A Roof Repair and a Dry Home | Frances’ Home Repair Story 

Frances, a homeowner in Northeast Portland, was going about her day when she discovered water leaking across her living room wall. When she stepped outside to find the source she discovered severe water damage in the wooden frames holding her front porch roof. She also saw that her gutters had begun to degrade and leak.  

“The front porch was rotting away the top of the roof…It just started happening. And it got pretty bad,” she said. After 25 years of owning her house, it was in critical need of repair. 

Frances first heard about Habitat for Humanity’s Home Repair Program 15 years ago from a postcard in her mailbox  – a postcard she held onto for all these years. After noticing the problem getting worse one summer, she referred to the  information on Habitat’s Home Repair Program, and decided to pick up her phone and make the call. She partnered with Habitat for Humanity to make repairs to her roof and gutters.  

Over the course of three days, Habitat staff visited Frances’ home and worked to replace her entire roof. With the new roof installed, crews added new gutters to replace the one’s that were falling apart. 

“It was like a well-orchestrated ballet to see them work,” Frances said. “They were so careful. It was hard to imagine that a whole new roof came on with all the demolition going on, and they didn’t hurt anything.”   

Now that Habitat repaired her home, Frances has peace of mind and can return to tending her beautiful garden. She is grateful that the repairs will help the home last many more years, and looks forward to inviting her nieces and nephews back to visit her and to spend some time together working in her garden. Plants and flowers bloom all around her home, and standing over it all is a tree about 100 feet tall. Frances first began her garden when she wanted to create her own space. It is now home to hummingbirds, ladybugs, and a whole ecosystem of different species of plants.  

“I wanted privacy and to create a fairy-like environment,” she said. “Just enchanting.”  


 She is grateful that the repairs will help the home last many more years. She looks forward to inviting her nieces and nephews back to visit her and to spend some time together working in her garden.  

Over the course of 25 years of living in her home, she built an oasis for herself. During the spring, her garden gives off a perfume-like floral smell that attracts a lot of compliments from neighbors walking by. She even gifts poultices ­to friends – a horse-chestnut tree that grows in her garden, which she says aids in treating inflamed muscles and rashes. 

When sharing what plants meant the most to her, she explained, “I have a lot of iris from different people. They were from my mom’s garden, and the roses all came from special people’s gardens that their grandparents grew. So there are some old things.” 

Frances is happy she partnered with Habitat for Humanity to complete her critical repairs so that she can feel safe in her own home again. She looks forward to inviting her nieces and nephews back to visit her and to spend some time together working in her garden. 

“Now that the rain stopped dripping down the wall it might make my house last another 100 years” she said.  To see how you can qualify and apply for Habitats Home Repair Program, visit us at: https://habitatportlandregion.org/programs/home-repair/