “we give up! This thing is too tough to repair, so you’re getting a new one!” – their phone call was very nice actually and I almost cried it was such a relief after all of the back and forth. Hope it helps!

      xo
      s

  3. Wendy @ New Moms Talk says

    When we lived in Mississippi, the people who bought our home purchased all of the supplemental insurances they could. A year or so later, Elena hit and knocked a tree straight across the master bedroom through the entire house. Thankfully they had evacuated.

    It’s a reminder that those extra payments due pay off.

    Reply

  5. Starr @ The Kiefer Cottage says

    Careful singing the praises of *all* home warranties. Many people don’t have such a positive experience, learning that “pre-existing conditions” disqualify many repairs from being covered, and most policies do their darndest to never replace the appliance, just limp it along until the warranty period is over. I will never buy a home warranty ever again!

    Nice roof, though. We’re in the market for one soon. There are four layers of roofing weighing down our house, including two of wood shingles.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh yes, we hear that folks have a ton of different experiences with them (and generally hear if they can just replace a part for $10 you’ll never get a new system). This was just our experience with ours :)

      xo
      s

    • mary says

      From a financial standpoint, most people lose on home warranties, which is why they’re a high profit item for the sellers. That’s great that you were the exception!

    • Elle says

      I’ve also heard (from the service person’s POV) that warranty companies tend to either not want to pay for the service or are very slow about paying so it puts the service company in a bind financially, especially if it’s a small mom and pop type business. That means there are some service people who are very good at their jobs but refuse to do those types of calls.

      ” It was, in the words of Rob Lowe on Parks & Rec, LITERALLY a hot mess.”
      I’m LITERALLY so excited to see this I can’t come up with a good pun sentence including the word literally. (All the bacon and eggs!)

    • verucaamish says

      Add me to the chorus of getting comprehensive warranties/insurance! We got the big enchilada of car insurance which paid off big time when one car got stolen and we get free rental car for when it was being resolved along with coverage for the repair when it was recovered. We also had another car get totaled and got the blue book value for it when it was clear it would cost more to repair it. I feel so validated.

    • Christina says

      We were gypped by the home warranty too. Our boiler (house and water heat) quit at 10 pm the night we moved in. In winter. We had no where else to go and HSA said we were out of luck since it was “pre-existing” (though it had been working even that day).

      Our realtor did call in a favor a couple days later and get them to buy us a new one, but they hired the cheapest workers, who installed it wrong and the dog and I got carbon monoxide poisoning. :( We still had to pay to get it reinstalled properly.

      It’s nice to hear that the warranty worked for someone though! We will never buy one from HSA again.

  6. Courtney says

    This has nothing to do with this post – though I’m super happy your roof is no longer leaking. I just had to say how excited I was to get the most recent issue of HGTV magazine and to open it up and see a whole article on your house. It was a great combination of two of my favorite things – YHL and HGTV!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Aw thanks Courtney! That was so crazy to see! We thought it would be a page or two so we got all blushy and clammy when we had it in our hot little hands!

      xo
      s

    • YoungHouseLove says

      They actually didn’t know before you guys! We revealed it to you guys on April 30th, which was right around when we told them via email (they came out to shoot our house before that but we didn’t tell them then). I’m telling you guys, we didn’t speak about it to anyone (it was locked deep in our brains so they wouldn’t explode). We literally emailed our extended friends and family to tell them on the day before we revealed it to the internet at large and other than that I think only our parents and siblings (and the realtor) knew.

      xo
      s

    • DCWJes says

      So crazy! It must be in the July issue since I don’t have it yet! But it is up on their site! So any non subscribers can check it out!

      Btw, I started reading your blog in March. Today, I am I caught up. I am strange and like reading blogs “cover to current”!

  7. Rebecca B. says

    Literally, within 4 days of moving into our home, we had a leak in the upstairs bathroom that ran through the floor and into the dining room below. The home warranty paid for the plumbing repairs and it and our homeowners insurance covered the cost of opening up the wall to get it dried out and then repaired after. We love our home warranty!

    Reply

  8. katie | deranchification says

    Wow – that is awesome that the furnace was covered under the warranty. Our warranty only covered the exact part that was broken and the labor to install only that one part – the problem was that the broken part was our master bath shower pan which meant a lot of things had to be demo’d to get to it and then had to be replaced afterwards, and our warranty didn’t cover any of the surrounding tasks :(

    Reply

    • Renee says

      Same thing happened to us. Master bath shower leaked water to our living room ceiling. Our warranty company only let us call their service folks(at $75 per service call), who said “it could be this, it could be that, but, I can’t tell you for sure until we open up the ceiling to figure it out, but, thats not covered.” Um, no thanks.

      One call to our trusted plumber and our shower pan was sealed and tile grouted and it was fixed – no opening up the ceiling.

    • Lindsey says

      SAME exact thing happened to us!!! The shower pan which was supposedly checked by the inspector at inspection, was messed up causing LOTS of damage. It was the biggest headache and three years later I am still unhappy with the work that was done by the people the home warranty people sent out. However several years ago with our first house, the home warranty covered a new a/c unit so we had good luck that time. so we have had good and bad experience with home warranties.

    • YoungHouseLove says

      It has been so interesting to hear from folks who have made out like bandits and others who have had the opposite experience! We always heard warranties were notoriously hard to deal with so we were completely surprised when they gave us the furnace. If they could have found the old parts they needed and fixed that crack without replacing it I’m sure they would have.

      xo,
      s

  9. ann marie says

    Wow, that is really sad the previous owners did not take care of their house at all! This is a good example of how NOT to treat your investments. I am glad you guys were able to get it fixed without too much hassle and without much residual damage from the lack of maintenance. Your home inspector must have been beside himself! Can’t wait to see that nice house fixed up and treated how it deserves to be!

    Reply

  10. Angie says

    Oh man, Celine Dion knows how to have herself a good time. Love that girl.

    We actually just closed on our first house on Thursday and have already had to utilize the 1 year home warranty that the seller included with our purchase. We noticed the ceiling in our foyer, which is directly below the master and guest bath, had a pretty substantial water stain forming. Unfortunately, we had to pay the $100 deductible for the contracted company to tell use we had somehow cracked the floor of our master shower (not a quality shower to begin with and then over the course of the three showers I’ve taken in it, I’ve dropped giant Aussie shampoo/conditioner bottles about 10 times) and that was causing the leak. Home warranties cover appliances and plumbing but do not replace showers. :( Welcome to home ownership, I guess. Still nice to know that the warranty will help us out if something major like the AC breaks.

    Reply

  11. Jessica says

    Since we bought our house in the summer of 2011, we have had, surprisingly, to install a radon mitigation system, water softerner/chlorinator, well pump, hot water heater, and a new roof (coming any day now, actually). I don’t know how we’re pulling it off financially, but it’s happening! And while it’s hard on our finances, I love the peace of mind that comes with starting fresh. Being forced to put on a new roof means I don’t have to worry about it blowing off in every storm!

    Reply

    • Courtney says

      Oh man, I feel your pain. In the first 3 years I’ve replaced the furnace, air conditioner, rotted siding, all of the exterior paint, AND windows. It was crazy expensive, but I’m with you on going new. At least it all came with warranties this way!

    • Ryan Hart says

      This is a really common situation, so you’re not alone. Would you have bought the same house if you knew how many repairs were needed?

  12. Skeeter says

    We also got a home warranty when we bought our house. We were able to negotiate that the sellers would pay for it, so free is awesome. Although we were a little bummed about one thing. After just a couple of months our water heater broke. So we called the home warranty people and after sending a repair man to look at it, paying the $150 deductible (I think that’s how much it was), they said that they don’t cover items damaged by mineral deposits. We have a lot of hard water out where we live and that was the culprit. So, that was disappointing. So, we ended up having to buy a new one ourselves out of pocket. Luckily they aren’t that expensive. But the warranty did provide us with a lot of peace of mind for the bigger things, which is nice!

    Reply

  13. Kate. says

    We used the same technique when picking shingles for our house and now we’re doing that with front doors – we want a new one but aren’t exactly sure what style. :) …as for a home warranty, we realized we SHOULD have done that after a fairly big AC issue and a hot water tank replacement. Live and learn!

    Reply

  14. Richelle says

    Our home warranty was put in our contract to be paid by the seller (yay!) and we got a brand new stove and had a few plumbing issues fixed in the first year of owning our house.

    Reply

  15. Bridgit says

    That is awesome! I am going to look into our home warranty coverage! Since you mentioned good roofers, can you recommend any good electricians in the Richmond area?

    Reply

  16. Jeanna says

    That’s awesome that you got a brand new furnace and it was covered by your home warranty. We had the same 1 year appliance warranty- but with ours the rules are repair, not replace! So our ANCIENT (but great, cause it’s huge!) top loader washing machine, bit the dust, but they spent almost $1000 on parts to fix it- so, it’s basically a brand new washer- all be it, old looking, never gonna die now, BEAST of a washer! I love it! Sure- it would’ve been easier to just get a new one- but, I don’t know- sometimes “they just don’t make ’em like they used to” ya know?

    Reply

  17. Stacy says

    When we moved into our home the dishwasher was pretty stinky. My husband had taken it apart and cleaned out the filter and we had run some vinegar through it but overall it just stunk. It also didn’t seem to really clean the dishes. So we called our home warranty company – since that came free at closing – and they sent out a repair guy. He fixed it, told us how to maintain it and told us to never replace it since it’s a Bosh and would likely last forever if it was taken care of correctly. He said it definitely had a few dozen more years on it. If we had tried to get someone else to repair it we would have paid a fortune or probably just replaced it since it would have been cheaper. I’m hopeful with our new home purchase that the home warranty is an option at closing. We will definitely take advantage of it.

    Reply

    • Laura says

      Stacy, I’m wondering what did the guy tell you about how to maintain the dishwasher?

  19. Tyra says

    We closed on our first house in December and also have a 1 year home warrenty. We have made several calls about our heating/air pump and they have done several fixes, but no replacements yet. I’m just praying the thing dies before December and we can get a new one for free!!!! Here’s hoping…

    Reply

  20. Lauren says

    Awesome to hear about the furnace replacement! Who is your home warranty through? I closed on my house a couple months ago and have mixed feelings about the warranty I got through HSA. Also, did you have to pay a service call or deductible for all 5 calls? Thanks!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      It’s by Old Republic (I think those vary a lot by location) and I think the first service call was $75 but the rest were free since the thing they were repairing wasn’t being adequately remedied so they kept coming out until they just said “this thing’s too old! replace it!”

      xo
      s

    • Lauren says

      Good to know! I’ll just be persistent with my AC issue. I think it is 25-30 years old so maybe it will be replaced as well! Fingers crossed!

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Tandy! It really depends on how large your roof is (it’s all done by the square footage) and it seems to depend on location (some more “expensive cities” charge more for premium roof choices and here it was only around $800 more to upgrade). I would get an estimate (they’re free) just to see what you’re dealing with for your size house & location :)

      xo
      s

    • Jenn says

      It really does vary. Our home is 2000sq ft and we had bids on this exact roof (we live in WA) and those bids ranged from 9k to 22k. The 9k bid was for GAF but not Camelot but you really can’t see in the pics how amazing the Camelot really is. It is gorgeous in person!

    • Kacie says

      Our roof was replaced (30-year dimensional) last year. It was around $6k-7k…except not. Our homeowner’s insurance covered it! Mega hail storm ftw.

      Phew.

      Also, I cannot believe those folks never serviced their furance! I ALSO cannot believe it held on for 30+ years! That’s impressive. And scary.

  23. Liliha says

    A couple of houses ago, I moved into one with a Sub-Zero refrigerator that was more than 20 years old. The motor promptly burned out and the home warranty paid for it, plus a new hot water heater. Then they promptly kicked me off the policy. Oh well. It was worth it.

    Reply

  25. Kristin says

    Ok, I am seriously hyperventilating here at the thought of a 32 year old furnace, never cleaned, with possibly the original filter. Did the previous owners DIE in the house from CO poisoning?!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thankfully they didn’t but there weren’t any carbon monoxide detectors in the house, so during the inspection the inspector basically said “promise me you’ll get a bunch before you even move in, it’s so dangerous.” Scary!

      xo
      s

  26. Debby says

    My husband and I did drive around looking at roofs before we replaced ours. Because the pitch of our roof isn’t as grand as yours, we went with a good, basic shingle that our roofer recommended. We also said it was the most boring purchase/improvement to our house. It’s not like you say to your friends “Hey come look at my new roof” However, it is the thing that protects all your goodies inside the house.

    I am curious, was this a foreclosure ? Why in the world would people let serious maintenance issues get to that point? Just wondering. I just started following your blog about a month ago. I am updating my kitchen and was googling painting kitchen cabinets and there you two were. Now I am hooked!!!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Believe it or not, it wasn’t a foreclosure. They just priced it low since they knew it needed a lot of work, and we snatched it up since we love showing houses some love.

      xo
      s

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh man, I don’t know how to tell that story. He was in the crawl space when we were getting the alarm installed and the installation expert ran outta there and the entire installation was on hold until we could get him out of the crawl space. Dude was sneaky (hard to humainely trap) but we finally sealed up where he was getting in and we finally got the alarm in. As far as we know he’s no longer a downstairs tenant. Here’s hoping!

      xo
      s

    • Pam the Goatherd says

      In case you have a possum inside again the best way to trap them is with a live trap baited with canned cat food. They LOVE cat food and the wet food wafts an irresistible lure to them. I have trapped many a possum and raccoon that way.

    • Lindsey says

      I was waiting for that story too! And the canned cat food trick… I’m filing that away in case we ever need it. How smart! We live in the country so chances are we might just need that tip! THANKS!!

    • Meg says

      Just FYI on opossums (I live in the country, and we have them as frequent visitors; there was a baby on our porch just a few weeks ago), they’re actually really harmless. Contrary to popular belief, it’s impossible for them to carry rabies because their body temperature runs too low. Also, while they will hiss, they almost never bite unless cornered. If you make a loud noise or act threatening, you might be able to get them to “play opossum” and then just remove them (wearing leather gloves) while they’re semi-conscious. I second the canned cat food thing, too, though. If you put it outside, chances are they’ll go for it and you can chase them off and seal up the hole.

      And for the really animal-friendly people out there–spring and early summer are baby opossum time. Opossums are marsupials. If you see an adult opossum hit on the road, there’s a decent chance that she’s a mama with (live) babies in her pouch. Sometimes, the babies are old enough to be saved and fostered by wildlife rescue. So, if you pull over and check her pouch, you might save some lives. (For a reason why you might want to, Google “baby opossum.” They are ADORABLE.)

    • Jen B says

      Just an FYI on the possum story.. Last spring my MIL trapped a possum under her 3 season room and released it to the wild. Little did she know another possum had died under the same room. Her house became infested with fleas from it, and it required a disaster service clean up company to rip out her sub floor, clean out under the room, and spray for fleas twice. She ended up having to replace the carpet in her whole house by the time the whole ordeal was over. She is a very meticulous house keeper and she was pretty devastated by the whole nightmare!!

  28. Christy says

    Wow, you really lucked out!!! My fiance and I spent well over $20,000 on roof,furnace and septic issues the first year after we bought our house. Wish we had the option for that warranty!!

    On a side note- Sherry, I can totally picture you doing that dance :)

    Reply

  29. Katie says

    I’m torn between “ew!” and “I actually kind of like it” regarding the old moldy-cottage-chic roof! But the new roof seems much safer and more functional for everyone. I still can’t believe you were juggling all this and a book tour, too. You guys are awesome.

    -Katie at AdventuringAtHome

    Reply

  30. Kelly says

    So…a bear crawled out of your roof and into the ad next door while I was reading it. That must have been a big leak! ;-)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      THE BEAR IS BACK?!?! Seriously, that guy is messing with me at this point. We heard he was gone last week. Now he’s dancing around just to make me crazy.

      xo
      s

    • Heather Flint says

      SO JEALOUS you got to see the bear!!!! I think I’m officially putting spotting this thing on my bucket list!! I can’t wait for the day he comes prancing across my screen…. it will be glorious!! Lol

  31. bridget b. says

    We used American Home Shield for the warranty on our old house and ended up getting a brand new air conditioner during the first year after making repeated service calls. We *did* have to pay about $600 of the cost (in addition to our yearly warranty fee of $400). But the A/C itself cost several thousand dollars, which we were more than glad to keep in our pockets.

    Reply

  32. Liz C. says

    We just bought our first place in July and haven’t even really thought about the furnace…do you think it’s a good idea to get it serviced? I think it’s pretty old and have no idea if/when it was ever serviced.

    Reply

    • Stacy says

      Not sure if you use oil to heat your home or not, but just an FYI – whoever you use to fill your oil tank will usually handle your furnace issues. The company we use will actually provide a “free” servicing of the furnace each year. It really isn’t free since we end up paying for it with the use of oil, but most times it’s considered that way. Price in the summer for oil b/c you can usually get on a budget plan and save yourself some cash that way. Ask your neighbors if you don’t already have someone lined up who they use.

    • Linda says

      I’m in a condo but own my own HVAC system. For peace of mind, a discount on labor, and the comfort of being a standing customer (which comes in handy if the furnace goes on a sub-zero day), I have a twice a year visit – end of spring for the AC, early fall for the furnace. They check everything, swap out my whole-house humidifier filter, etc.

      I really think it’s worth interviewing HVAC folks in your area BEFORE you have a crisis. And better to repair/replace anything at a time of your choosing – not when it’s suddenly broken.

      Sherry, how’s your AC? And I think I’m afraid to ask about plumbing and electrical systems, but hope the roof and one furnace was the worst of the worst.

  34. DJM says

    We bought a house in February. The sellers included the 1 year warranty. The kitchen was mostly updated with stainless steel appliances except for the double oven which was an ugly white. In less than a month after we moved in the oven stopped working. Oven could not be fixed since parts were no longer made. It was made by company called Modern Maid- Raytheon (yes -the aerospace company!)Anyways we got a $2,000 stainless double oven for free! Hopefully our white built in microwave breakdowns before the warranty expires.

    Reply

  36. Kate says

    We recently re-upped our $480 home warrenty for a third year. It’s paid more than itself the past two years! Love it.

    Reply

  37. Emily says

    We just got a new roof, as well, and we picked the same thing (hubby’s BFF is a contractor and suggested it for both longevity and appearance– he calls them “architectural shingles”, but dimensional is another term). I have to say, it’s made an amazing difference to the appearance of our 1960’s ranch! :)

    Reply

  39. LauraC says

    I’ve never heard of a home warranty. Home insurance, of course, warranty, no. Pretty awesome deal for $500!

    Reply

  40. Betsy says

    We just got a new roof on our house and now we have no cell phone reception in our house. I’m curious if this happened to you?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Really?! That’s so funny! We have terrible reception at the house, but we did even during the walk through with the old roof (there are tons of trees in our wooded neighborhood so we blame them, haha).

      xo
      s

    • Nicole says

      I work from home and we live in a wooded area and have horrible reception. I bought a network extender from my service provider (Verizon – it was about $150). It sits in a window and now we have perfect reception. You hear a little beep when making or receiving calls and that’s how you know you’re on the extended network! I would definitely recommend it. Quick question – are you not sharing the price of the roof as part of a new philosophy to keep some information private? And are you going to share a post telling us what you’re working on while you’re posting some non-project related posts? Thanks!

      P.S. The sellers included a home warranty with our house and 4 months after buying it the water heater broke. So we got a new one… except we forgot about the damn warranty and paid out of pocket!! Of course they wouldn’t reimburse us after that… such an expensive, stupid mistake on our part!

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We’ve always shared costs when we think they help people see how much something would be for them, but since roofing varies so much (there’s a comment thread about that on the first page of comments) it doesn’t seem as universal – whereas painting a bathroom and replacing the sink and frosting a window are a lot more “across the board” prices. As for what we’re working on, we moved in two weeks ago so we’re still just getting settled and doing things we’ve mentioned, like installing the door knobs we shared last week, planning front door paint colors, and gearing up for some serious wallpaper stripping…

      xo,
      s

    • Liz C. says

      We also got a network extender for our condo in Boston, which has terrible reception. We complained hard-core to AT&T (we live in a major city, so it is pretty ridiculous to have “NO SERVICE”); they sent us the extender and credited our next bill for the $150 cost. Sometimes it’s worth it just to express some concern since they don’t want to lose a customer!

    • Autumn says

      Same thing happened to us two years ago Betsy! Our new roof was installed after tornadoes hit our area so at first we thought a cell tower was down but here we are two years later & reception is still spotty. Finally, after lots of back & forth with AT&T (we were about to cancel our service & switch to a carrier that had a good signal at our home) they sent us a micro booster & have waived the monthly fee which helped some. My husband gets a full signal on his android phone but my iPhone still only gets two bars. It’s strange that it happened right after we had new roof put on our home but AT&T said that shouldn’t have an effect our signal so I don’t know.

  41. Kristin says

    Buying a home warranty was the smartest decision we ever made. In our first year at our new house, we had to replace the furnace, the central air, the dishwasher, AND the hot water tank… and they were all freeeeee! I can’t stand to think about what we would have spent without that warranty!

    Reply

  42. Susan H says

    Home Warranties are awesome! We bought one when we purchased our foreclosure. Within a week of moving in our electrical box on the outside of our house just broke. Entire house had no power. The warranty crew came out and fixed it. When we asked what it would have cost if we didn’t have the warranty, they said over 400 dollars! We paid only 50 for the house call! Shortly after our toilet broke and we had plumbing issues and it was another 300 dollar fix in which we only paid 50. I’m a huge proponent of them!! Glad to see you got a new furnace from them! I know that was a relief! :)

    Reply

  44. Eri says

    Oh what a difference! Beauuutiful!

    Hey Sher, it seems you win whenever you negotiate! :) What’s your secret? In this particular case, didn’t they say, for example, those issues were already priced in (since you said the house was much lower priced than those in the neighborhood, given the condition)? How did you get their yes?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      It was actually a toughie (they were selling the house as-is) but I wrote the seller (who was the original owner’s son) a very honest note saying that we want to take care of this house and raise our daughter there but it’s a big hit on our finances to replace such major things off the bat, so if they could just offer some money at closing it would enable us to buy the house and restore it to its old glory. He was very nice and still negotiated back and forth a bit, but in the end we were so grateful to get that money back. It really did help us jump on those major issues (like that leaking roof) right away.

      xo
      s

    • Jessica says

      I’m a big fan of haggling for a deal in most cases, but I have to admit, writing a personal letter to a homeowner begging for a discount on an already great deal of a house sounds at the same time shameless, inappropriate, and desperate. More power to you, I guess, since apparently it worked, but is there a line you draw as far as when haggling is appropriate or how far you’ll go to get a better deal than already given? Personal notes from buyer to seller sounds like a big real estate DON’T to me. I’m a big fan of your blog and of you guys, but this really bothers me. Too late now, I guess, but I hope it helps!

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We gave the seller his asking price on this house (it was a great deal) so we didn’t lowball the price in any way. And since we gave him his asking price, we thought asking for money back at closing was fair, as did our seller’s agent (it’s actually common practice in our area). Hope that gives it more context for you Jessica :)

      xo
      s

  45. Denise says

    OMG I can’t believe the furnace had NEVER been maintained! Just scares the dickens out of me!! I just don’t quite understand though how the home warranty would kick in – kind of “pre-existing condition” if you know what I mean. Can you explain how this works? Thanks.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Good question! Things are “pre-existing conditions” (and not covered) if something is broken when you get it. So for example, if we couldn’t get the furnace running we couldn’t get a new one since it was considered broken when we got it. Thankfully we got it running and heated the house for a few weeks and then it broke down (new issue, needed a different part) and then finding that part and later learning that there was a new garage leak was all that it took for them to say “alright, this thing is too hard to fix, you get a new one!” – and we’re so grateful they did!

      xo
      s

    • Devon @ Green House, Good Life says

      A lot of home warranty companies have a 30-day waiting period, presumably on the theory that you wouldn’t be able to live without, say, a refrigerator for 30 days if it was broken when you moved in. There also tend to be exclusions for improper installation and lack of maintenance. And lots of other exclusions. You got really lucky.

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh yes, we’re thanking our lucky stars! Although we were without a working furnace for at least a few months (they’d fix it, it would break again, etc). They didn’t install the new one in until about a month or two before we moved in, so by then we’d owned the house for 4 months I think!

      xo
      s

  47. deb says

    I’m closing on a new house on Thursday and would LOVE a warranty like that! But I’ve never heard of a home warranty being offered on an older home. How does it work—is it offered through your lender?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      You pay $500 extra at closing usually for one (maybe the amount varies by region). I’d call your closing attorney to see if they can add it on there for you.

      xo
      s

    • Kimberley says

      I believe you could have also written it into your bid on the house – i.e., requesting the seller to provide one for you. Our sellers had to provide us with a one year warranty when we bought our house in Cincinnati back in 2011.

  48. Lesley says

    We got the $500 warranty and we got a check for a little under what it would cost to replace the over the stove microwave. We also had to have the fluids re-filled and work done on the ac which we only had to pay the $75 deductible. We thought it was worth it enough to get it again when it expired. It seems worth it especially the first year.

    Reply

  49. Julie says

    We got the home warranty for free when we bought our house and have renewed it every year – just for peace of mind! It has covered AC guys coming out for a leak and had our microwave repaired (it is the vent a hood kind above the stove) when it went out. We have LOVED it and are thankful it hasn’t been anything more major!

    Reply

  50. Tandra@LittleHousesBigDogs says

    One of the reasons we’ve been on such a tight renovation budget and pinching the pennies is because of our roof. Thank you for posting the exact materials. We’re in the process of trying to select one too. However we’re looking at 30 year, whats the difference between 50? Is it the thickness, quality?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Yes, I think it’s how many layers (underlayment, how thick it is, the type of shingle, etc). I would get the typical roof priced out and the upgraded roof priced out. In our case to go from 30 to 50 years and upgrade the look (slate-look instead of smaller rectangles) was only around $800 more, so it was so worth it for 20 years more of protection, a lifetime warranty, and an upgraded look. Hope it helps!

      xo
      s

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