Harsh winters can cause unforseen roof damage

Why Do I Need Regular Roofing Inspections?

Spring roof inspections are important because your roof can take quite a beating every winter. Snow and ice that sits on top of your home can block precipitation from draining off of your roof.

First, check your ceilings and walls for any new water stains that may have grown during the winter. Ice dams can form on your roof in the winter causing water to back up behind the ice dam and infiltrate under your shingles and into your home. Many leaks will be evident by new water stains or growing water stains on ceilings and walls.

It’s important that every homeowner includes a roofing inspection (handled by a professional roofer) in their Spring cleaning projects. Addressing the smallest of problems now will surely extend the life of your roof and save you huge replacement costs later.

What Happens During a Spring Roof Inspection?

Your roofing contractor will assess the condition of your roof for a variety of potential problems that might have occurred over the winter, including:

• Moisture damage to shingles: curling, cracking and blistering indicate worn shingles
• Wind damage: may result in missing or broken tiles
• Leakage: ice dams can create leaks in your home
• Gutter damage from heavy wind, ice and snow
• Staining and streaking from mold and mildew
• Loose flashing or seals

The roofing professional inspecting your home will walk around the outside of your home to look for visible damage before he ascends the roof. He will then take a closer look at the shingles and structures on your roof, and may ask to inspect the interior of your home as the part of the roof inspection process.

You may have water stains, or paint and wallpaper bubbling on the interior walls and ceiling of your home; these can all indicate a roof leak.

Depending on the size of your home and the condition of your roof, a spring inspections can take as little as 45 minutes for the average home.

Need a Quality Roofer to Handle Your Roof Inspections

Affordable Roofing, Inc. is a licensed and insured business with more than 30 years’ experience in roof inspections and roof repairs . Have your roof inspected and attend to repairs early in the spring to prevent further complications as the temperatures climb and the spring rains arrive.

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They were very hard working and efficient and were able to finish up the work in one day. In addition, they did a great job in cleaning up after completion of the work.

Rumor has it, that during the tear off stage they carried their handicapped son in his wheelchair over the debris to his van parked on the street.

Each member of the crew was courteous during the entire time they were at the house

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They worked through the extreme heat of this past summer. They knew their work and went the extra mile when they saw a problem that needed addressing

They were equally impressed with David Downs who managed the project from start to finish.

[David] stopped out several times during the job to check the progress and to check on our satisfaction. We appreciated the final photos showing all the steps taken on our project.

It is important to maintain your roof in order to maximize the life of the roof. Unmaintained roofs can eventually lead to interior damage that will result in additional costs and headaches.

Fall Roof Inspection Checklist

Here are six areas to check during your Fall roof inspection. You can reasonably do this yourself, or call us for an inspection.

Home Interior:

Check for any damage that may have occurred during the summer. Check all ceilings and walls, including the closets, for water stains, cracking, or other deterioration.

Attic Interior:

Check for moisture along rafters, roof deck, and in the insulation. Check for rotted plywood in the roof deck. Is your attic properly insulated?

Attic Vents:

Check for holes, cracks, and deterioration of attic vents.

Roof Shingles:

Check for missing shingles, bruising, granular loss, defects, and deterioration.

Flashings:

Check particularly the flashing around chimneys and skylights. Also vent collars, valleys, and drip edges.

Gutters & Downspouts:

Check and clean the gutters and downspouts. Remove leaves, shingle granules, dirt and other blockages. You may want to do this a few times during the Fall until the leaves stop falling.

After having surveyed a cross section of contractors and distributors, Certainteed announced on February 3rd that they decided to demonstrate the strong confidence they have in the quality of their products. All CertainTeed laminated shingles installed since 1/1/11 will bear a Lifetime Limited Warranty. In addition all ten of CertainTeed’s Luxury shingles still benefit from extra warranty features unique in the industry, such as tear-off and disposal reimbursement during the SureStart™ period. Also unique to CertainTeed, their warranty provides coverage against all manufacturing defects, which include aesthetic defects.

Certainteed believes strongly in the superiority of their roofing products and cited a few concrete reasons for the enhanced warranty:

• Raw material selection: our internal requirements on glass mat, granules and shingles are among the toughest in the industry. Often we will refuse a raw material which is used by other roofing manufacturers.
• Zero compromise on quality: redesigning shingles to take cost out is always tempting. We refuse to do that when the data suggests it could put long term quality at risk. Compared to competition, our shingles weight and composition has remained exceptionally stable.
• Third party tests: CertainTeed shingles pass the most difficult third party tests. Underwriters Laboratory independently verifies that ALL CertainTeed fiberglass shingles meet the quality standard of ASTM D3462 (tear strength, nail pull resistance, and wind uplift), and meet ASTM D7158 Class H 150 MPH wind resistance.
• Quality organization: we apply statistical analysis and Six Sigma principles in all of our plants to ensure that we achieve targeted product design parameters. Our claims rate on fiberglass shingles are at world class quality levels, which reflects the consistency of our manufacturing process.

As a result of the above, our products are regularly recognized by third parties, for example a leading Consumer Magazine rated Landmark™ with their top rating, “Best Buy” for the second consecutive time.

An updated 2011 product warranty can be found at http://www.certainteed.com/products/roofing. In addition, a warranty certificate is posted to cover products installed since January 1st and existing inventory in the market.

If you have any questions in regard to the enhanced Certainteed warranty, call Affordable Roofing and we look forward to reviewing the warranty with you further.

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Paul and Nancy of St.Charles did some searching on the Internet when they decided to choose Affordable Roofing for their roof replacement in July 2010. Their experience was a very happy one.

…Tom came out to gather the information he needed to prepare an estimate for us. He listened to what we needed done, the questions I had and answered them to my satisfaction and without hesitation.

And one the nicest things from Nancy’s letter delighted us no end.

The crew was here bright and early and within 2 days they had removed our old roof, installed new roof fans per our request, replaced an aging skylight, repaired a problem spot over the garage, installed the new roof, and did a (thorough) clean up. The 3-man crew was nonstop, here on schedule and almost musical as they worked together in harmony

Moisture on the Rise

A well known law of physics is that warm air rises. As this air travels upward, it carries moisture along with it. Sources of moisture in the average home can include humidifiers, bathrooms, laundries, cooking and even the people themselves.

An improperly sealed attic will simply allow upward traveling moisture to enter into it. Once the moisture is inside of your attic it will condense on the cooler surfaces. This condensation can cause a variety of moisture-related problems.

Poor home renovation workmanship can often make problems worse by allowing more moisture into the attic. Examples include non-vented exhaust fans, unsealed attic floors, recessed lighting fixtures and other humidity increasing improvements.

Weathering the War

Attic condensation, buckled shingles, mold and mildew occur when attics get wet in the winter from warm air rising through the ceiling and condensing on cooler surfaces. More than often the cooler surface is wood and when it gets wet, it expands. In the spring, the attic gets warm and the wood dries and contracts. This constant process loosens nails and causes shingles to buckle.

Ice damming may also occur when warm air rises into the attic, or if ducts in the attic are poorly insulated and/or not sealed. Heat from these sources causes snow on the roof to thaw. As the melted snow reaches the colder soffit area, it may refreeze, creating a dam which causes the water underneath to back up under the shingles.

Mold and mildew leads to rotten wood and ultimate roof failure. More importantly however, it can cause serious health problems for pregnant women, infants, the elderly and those with allergies or respiratory diseases such as asthma or weakened immune systems.

Your Mission

There is a common misconception that moisture can be eliminated by adding more ventilation in the attic. This is simply not true. An imbalanced ventilation system can pull more moisture into the attic and make conditions worse. If you want to keep your attic dry, then you need to stop the source of the moisture in the first place — your home interior.

The goal is to stop warm moist air from getting into the attic and keeping the heat that you pay for inside your house where it belongs. While this may seem to be a simple enough task in theory, you might want to hire a reliable contractor with experience in the sealing & insulation of attics.

Areas that a contractor will seal/insulate include attic hatches, HVAC ducts, chimneys, top plates, penetrations from wiring conduits & plumbing, dropped ceilings, bulkheads, electrical fixtures such as lighting and ceiling fans, penetrations from exhaust fans & range hoods, knee wall areas, party walls and skylights. This is not an extensive list, but it covers a majority of your target areas.

If you are the die-hard DIY type, you can see that this will not be a simple weekend project. Exercise care while crawling around inside of your attic, remember that the attic floor is actually your interior ceiling. Breathing masks should be used, airborne dust can contain all sorts of little nasties including fiberglass from the attic insulation. Older homes may contain asbestos, in which case it is highly recommended that you hire a highly trained professional contractor.

No matter how you proceed with the project, the benefits far outweigh the time and money put into it; extended roof life, prevention of mold growth, improved comfort and lower energy bills.

Good Roof Ventilation Does Make A Difference

Attic ventilation is necessary to prevent moisture problems and heat build-up, as well as, reduce heating and cooling costs. The benefits of proper ventilation for the homeowner are a cooler attic in the summer, a dryer attic in the winter and structural protection of the home from moisture damage.

Summer Heat

In the summer, heat builds up in the attic space, which will cool at night if the attic is properly ventilated. However, if the attic is unventilated or ventilated incorrectly, the heat will build-up over a period of days and continue to increase the temperature inside the attic.¹

A 90-degree day with no attic ventilation can heat the roof sheath to 170 degrees or more. Heat radiating from the sheathing down to the attic floor can raise its temperature to as much as 140 degrees. Without adequate ventilation, today’s heavier insulation will absorb and hold more heat built-up during the day and make the attic less likely to cool at night.

Overheated ceiling insulation conducts the heat through the ceiling down to the residents of the home. This causes the air conditioning system to operate for longer periods of time to reduce the heat.

Winter Moisture

The well-insulated attic also will hold moisture in the winter and moisture causes considerably more problems than excessive heat.

During the winter, air inside the home is warmer and carries more water vapor than the colder, dryer air into the attic. Cooking, laundry, showers and humidifiers add moisture to the air inside the home. Atmospheric pressure causes the vapor moisture to naturally migrate from high humidity air to low humidity air and as it moves into the attic, the moist air will condense into liquid on the cooler rafters, trusses and roof sheathing.

As the air gets colder, its ability to absorb moisture is reduced. And, as the insulation levels are increased in the ceiling the attic becomes colder and more likely to retain the moisture, which can damage the structure.

In some parts of the United States such as the Greater Chicago area, snow melting on a warm roof surface can cause an ice dam. The melting snow, usually near the ridge, runs down to the colder roof overhang and then refreeze into ice. Subsequently melting of the snow on the roof can accumulate as a pocket of water that eventually backs-up under the shingles to cause major damage. The results can be soaked insulation, stained sheet rock or peeling paint. In some cases, the build up of the ice weight can cause structural damage.

For more information on ventilation visit the Air Vent, Inc. website.

References:
1. Air Vent Inc.’s “Principles of Attic Ventilation”

WHO?

Who is responsible? Proper roof system maintenance is the responsibility of several parties. In the beginning, an architect or consultant should make maintenance a requirement of the roof system replacement contract. The fine print of most manufacturers’ guarantees requires inspection, repair and documentation to help ensure the roof system endures. Who is best qualified to oversee this? Although it is the roofing contractor’s responsibility to set a planned inspection and maintenance routine, the building owner is responsible to give the contractor current information about rooftop use, leak history, etc. Another key component to successful roof system maintenance is the owner’s ongoing commitment to continue the process and budget money toward it.

WHAT?

What makes a successful agreement? A roof system maintenance contract typically is a written agreement between the owner and roofing contractor specifically stating the work to be done and cost. Because each roof system is different, there is no standard contract. Contracts may be structured as the following:

• Time and material usually are the least desirable to owners because they are open-ended.
• Cost per square foot is used for new roof systems or ones that require minimal work.
• Inspections on a flat-fee basis are used in some areas. A proposal will be generated to address specific needs with a fixed flat rate for the services.

Most roofing problems have little to do with the roof membrane. Usually, it is a roof-related component that requires attention (i.e., masonry, skylights, pipes, drains, pitch pans, HVAC Units, doors or windows). A quality roof system maintenance agreement lists the current condition of all roofing components and allows the owner to make a decision to repair or postpone maintenance.

Numerous roof system inspection checklists are available, such as an NRCA publication, the RIEI Roofing Maintenance Manual, and can be helpful tools for both roofing contractors and building owners. Some building owners question the need for inspections or maintenance of a new roof system because they believe inspections or maintenance is covered by a warranty. Currently, a growing number of roof system manufacturers require documentation of roof system maintenance and inspections as a condition for warranty coverage.

The average cost for a maintenance program typically runs 15 cents to 25 cents per square foot. The low cost of a roof system maintenance program will save a building owner more money in the long-run. For example, a new roof system on a 20,000 square-foot building at $7.50 per square foot would cost $150,000. If maintained regularly, this roof system should last 20 years. If maintenance is not done, the same roof system may last only 10 years and then need replacement, costing the Owner at least $150,000 without any inflation figured into the equation. With inflation, a 20-year total cost might reach $250,000.

The benefits of maintenance are clear. A typical two-man service crew would be billed out at $95 an hour per man and would cost a little more than $1,500 per inspection and $3,000 per year if done semi-annually. Add $30,000 to account for inflation for maintenance costs, and a building owner’s original investment of $150,000 for a total 20-year investment would be $180,000. This means a savings of at least $120,000 verses no maintenance and replacement in 10 years. Now, add to the equation, the inconvenience of leaks and cost of drywall / ceiling repairs and emergency leak repairs, the cost of not properly maintaining the roof escalates.

WHERE?

Where are the potential trouble spots? Before a job begins, the building owner’s representative and roofing contractor should walk the roof and conduct a thorough inspection. This allows each party to agree on repairs, expectations and how long it should take to finish the work. It also gives both parties an opportunity to express any concerns. Unfortunately, not all owners want to go on the roof. If that is the case, the roofing contractor should take pictures. A picture is worth a thousand words, especially if the pictures include before, during and after images tracking the progress of the job. If possible, the contractor should use a day/date camera to document any questions about service dates.

WHEN?

When is the ideal time for inspections? How often a roof system is inspected has a lot to do with its location and use. Typically, semiannual (spring and fall) roof system inspection/repairs are sufficient to keep a roof system in good condition. Certain types or roof systems may require monthly inspections because of high-traffic use or product contamination. When inspection or maintenance costs for a roof system are discussed, a building owner may ask whether those costs are covered by the guarantee. If this is discussed or included as an option with every proposal, it is a lot easier to get the maintenance ball rolling after the new roof system is installed.

The value of roof system maintenance cannot be overestimated. It is important for a professional to inspect a roof to ensure it fulfills its expectations. Again, a building owner should think about the previous 20-year cost savings example. Considering just half those savings – a $50,000 benefit would present a strong case for regular roof system maintenance.

Do the math

Who + What + Where + When = Win/Win Situation – It’s a simple but critical equation. For roofing contractors and building owners who work together, from start to finish, it all adds up to a profitable contract and great business relationship.