My partner and I bought our house approximately eight years ago. At the time, the two of us knew the home was due for a new roof. Since the two of us managed to get insurance on the property, the two of us hemmed and hawed over the project. The people I was with and I had a lot of other lake house improvements that took the cake. The people I was with and I wanted to install up-to-date windows, buy up-to-date appliances and substitute all of the light fixtures. The people I was with and I were worried about replacing the kitchen, painting the walls and adding attic insulation. Eventually, however, the two of us started finding stray shingles in the grass after storms. The people I was with and I needed to put down buckets to catch leaks every time it rained. There was no option but to invest into a newer roof. The project was started in the middle of August, when the outside temperature was up in the high eighties. Because of the age of the roof and all the layers, the two of us needed to tear the whole thing off. That meant the two of us couldn’t run our cooling system. The home was horribly overheated, and there was a steady influx of bugs and construction debris. My whole family was worried for the roofers to finish. When I started up the ac system, I was surprised how hastily it cooled down the house. The up-to-date roof has definitely tightened up the thermal envelope and improved the energy efficiency of the house. It has significantly decreased my utility costs all year round. The cooling system and oil furnace don’t need to run as often or as long. I am hoping that reducing the workload of the heating and cooling units will add up to greater reliability and longevity.