Katherine Abernathy
12-01-2010, 11:51 AM
People at Certainteed told me that it would not be possible to get a Certainteed rep to come check our roof--that’s not an option, they don’t do that. Several people have made that suggestion, so perhaps other companies do send out reps, and maybe Certainteed used to.
The Certainteed people suggested I get a building inspector or a home inspector to come out. The building inspector told me they’re only interested in new construction.
I’m not trying to yank anyone’s chain, HG. And I do not want to and will not need to sue the contractor. He will comply with any reasonable request. That is the way he is; you can bank on that.
What I’ve been trying to do is figure out what I should request. Just telling him that I have general concerns and relying on him to find any problems won’t fly. It would waste his time and most likely result in problems not being identified and therefore not addressed. That’s how this happened in the first place. Yes, we were supposed to be able to just leave it in his hands, and that’s what we did originally.
Here is what happened. The roof went up. The new shingles are much prettier than what was there before (original 1989 shingles), and we were very pleased. We did not scrutinize the details because (1) We’re busy with other things; (2) Knowing nothing about roofing, we weren’t equipped to assess the quality; (3) The same company, in the same renovation project, was doing other things well; (4) We weren’t supposed to have to learn about roofing, that’s their job; (5) The junky drip edge is in less apparent locations, generally higher up; and (5) I did ask about the two things that were/are very noticeably different from our old roof--the big distance the shingles extend beyond the deck and the woven valleys--and was told in each case that those were ideal.
Came time to put up gutters. Question arose: where do you want downspouts? I started paying closer attention to that area. Whereas the drip edge in areas close to the ground and near entrances is nice, I noticed the other areas that are junky. Also noticed damaged shingles. Also noticed that shingles along some rakes are not in a straight line, and, on three rakes, they are in a straight line but not the same distance from the drip edge at the top as at the bottom.
That lack of carefulness, lack of caring, made me wonder anew about the big distance of shingle extensions. Found out Certainteed specifies ½ inch beyond drip edge, and their reasoning. In most places, our shingles extend l ½ inch, although in some places it’s more and on one rake it gets down to 1/8 inch and on another ¼ inch. Noticed other things that were done contrary to instructions.
It seemed advisable to find out what’s there, what should be there, what’s important to change, and what doesn’t really matter, so I’ll know what to ask the contractor to do. I
rented a zoom lens for my camera,
read what I could find,
sent a collection of photos to an out-of-own roofer who I thought might be willing to give a disinterested opinion and told him I’d be glad to pay for his time and opinion but never heard back,
called Certainteed and asked for a rep to check the roof (see above),
called the building inspector (see above) and
hired a home inspector and a roofer to do assessments both of which were inaccurate, extremely limited, and, I subsequently learned, missed important things such as the 35 foot completely open gap (except for the drooping shingles that cover the gap) along one eave. I have also been looking at the roof myself and gradually coming to really see more of what's in front of my eyes & understand more of what I see (Just yesterday I realized that the soffit along the eave with that completely open space between fascia and sheathing is blocked--there are boards laid across that soffit! They installed the vented soffit then blocked it).
Yes, this has taken much too long partly because I started from a point of complete ignorance and partly because there are other things in life that I’ve had to deal with that cannot just be put aside while I devote myself to roofing.
And I have been looking to you guys for information and advice. You have been very generous and very helpful. Thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to educate me.
Katherine Abernathy
The Certainteed people suggested I get a building inspector or a home inspector to come out. The building inspector told me they’re only interested in new construction.
I’m not trying to yank anyone’s chain, HG. And I do not want to and will not need to sue the contractor. He will comply with any reasonable request. That is the way he is; you can bank on that.
What I’ve been trying to do is figure out what I should request. Just telling him that I have general concerns and relying on him to find any problems won’t fly. It would waste his time and most likely result in problems not being identified and therefore not addressed. That’s how this happened in the first place. Yes, we were supposed to be able to just leave it in his hands, and that’s what we did originally.
Here is what happened. The roof went up. The new shingles are much prettier than what was there before (original 1989 shingles), and we were very pleased. We did not scrutinize the details because (1) We’re busy with other things; (2) Knowing nothing about roofing, we weren’t equipped to assess the quality; (3) The same company, in the same renovation project, was doing other things well; (4) We weren’t supposed to have to learn about roofing, that’s their job; (5) The junky drip edge is in less apparent locations, generally higher up; and (5) I did ask about the two things that were/are very noticeably different from our old roof--the big distance the shingles extend beyond the deck and the woven valleys--and was told in each case that those were ideal.
Came time to put up gutters. Question arose: where do you want downspouts? I started paying closer attention to that area. Whereas the drip edge in areas close to the ground and near entrances is nice, I noticed the other areas that are junky. Also noticed damaged shingles. Also noticed that shingles along some rakes are not in a straight line, and, on three rakes, they are in a straight line but not the same distance from the drip edge at the top as at the bottom.
That lack of carefulness, lack of caring, made me wonder anew about the big distance of shingle extensions. Found out Certainteed specifies ½ inch beyond drip edge, and their reasoning. In most places, our shingles extend l ½ inch, although in some places it’s more and on one rake it gets down to 1/8 inch and on another ¼ inch. Noticed other things that were done contrary to instructions.
It seemed advisable to find out what’s there, what should be there, what’s important to change, and what doesn’t really matter, so I’ll know what to ask the contractor to do. I
rented a zoom lens for my camera,
read what I could find,
sent a collection of photos to an out-of-own roofer who I thought might be willing to give a disinterested opinion and told him I’d be glad to pay for his time and opinion but never heard back,
called Certainteed and asked for a rep to check the roof (see above),
called the building inspector (see above) and
hired a home inspector and a roofer to do assessments both of which were inaccurate, extremely limited, and, I subsequently learned, missed important things such as the 35 foot completely open gap (except for the drooping shingles that cover the gap) along one eave. I have also been looking at the roof myself and gradually coming to really see more of what's in front of my eyes & understand more of what I see (Just yesterday I realized that the soffit along the eave with that completely open space between fascia and sheathing is blocked--there are boards laid across that soffit! They installed the vented soffit then blocked it).
Yes, this has taken much too long partly because I started from a point of complete ignorance and partly because there are other things in life that I’ve had to deal with that cannot just be put aside while I devote myself to roofing.
And I have been looking to you guys for information and advice. You have been very generous and very helpful. Thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to educate me.
Katherine Abernathy