CALL MY ROOFER .com  aka "Homeowner Armed and Dangerous"

 

                         Homeowner Armed and Dangerous

 

 

    

     Every time I have to tell a property owner that their 15 year old tile roof, with a manufacturer’s 50 year lifetime guarantee, must be removed, refelted and then reinstalled I feel terrible.  The same goes for EVERY SYSTEM out there when I have to disclose the source of the problem that could have been remedied at installation for very little additional $$$ or knowledge!   99% of the roof is fine. It usually gets blown in the details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 On a tile roof, the building code usually calls for a single layer of thirty pound tar paper. Typically that is what you get. It will be baked outwithin fifteen to twenty years.  It can curl and pull itself up around the nails that once held it in place.  It’s even worse if the felt was installed using a hammer tacker and staples.  The staples will rust quickly and the felt pulls itself up around them much easier.  The result either way is that you have thousands of holes in the felt.  “But I thought the tile was waterproof” I have heard for more than forty years.  Then I have to explain that roof tiles whether, concrete or clay, are porous and a certain amount of water passes right through the tile itself. 

 

 

 

    Glazed clay tiles are the hardest and least permeable. Glazed or painted concrete tiles are right behind.  The brushed concrete and the unglazed clays allow a higher percentage. It can be as much as ten percent for the very porous satillo Mexican clay tiles.   This is not even allowing for the wind driven rains or the blockage of valleys and saddles above chimneys and skylights. Let’s say you have ten inches of rain in a season.  That means your underlayment sees a minimum of .2 inches up to one full inch or so depending on the type of tile installed.  That’s a lot of water coming down on top of the felt under your tile.  Then you have the paper curling and diverting the water sideways to a hole that used to have a nail in it or A PIPE WITH NO BASE FLASHING  That starts the siphon effect and it draws water to it quickly.   Now you have the start of a big mess.

 

 

 

 

 

     This is just one of the scenarios that has prompted me to write this property owner’s handbook along with a larger more detailed” how to” roof installation book dissecting the different roof systems available today.  Through the years I’ve seen what has worked and what failed.  Within the context of the handbook, I will arm you with the questions you should be asking your roofer, builder, architect, home inspector or realtor.  In the larger installation book I will give my best advice on how to install the various systems and why I think it should be done the way I put forth.  Years ago I went with my dad, Dick Brooke, to a large meeting where the insurance companies wanted the contractors to improve the quality of the roofs at the installation stage because ninety percent of all homeowner insurance claims are roof related.  A lot of us have tried to do something about it but many haven’t. That’s why liability and homeowner’s rates have steadily climbed.  I will demonstrate how simple it could be to reverse this trend if we all do a little better job of understanding the systems that protect our valuables and families.

 

 

 

 

 

     You ask yourself just how much could I possibly learn from a roofer working in Southern California?  It hardly ever rains there. I understand this reluctance.  Not only have I worked on somewhat normal projects inland; I worked at the beach where the rain, when it does come, is horizontal and finds ways in that most people would not even expect.  It can travel uphill.  It can go sideways.  It will find ways through stucco and many different types of siding and vents with the right conditions.   If I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes I would not think some of the scenarios were possible.   When people find water in their building they naturally call the roofer.  I have been discovering what does not work not only for my dad’s company but for several other roofing contractors and builders I have helped over the years.  I have seen all types of leaks over and over again.  Then there are the many years I worked in Mammoth Lakes where you have to think of ice dams and several feet of snow.  Normal flashing and counter-flashing just won’t get the job done.

 

 

 

 

 

 So when ask me “how much could I learn from this guy”?  In most cases, I would say to you “A LOT!!!.