I thought it would be great to finally live in a house with no risk of tree damage.
- In two of the places I have lived in the course of my life, falling tree limbs during thunderstorms caused serious roof damage to the building.
One of those instances occurred during a tropical storm and I was worried I would have a moldy attic from the rain pouring down through the hole in the roof. As lucky as I was to only need new shingles and had only minimal water damage, it was a stressful situation with a lasting impact on my mental health. You can’t control this all of the time, but I set out to try to only live in houses where I could avoid problems with falling tree debris. So when I found this house that had absolutely no tree coverage, I was ecstatic to say the least. I figured I had finally ended my search for the perfect home for our severe storm season here in the southeast. But, when the first summer rolled around in my new house, I realized I had overlooked something huge. During the times living in homes with lots of shade, I took for granted how much it affected my energy expenses for the good. Once that shade was taken away, I had an outrageous electric bill from increased air conditioner use. With the sun beating down on my roof all day long, it made the house warmer and thus harder to keep cool even under the best circumstances with the strongest air conditioner money can buy. Maybe I should have appreciated my shade when I still had it, but now I can’t get it back.