Cenvar Gives - Roof Replacement in Ridgeway Virginia
Sharon Harris, a 73-year-old woman from Ridgeway Va in Henry County, was sitting in her living room one rainy day and felt water dripping onto her arm. Harris and her husband have always taken on their own home projects, doing everything from “cutting trees, mowing grass, plumbing, pulling wells,” and remodeling a house, so she was under the impression her roof suffered water damage. “I just picked up things over the years,” she explains matter-of-factly.
Easy to Install for Sharon Harris
Harris and her husband had even patched minor repairs to their roof over the years, so Harris “knew I could do it because I had done it before,” she explains simply, not letting her 73 years stop her from doing what was necessary.
“I didn’t tell my kids because I didn’t want them to fuss at me,” she says, but she did mention her roof repair to friends at church. “People at church told me I shouldn’t be up on the roof,” she laughs, but then when they realized she was serious about the project, “they said I should video it.”
Harris had her grandson climb up on the roof with her and take a video of her repair. “I had to pull him up because he was scared,” she remembers, “but I just scooted down the roof pitch to the bottom of the roof [where the repair was needed] and I was just feeling with my hands, and I put the first layer [of shingles] down, and once I had that I knew I could do the rest.”
From Figsboro Va to Roanoke City and Beyond
Harris’ daughter then sent the video to their local news station. “I didn’t realize it was going to be like it was,” Harris says about all the media attention generated by her roof repair. “My daughter said the news was gonna call, and to make sure I answered the phone,” she remembers.
National news and stations across the country picked up the story from there. “Someone on our team heard about it,” GM Collin Murphy from our Roanoke, VA branch says, and he immediately felt drawn to the story. “My parents are in that age,” he says, and he was impressed that Harris had gone on her roof and “took care of it herself.” “She did quite a bit of work on it,” Murphy adds.
Cenvar Roofing - Roanoke, Virginia
When the news called Harris and said Cenvar would be giving them a new roof, “my husband said we didn’t need a roof,” Harris remembers with a laugh. “The lady [from the news] said, ‘I think if your wife is up on top of the house, you need a new roof,” she says. “I was nervous, excited, I couldn’t believe it was happening,” Harris says about the day that Murphy and his team came out to look at her roof.
According to Murphy, the roof material was “in a pretty good state of disarray,” with three or four different colored shingles used in various repair jobs over the years. Though he could tell the roof had been patched several times, Murphy says “the best part of the roof was what she had done herself!” Harris laughs, recalling the roofer telling him she did a better job than some of the roofers he had seen in the past."
Roofing Solutions Near Me
Since Harris’ story had become national news, the day of the roof replacement drew a lot of attention. “The news came out three or four times,” Harris says, and they were there to film when Murphy and his crew replaced the roof.
“I was so excited and thrilled. It was like a dream come true. I was nervous but excited all at the same time,” Harris remembers. Along with all the excitement was a significant bit of work for Murphy and his team.
"The crew stayed until 7 or 7:30 to get it all done," Murphy explains, noting that there was a significant amount of wood that needed replacement, along with some of the roof deck.
Harris recalled that it seemed like “everybody was here,” with the roofing crew, news crews, and her neighbors all outside. Some of her neighbors even ended up cooking Murphy and his crew hotdogs for lunch! “We laughed all day. It was just a fun, fun day,” Harris says.
Gutter Installations - Icing on the Cake
The finished roof—now in a uniform color of estate gray shingles—still leaves Harris in shock, she says. “Every time I look at the house, it’s like, ‘oh my god, I don’t have to worry anymore. It was a blessing.’” But Murphy and his crew had one more surprise in store for Harris.
“There were no gutters on the house,” Murphy explains, “so after we did the roof, I had our gutter guys come out too.” “I told them they could just replace the one gutter that fell down, and he said, ‘No we’re going to do them all around the house!” Harris recalls. “He didn’t have the camera on me at that time,” Harris says with a laugh, “but he says, ‘I should have had the camera on you then’ because of my look of shock after the gutters.”
The project helped Sharon and her husband save money ($9,700) between labor costs and different types of roof materials.
A Roofing Company That Wants to Protect Your Home
Getting used to being in front of the camera has certainly been an adjustment for Harris. “I was on commercials [for the news] for a while,” she says, remembering a time when she was “watching Wheel of Fortune, and then I heard my own voice!” Harris may be in front of the camera a lot more now, but Murphy says he hopes “she never has to get on that roof again!”
