Ugly House Photos

Gold lamé curtains highlight this enchanting master suite.  Relax under the flowery bedspread as your head rests on pastel green pillows.  Let the angels above remove all worries.

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Design Through the Decades - part 67

Phoenix roof designs in the 1990s and 2000s.

The 1990s - Roofs:

Roofs in the 1990s in Phoenix were all about tile, tile, tile. 

Pink clay tile was often used on Phoenix homes in the 1990s.

Blue clay tile showed up in small pockets around the Phoenix metropolitan area in the 1990s, mostly at condominiums.  This is a 1994 Tempe, Arizona condo.

Asphalt shingles were still used by homebuilders in the 1990s.  Here’s a Phoenix home with a double cross gable roof design.

The 2000s - Roofs:

Roof design finally became exciting (for roofing, that is) in the 2000s.  Certainly more complex in design than just A-frame trusses and a plywood base.  Hip style roofs replaced gable style roofs in the 2000s.  Hip style roofs have four sides that slant toward the middle of the house; gable style roofs are two sides (like a tent) with vertical sides.  Here’s a modified hip style roof from the 2000s with clay tile.

Clay tile was the most common roof material on new homes built in the 2000s.  Red tile or pink tile from the 1980s and 1990s was pushed aside for grays and tans and browns.  Here’s another hip style roof.

This Phoenix home’s roof has at least seven different design elements on its roof.

Clay tile is usually arched.  But in the 2000s, flat clay tile gained favor with many homeowners.  Flat tiles were made of clay or concrete.

Homebuilders in the 2000s opted for tile roofs on their new homes.  However, owners of homes from the 1950s to 1990s with asphalt shingles began using dimensional asphalt shingles in the 2000s when replacing their roofs.  Dimensional shingles are supposed to last 30 years and 40 years versus 15-20 for asphalt shingles.  However, the life expectancy of dimensional shingles is 25 years and of asphalt shingles is 12-16 years in Phoenix due to the intense sun and heat.

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Crazy quilt pattern wallpaper and pink cabinets in this Phoenix kitchen.  Worn out butcher block counter top too.

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This Mesa, Arizona home is too cute.  Love the green carpet.  You can almost smell the freshly baked cookies.

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Design Through the Decades - part 66

Roofing In Phoenix, Arizona

The 1970s - Roofs:

Most Phoenix homes in the 1970s had gable style roofs with white asphalt shingles.  The carport roof seen here makes this 1978 home have a cross gable design.

Flat foam roofs started to show up more frequently in the 1970s.  Here’s a 1971 Phoenix home.

Red tile officially made its debut in Phoenix homes in the 1970s, at least for decorative purposes.  The home here is still a flat roof with foam.

Wood shake roofs were not that common in Phoenix from the 1950s to the 1970s.  Here’s a 1970 Phoenix home with wood shake.

There was a time when white rocks were placed on top of a white foam roof.  The thought was that the rocks pulled the heat away from the roof.  The white foam reflected the hot summer sun.  Here’s a home from 1971.

The 1980s - Roofs:

The 1980s in Phoenix became the decade of the red tile roof.  It may not account for over half of Phoenix homes or even 25%, but it left a lasting impression on roof design.  Here’s a modified roof with flat & gable styles with red tile at a 1984 Phoenix home.

Pink tile was also used toward the end of the 1980s.  The pink or red clay tile was arched.  This created air space between the tile and the underlayment felt paper.  Clay tile roofs are supposed to last a lifetime, which they may, but the intense Arizona sun can make the underlayment brittle over time, requiring a re-roofing.  Roofers have to carefully remove all of the tile, store it for re-use, replace the underlayment, and re-lay the clay tile.

Flat foam roofs were still popular in the 1980s in Phoenix.  Foam roofs require more preventative maintenance than shingled or tiled roofs.

Whereas gable style roofs were common from the 1950s to the 1970s, reverse gable style roofs were used in the 1980s.  This is a 1986 Phoenix home with asphalt shingles.  Note that you cannot see the roof when viewing from the front.

This is a 1980s Phoenix home with a double cross gable roof design with shingles.

Vaulted ceilings were very trendy in 1980s Phoenix homes.  The roof pitch was much more pronounced in these homes.

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Okay, let’s get real.  How are you supposed to show off your house if it’s blocked by vehicles?

As if that wasn’t bad enough, one car remained from above, and two cars were replaced by three more!

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Pillars in the living room along with a whole mess of clutter.  Ladders that go nowhere.  An empty fish tank.  A sofa facing away from the fireplace.  Knick-knacks all over.

Look!  More pillars in the dining room.  And another empty fish tank.  Plus an ugly painting of an eye.  Lots of window curtains.

Stop already with the pillars!  Why is there a mai tai cocktail bar in the master bedroom?  Is this what they call tiki tacky?

The main photo for this house which is buried behind cars, trucks, and overgrown plants.

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Design Through the Decades - part 65

Roofing is the last category of Phoenix housing design we’ll examine before our big finale of home décor next week.

The 1950s - Roofing:

The typical Phoenix home in the 1950s was a ranch style home with asphalt shingle roofing.  Some 1950s homes had red tile placed along the ridgeline as seen at this 1950 Phoenix home.

Most ranch style homes had gable roofs.  Gable roofs have vertical sides and half of the roof faces the viewer from the street.  This is a 1954 Phoenix home with a gable roof and asphalt shingles.

If the home had an L-shaped floor plan, it then had a cross gable roof as seen at this 1955 Phoenix home.

Hip style roofs have four sides that all slant inward.  This is a 1950 Phoenix home with a hip style roof and asphalt shingles.

Wood shake roofs were popular with some Phoenix homeowners in the 1950s.

Ralph Haver designed homes in Phoenix had a reverse gable roof style where the viewer cannot see the roof’s sides from the front. These homes also had no attic space due to a low roof pitch.  This Ralph Haver home was built in 1957.

The 1960s - Roofing:

Roofing at Phoenix homes in the 1960s was not much different than the 1950s.  Asphalt shingles were the most common roofing material used in the 1960s.

Cross gable style and hip style roofs were used at many 1960s Phoenix homes, but a gable style roof was the most popular as seen at this 1969 Phoenix home with asphalt shingles.

Wood shake roofs were found at some 1960s homes.  This is a Tempe, Arizona home with a wood shake roof.

A few homes in the 1960s combined a flat roof with wood shake using a roof style known as Mansard style.

Ralph Haver continued to design homes in Phoenix in the 1960s with the low pitch reverse gable roof style.

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Hungry Happy Hippos.  I guess the family room was converted to a kid’s playroom, complete with inflatable hippo.  You hardly notice the $5 fluorescent light, the fan, the wood paneling, the papasan chair, or the fireplace.

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For the city of Phoenix only, as of December 28, 2008. Numbers are based on the orange 90-day lines.

Average days on market for Phoenix properties: 137 days (up 1 day in the past week)

Median sales price for Phoenix properties: $182,471 (down another $2,143 in the past week).

Median price per square foot for Phoenix properties: $107/sqft (down $2 in the last week)

Inventory of properties for sale in Phoenix: 10,395 (no change in the last week)

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