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Segundo Leon, a roofer with Rhino-Back Roofing, stacks bundles of shingles for the new roof at Tom Tribou’s home in Barkhamsted.

Veteran Tom Tribou, right, talks with Tim North, second from right, and Mike and Lisa Trouern-Trend, left, owners of Rhino-Back Roofing.

Veteran Tom Tribou and his family were given a new roof for their home on Eddy Road in Barkhamsted Thursday. The roof was provided by the Owens Corning National Roof Deployment Project, and installed by Rhino-Back Roofing of Simsbury. Tribou also received a new chimney, skylights and other improvements to the home, which were also installed by other contributors to the project.

Veteran Tom Tribou and his family were given a new roof for their home on Eddy Road in Barkhamsted Thursday. The roof was provided by the Owens Corning National Roof Deployment Project, and installed by Rhino-Back Roofing of Simsbury. Tribou also received a new chimney, skylights and other improvements to the home, which were also installed by other contributors to the project.

Veteran Tom Tribou and his family were given a new roof for their home on Eddy Road in Barkhamsted on July 7, 2022.

Veteran Tom Tribou and his family were given a new roof for their home on Eddy Road in Barkhamsted on July 7, 2022. The roof was provided by the Owens Corning National Roof Deployment Project, and installed by Rhino-Back Roofing of Simsbury. Tribou also received a new chimney, skylights and other improvements to the home, which were also installed by other contributors to the project.

Veteran Tom Tribou and his family were given a new roof for their home on Eddy Road in Barkhamsted Thursday. The roof was provided by the Owens Corning National Roof Deployment Project, and installed by Rhino-Back Roofing of Simsbury.

Veteran Tom Tribou and his family were given a new roof for their home on Eddy Road in Barkhamsted Thursday. The roof was provided by the Owens Corning National Roof Deployment Project, and installed by Rhino-Back Roofing of Simsbury. Tribou also received a new chimney, skylights and other improvements to the home, which were also installed by other contributors to the project.

Veteran Tom Tribou, center, and his family were given a new roof for their home on Eddy Road in Barkhamsted July 7, 2022. The roof was provided by the Owens Corning National Roof Deployment Project, and installed by Rhino-Back Roofing of Simsbury. Tribou also received a new chimney, skylights and other improvements to the home, which were also installed by other contributors to the project.

Veteran Tom Tribou, right, talks with Tim North, second from right, and Mike and Lisa Trouern-Trend, left, owners of Rhino-Back Roofing.

Veteran Tom Tribou and his family were given a new roof for their home on Eddy Road in Barkhamsted Thursday. The roof was provided by the Owens Corning National Roof Deployment Project, and installed by Rhino-Back Roofing of Simsbury. Tribou also received a new chimney, skylights and other improvements to the home, which were also installed by other contributors to the project.

Veteran Tom Tribou and his family were given a new roof for their home on Eddy Road in Barkhamsted Thursday. The roof was provided by the Owens Corning National Roof Deployment Project, and installed by Rhino-Back Roofing of Simsbury. Tribou also received a new chimney, skylights and other improvements to the home, which were also installed by other contributors to the project.

BARKHAMSTED — Sunny weather Thursday made it a perfect day to install a new roof on Tom Tribou’s house. It also was a perfect day to fix the chimney and replace the skylights, and by noon, much of the work was nearly complete.

The work all was part of the Owens Corning National Roof Deployment Project. Rhino-Back Roofing in Simsbury, K&G Masonry in Farmington, Payne’s Disposal, Velux (skylights) and Metro Roofing Supply donated their time and materials to repair the large, white ranch house where Tribou lives with his wife and five children, ages 7 to 17.

Tribou, a Marine veteran, said the house had more problems than they realized when they first moved in — the roof leaked, the chimney was crumbling and the skylights needed repairs. “Right after the closing, the roof was leaking. We got quotes to fix it, and it was between $10,000 and $20,000. It was a lot of money,” he said.

His wife, Monica, heard about Owens Corning’s project, and entered Tribou’s name. “She thought, why not, let’s try it,” said Tribou.

Mike and Lisa Trouern-Trend, owners of Rhino-Back Roofing, work with the Owens Corning roof project to find recipients of the free repairs to veterans’ homes. Rhino-Back is an Owens Corning Platinum Roofing Contractor.

“They had buckets all over the house, the roof was leaking so bad,” Mike Trouern-Trend said. “We knew this was going to make a big difference to them.”

“It’s a great program, because it helps the homeowner get the work that needs to be done, done,” said Logan Greisinger, area sales manager for Owens Corning.

Initially, the project was only for the roof repairs, Trouern-Trend explained. But the aging skylights also became part of the project, when Rhino-Back realized those also were in bad shape.

Then the chimney was inspected, and they realized that was another important repair. “K & G Masonry got a quote, and replaced the chimney for free,” he said. “When we found out about the leaky skylights, Metro Roofing Supply offered to replace them, but then the manufacturer, Velux, wanted to donate them instead. So they joined the project.”

Rhino-Back and Owens Corning, through a partnership with Habitat for Humanity North Central Connecticut, finds recipients for each repair project.

“Each family is evaluated for need, and they’re assigned to a partner with Owens Corning — in this case, that was us,” Trouern-Trend said. “Owens Corning contracted all the materials.”

Tribou was overwhelmed by all the activity and grateful for the work that was being done. “Financially, it’s been rough,” he said, explaining that he is retired and has post-traumatic stress disorder after his nearly 10 years in the service. “After a while, you start thinking nobody’s going to help anybody. But there are good people out there in the world.”

Owens Corning is looking for other veterans to help. For more information on the Roof Deployment Project, or to learn more about how to get involved, email roofdeployment@owenscorning.com.

Emily M. Olson is the community editor for the Torrington Register Citizen, the New Haven Register and the Middletown Press.

She is a 1997 graduate of Western Connecticut State University with a degree in English and a minor in journalism.

She started her career at the Patent Trader newspaper in Westchester County, NY in 1998. After a brief period as a reporter with the Register Citizen in Torrington in 1999, she joined the former Housatonic Publications group as a reporter. She was managing editor of the former Litchfield Enquirer and helped run the weekly newspapers at Housatonic and the Litchfield County Times. She returned to the Register Citizen in 2009.