Roofing Challenges

Roofing is a critical component of every house yet most home owners know little about how it is constructed, and more important, how to determine when it needs to be replaced.

We ran into a common problem last week. We did work for a customer in the fall of 2005, or roughly 3 years ago. They called to say the roof was leaking and they thought we were there last year. They were hoping any repairs would be covered under our 1 year guarantee, until we determined we worked on the roof in 2005. At that time we provided the customer with 2 estimates:

• Remove a skylight and roof over the opening, tying in with the existing roof
• … or replace the entire roof of the sunroom.

Your guessed it, they went with the less expensive job to save money, at least temporarily. Unfortunately they won’t save money when you look at the big picture and they absolutely need a new roof as the shingles are disintegrating:

• They now have the added expense of repairing the interior damage from the current leaks.
• They will now pay for a new roof, in addition to the skylight work we did 3 years ago.

We’re not sure where the story will end. We did an assessment, provided an estimate and ultimately they asked for a list of materials to save some money. They called back and said they were going to pursue another solution. We’re worried as we tried to explain that they really need to use ice & water shield on the entire roof due to the “almost flat” slope of the roof. This is a very expensive material but it’s worth it.

PS I found a really great web site on roofing, with a really neat name … The Roofery.  I’ve only read a few of their articles but I’ve bookmarked the site and I’m sure I’ll be back there.