"It does sound like the moisture from the drywall mud floated up there and condensed on some cold roof sheathing. There is a huge amount of water in that stuff." If this is the moisture source (and leaks are not normally over a large area) then the problem will be 'fixed' as soon as you close everything up and the nmud finishes drying. Pre-mixed mud hardens by simply drying out (and shrinking as the water evaporates). Setting compound (mixed from powder) hardens by chemical reaction, and then the much smaller amount of water used to mix it up evaporates. If mixed with minimum water there is very little shrinkage (even in thick applications over an inch in thickness).

Hum... Sounds like a copper fin-tube boiler. As long as the exteriors of the tubes look OK (not corroded), a copper tube boiler should easily last 20 years or more. There are quite a few companies that still make and offer copper fin-tube boilers. Virtually all boiler types are more efficient that those of 20 years ago. The one you have is probably an 80 to 85% efficient model. Does it vent through a chimney, or through a PVC pipe through the side wall of the house?

I've done some virtuals. When we were looking at siding 5 yrs ago my contractor gave me a CD from Certainteed. (He told me contractors get them free from manufacturers to help clients with choices.) It allowed me to import photos of my own home and apply Certainteed products such as roofing, siding, windows, etc. I was going to suggest your talk to your GAF roofing contractor and snag some software, but when I checked GAFs site, lo and behold you can download it for free and import your own photos. (You can also pay them to do the 'virtuals', which costs a bundle. Software isn't that hard.) See "Virtual Home Remodeler" in menu on left side of their page if you want to try it. I downloaded to try it since we'll be shopping for a new roof this spring, too. For our home, once I had siding styles and colors narrowed down to a handful via software and large real life samples (a must to obtain), I asked the contractor for job sites I could drive by that contained those siding styles, as lkplatow mentions. That was a tremendous help, I ruled out my favorite immediately because it rendered way too green in real life. I didn't hesitate to knock on doors, tell owner what I was doing, and ask questions. (I mentioned contractor's name right up front and that I was shopping, so they wouldn't think I was just someone who had randomly stopped by.) No one was rude. They were flattered and more than willing to share their experience. Now the Virtuals: Certaineed software sometimes gets glitchy, suspect it's made more for Win98 than WinXP. Did the best I could with it. I created a Primary album for you here. If you look over on the left you'll see I created two sub albums, Certainteed and GAF. I PURPOSELY included bad colors and ho-hum styles in the album just to show you how a roof can completely alter the look of a house, as SQH was getting at above. Your home is lovely and your roof has character, and no doubt it's going to cost a bundle, so a well thought out choice is good ;D The GAF software is a bit more complex, but it didn't take long to get the hang of it if you want to try it. The problem I ran into is you have to put in height and width of each section ("region") of roofing, and since I didn't have those dimensions I guessed. Large areas came out just OK, small ones are not remotely scaled to size because of incorrect dimensions. I might fiddle with that some more, to see if I can tweak it. Just like virtual paint, it's best to use it as a tool out what does NOT work (too dark, too bland, etc.) Here are a couple samples: Your Camelot Sheffield Camelot Williamsburg Slate Certainteed Ambassador Shake, "Shenandoah" Certaineed Shangle "Colonial" More at your album, see link below... Here is a link that might be useful: n2bach1 Primary Album. See Sub Albums link on left

Okay, here's where we now stand. The roofer who oversaw the roofing job (not the roofer of record), seems to feel he is responsible, since I first contracted with him. He feels that the reason the water got under the drip edge where it did is that the gutter had been raised in order to pitch it the "correct" way, and it was not low enough, that the drip edge was going into the gutter instead of sitting above it. He wants to either cover the fascia board with aluminum and run it up under the roof with a bead of caulk, or, place the "flap" of the drip edge against the fascia board and put the gutter up against it so there is no opening for the water to get into. I had the rep from Tamko at the house. He feels that the color problem resulted in the run between colors not being discarded, told me it RARELY happens , and is suggesting that the roofer swap about five sections with other sections from an upper roof, and hand seal them. He insists the integrity of the roof will not be compromised, and that it will look perfect. He also says that Tamko has no liability for color, that their warranty does not cover it, and he spoke to both roofers, partly in my presence, and partly while he "hid" in the driveway. I have to assume Tamko is going to pay for this work, but I was not told anything other than that someone else from Tamko would come to the house to look it over, and make arrangements. He then said that I would be asked to sign a release after the work is done. Interesting, in light of the fact that he is saying Tamko has no responsibility, that they simply want a "happy customer". I am not sure I am happy about them pulling out sections of roofing and replacing it, so I would like some opinions here. I had another roofer come in to give me some ideas on the ice damming and backup situation. He also mentioned aluminum on the fascia, he did not get up on a ladder so he can't comment on the drip edge, but he also mentioned another product which is "sticky", like the shield, which he feels he could put on the edge of the roof behind the gutter. Will this work with everything that is already in place? I feel like I have just spent over $13,000 for a nightmare, and I don't want it compounded, but the only reason we even did the roof was because of the backup of the water after a snow, and this problem has not been remedied.