New roof

Cool. The things you learn.

And lunch must be over. All of a sudden it was like someone dumped a ton of hammers on our roof. Both dogs are now back under my desk.

If you notice any hammer references in the next issue, now you'll know why, too.

I like watching roofers, and having done a bit of it, I smile when I write the check. Its a tough, hot job.

Metal roofs are fine if you have no reason to ever walk on the roof again. Slicker than snot on a doorknob. Then there is the snow issue, which obviously doesn't really matter to you Florida types, but a high slope metal roof sheds snow right away. A good thing, if you live in a heavy snowfall area. A low slope steel roof will allow it to build up, then come down avalanch style onto whatever may be near- pedestrians, barbecues, cars...Not a lot of fun, and if it stays up there long enough, it comes down after it has started to melt a bit, and will slide down on a sheet of ice and decapitate you.

As to the "warranty". 50 years. Really. Well, the 25 year shingles I put on my garage when my 18 year old daughter was born were peeled off and replaced this past summer, and the new ones are thinner than the old ones. I'm pretty sure they are counting on you forgetting who built the shingles, who installed them, and which store you bought them at.

Weird. Our new roof is being installed today and my wife called to tell me that the dogs are freaked out. The bird too. The cat doesn't care. They arrived this morning and are supposed to be done today. Part of it is insurance money from hail damage and some is out of my pocket because we upgraded the shingles. On a side note, our septic leach field went bad. The soil tester came out today and apparently Georgia clay soil sucks. I foresee the estimate from the septic people is about to go up. :(

I got to watch the conveyor in action. Okay, that was neat.

I also saw them fix some rotten decking. From finding it to patching it took like 5 minutes.

Dogs are still less than thrilled. They'll sleep well this evening.

David S. Wallens wrote: I got to watch the conveyor in action. Okay, that was neat.

The crew that did my roof carried all the shingles up the ladders on their backs, and I have a pretty tall house - 2 1/2 story with 10/12 pitch roof. Most of them were pretty small guys too, but figuring they do that sort of work every day all day I wouldn't want to challenge them to a fight. Chances are they're in a lot better shape than I am.

I didn't read the whole thread, but I'd dump the insurance company for threatening me. I understand they have a vested interest, but I don't like a company that wants me to bend over backwards to do what they want, then when I need them they either drop me, or just deny coverage.

This post is full of rantings that are based off knee-jerk reactions I know that. Leave me alone.

never heard of this ins ( scam LOL ) we built this house in '63 ... it's on it's 3 roof ( one of which was covered by ins )

RossD wrote: In reply to David S. Wallens: RE conveyor: No more humping up packs of shingles up a ladder on one's back. OSHA rules. You need three points of contact to make it safely up a ladder. If you have a pack on your back and you have to hold it with one hand, and you have one hand on the ladder, when you go to pick up a foot to go to the next rung, you lose your third point of contact = not safe. I took an OSHA class last year...

Lol!

In 90% of the country, OSHA has almost zero impact on residential construction activities.

By that definition, virtually every kitchen step ladder or stool ever made would be illegal.

David S. Wallens wrote:

SVreX wrote: This is really confusing me. I've never heard of an insurance company doing this. How can they have a 20 year policy, when some shingles have a 30 year warranty, or even 50 years? Did they ask what kind of shingles?

They asked for any paperwork regarding the roof. I had none and, to be honest, it was getting threadbare in places--the leading edge was starting to come apart and there had been some repairs done that didn't really match.

I'm not sure you understood my question.

Did they ask for the paperwork before they put that stipulation in the contract?

Most major manufacturers have 30, 40, and 50 year shingles. I'm not understanding how they get away with a unilateral clause in the contract forcing you to prove your roof is 20 years or less or deny you coverage, when shingles that outlast that time frame are fairly common.

I've been in construction for 37 years and have never heard this.

It sounds like a cheap ploy to deny coverage to an awful lot of homeowners.

It will also mean a lot less work for roofers.

My insurance company questioned my roof. Its about 30 years old. They called to ask about some loose flashing and lifting shingles and I said, "Are you sure you had the right Hulton Rd.? There are two of them in my town. My roof is great."

They shut up about it.

How much to replace a roof?

Enyar wrote: How much to replace a roof?

Depends on the size, location, and insurance.

Figure about $150 per square. A square is 100 SF of roof area.

Much more in the Northeast or West Coast.

Mine's about 20 years old. It's a Gerard galvanized steel roof, which has stone tiles over top like this:

It's easy to walk on, if you're nuts enough to climb up on a two-and-a-half storey.

Around here, hailstorms are not terribly uncommon during the summer. For that reason you don't see a whole lot of metal roofs on residential construction. The standing seam commercial roofs are around, though.

I built my own garage when i was a younger man 25 years ago so my plan was to reroof my house. My brothers and Dad would do a Saturday tear off and I would take my vacation week and reroof the house.

After I figured the costs of shingles, paper, vents, caulking, nails, beer, donuts, pizza, coffee, permit, extra shovel, and a dumpster; I was only going to save $750 over a decent local guy. My Dad convinced me to use the roof guy.

I was glad I did.

David S. Wallens wrote:

AngryCorvair wrote: berkeley that. i would've called the shadiest tree guy in the area and had him drop a tree on my roof just so the insurance company would have to buck up and replace it. berkeleying criminals.

You know, Pat, I'm just not that kind of scumbag. We had to make legit claims before, and our insurance agent has always had our back.

So, what kind of scumbag are you?

David, what was the $$ damage?

VCH: Tell me about your metal roof experience - in MD I trust? How much $$? Did you put it on yourself?

No, I paid to have the metal roof put on the SC house. They put it right over the existing shingle roof (single roof, original). Took them around a day and a half, 2 days max. The house is 30x30, with a pretty good pitch, and I think it was around 3000 or 3500 for materials + labor.

SVreX wrote:

David S. Wallens wrote:

SVreX wrote: This is really confusing me. I've never heard of an insurance company doing this. How can they have a 20 year policy, when some shingles have a 30 year warranty, or even 50 years? Did they ask what kind of shingles?

They asked for any paperwork regarding the roof. I had none and, to be honest, it was getting threadbare in places--the leading edge was starting to come apart and there had been some repairs done that didn't really match.

I'm not sure you understood my question. Did they ask for the paperwork before they put that stipulation in the contract? Most major manufacturers have 30, 40, and 50 year shingles. I'm not understanding how they get away with a unilateral clause in the contract forcing you to prove your roof is 20 years or less or deny you coverage, when shingles that outlast that time frame are fairly common. I've been in construction for 37 years and have never heard this. It sounds like a cheap ploy to deny coverage to an awful lot of homeowners. It will also mean a lot less work for roofers.

Paul, you've obviously never insured a house in Florida. I don't think I know anyone who's never been canceled, and usually for just these kinds of petty/nonsensical "standards." Yes, it's a cheap ploy to deny coverage to an awful lot of homeowners. They'll get away with it, too--most of our legislators are in the insurance companies' back pockets.

Margie

Several insurers pulled out of the Charleston area rather than insure against hurricanes. The remaining insurers immediately jacked up their rates and added all kinds of stupid restrictions.

In the 40 plus years that i have lived in this house, I never had an insurance company say anything about my roof except to ask what type. My roofing guy said that there were five layers on my roof when it came time to replace it after 40 yrs. Used to be you just put the new roof on top of the old one. Not any more. a little over two days to R&R.

Today I came home to a new roof. It would have been finished yesterday, but the city messed up the inspection appointment. Gotta say, the house looks good.

AngryCorvair wrote:

David S. Wallens wrote: A month or so ago I got a letter from our insurance company: Our records show that your roof is 20 years old, so if it's not replaced by such-and-such date, we're going to cancel your coverage.

berkeley that. i would've called the shadiest tree guy in the area and had him drop a tree on my roof just so the insurance company would have to buck up and replace it. berkeleying criminals.

That right there is why why 90% of the time I think AC is a berkeleying scumbag.

Lesley, how's that southern California looking roof hold up under snow & weight? I've thought about it because I like it; ended up with shingles on the house and corrugated steel on the garage.

Dan

In reply to 914Driver: No problems whatsoever. The pitch of my roof is pretty steep and it doesn't really build up much there. I just moved my house insurance over to the company that holds my vehicle policies. When they asked about the roof, I said "20 years, but it's steel" – and they said "oh, well that's no problem then." Apparently they're good for up to 50 years. I don't know if I believe that, but so far, so good.