An investment in a new roof, or simply a roof repair, is a costly proposition and comes with many unforeseen dangers. Before you spend your money, invest some time evaluating the roofing contractors who are submitting estimates. With contractor complaints ranking higher than ever among consumer bureaus (more…)
Today I sent a repair crew out to look at a suspect leak in a shingle roof of one of our Roof Maintenance Club member’s home. It seems my customer has water stains showing up on her living room ceiling after the heavy rain we received this past week, and her first thought was that the roof had sprung a leak; well not exactly…
Our service technician looked on the roof and immediately spotted the culprit. In the middle of the living room, exterior roof area sat a large solar panel. This panel was installed directly on her roof, facing south. No matter how carefully the legs are installed and waterproofed, with time, wind and sunshine, the legs on both solar panels and TV dishes will loosen and move, letting pinpoint leaks get started.
The Florida Roofer would suggest that if you have not had solar panels or TV dishes installed on your roof do not. The question is not will they cause a leak, but when will they cause a leak.
In roofing jargon, a bundle is simply one package of shingles. The Florida Roofer can use three, four or even five bundles for each square on your roof, depending on the type of shingle you select for your next roofing project. Your basic shingles are roughly three bundles per square, 40-year shingles are approximately four or five bundles per square.
You will remember The Florida Roofer previously discussed that a square, in roofing jargon, is 100 square feet of shingles.
I sure hope this clears up the meaning of bundle, with reference to your next roofing project, for you!
I had a customer call The Florida Roofer to question a portion of an estimate I gave him just this week. It seems that my customer was not sure what I was referring to when I said we were installing new coping. Well, that is a good question.
First, coping is a protective cap applied to the top of a wall, parapet, or chimney. Coping is most commonly made of concrete, metal or wood. It may be flat, but it is usually slightly curved in order to shed water and protect the masonry below from water intrusion. Coping is most effective if it is extended just a bit beyond the wall face.
I hope The Florida Roofer has helped clear up the mystery of coping and what it has to do with your roofing project.
The Florida Roofer would like to help clear up some of the roofing jargon floating around out there in cyberspace, so that you, the consumer, can easily read and understand the estimates and invoices you receive from us, or anyone in our trade for that matter. Therefore, today I would like to explain what I mean when I refer to a course of shingles on your roof…
A course, in roofing jargon, is a row of shingles or a roll of roofing materials, running one length, or one row, of the roof. It is that simple. Therefore, if we are doing a repair that takes four course of shingle or roll roofing, we are doing a repair on four rows of roofing on your roof.
I hope this clears up the concerns you might have as to what The Florida Roofer is referring to when I say I am doing a course of shingles or roll roofing while repairing your roof.
This week I had a customer call and ask how we go about matching the old roofing shingles that are currently installed on their home with new shingles for a home improvement addition they are planning this fall. That is a very good question and I will bet he is not the only person out there wondering the same thing…
First, let me say that once shingles are installed on your roof the sun and rain are going to begin the process of changing the appearance of your shingles, even ever so slightly. Shingles can mildew and darken with exposure to air, rain and sunlight. This does not substantially affect their ability to keep your roof watertight, but it will change the look of the shingle roof even if ever so slightly. When we install a new roof for a construction addition we will do our very best to match your existing shingles to the new addition shingles. Nevertheless, remember, even if we order the same exact shingle we installed on your roof a few years ago it will not match exactly. Sometimes the match is very close and sometimes it is obvious that you have a new addition to your home. Ideally, the best option is to install a new shingle roof on the entire building and paint the entire building so that there is no visible sign that the addition is brand new. We understand that this can add quite a bit to your construction budget, depending on the size of your original home and new proposed addition. We make every effort possible to work with our material suppliers to select a shingle match for your home that you will be happy looking at your new roof addition for many years to come.
I hope this clears up the question of matching old roofing shingles with new roofing shingles on a home improvement addition.