Your roof protects your home from rain, sleet, snow, wind, heat. Your roof never has a good day so of course it gets damaged and will deteriorate over time. In MI the average life expectancy of a roof from what we have witnessed is about 17 years give or take a few years. Some of that depends on what type of shingles you have on your roof or what type of membrane is on your flat roof.
Some people think because the roof looks ok from the ground that it is rock solid. But most of the time when you step up on a roof thats say 10 years old we always find stuff that you can’t see from the ground. Here is a list of the most commom roof flaws we see every day.
1. Missing shingles
2. Nails backing up through shingles
3. Worn caulking on chimney flashings
4. Sealent strips giving out making blowoffs likely in high winds
5. Pipe boot seal rotted around pipes if your roof is 10 years old bet on this one
6. Cracks in roofing
7. Old skylights leak usually where the metal meets the glass
8. A roof top satellite dish will leak over time, never put one on a roof
Most of the time when we get calls with someone with roof leaks and the roof is newer like under 5 years. Then this usually turns out to be a bad install from the roofers that did the work. Some of the most common things we see are below.
1. Flashing walls leaks because they did not do flashing proper.
2. Pipe boot or vent leaks again because they were not flashed proper.
3. Valleys were not done properly
4. Ventilation issues you need both a soffit and ridge vent equally working
5. Chimney leaks are a biggie if not flashed properly
We highly recommend getting your roof checked out every couple years. Normal issues like posted above can be fixed pretty easy with just a little maintenance. Another reason to get a roof inspection is to get a experts opinion on if its time to replace or just repair. If the roof is pushing 15 years old and issues are starting to show then yes we always recommend complete roof replacement if possible. If its not in the budget then we always recommend things we would do repairs on to try and get you some more time before having to replace and worry about complete roof replacement when you can financially do it.
Lots of our customers like our honest assessment of their roof condition. Because we only do roof repairs we are not trying to sell you on a new roof that costs many of thousands of dollars. But we do give you the current condition of the roofing and recommend what’s best.
There are definitely pros and cons to complete roof replacement verses just roof repairs. The biggest one is the only way you get guarantees and warranties on your roofing is when the contractor does the complete job then they give you warranties. They do this because they do all the work and everything is new so the put their name on the job and give warranties. With us we are just doing a small repair on your existing roof that we originally had nothing to do with.
In the roof repair trade this is all done by expertise and tying to locate the cause of your issue. There is no tool you put on your roof and magically tells you what is wrong. You have to be a expert like us with many years in the roofing trade to pinpoint issues or where the last roofer screwed up at to make the roof leak. So of course there are no guarantees on just roof repairs.
Sometimes roof issues stick right out like a hole in the roofing. But sometimes we get up on a roof and nothing sticks out but this we call spot guessing. Like we see some possibilities but not sure if this is the cause of your leak. We always take photos and show you what we see on your roof. We get calls all the time saying they had such and such company out and the roof still leaks after repairs and they won’t come out or answer their phone. Well that company should of told you and been honest to say we can try this but we are not 100 percent sure this will fix the issue.
Water can leak in from a long ways away from where your seeing it on the inside. Water tracks down on the slope of your roof catches the felt paper and roof decking or trusses and travels and who knows where your seeing the water on your interior at. So yes roof repairs can be tricky and nobody I don’t care who they are can step up on any old roof and tell you with 100 percent guarantee this is your roof issue for sure. But they can be honest and tell you they highly think this is the root of your problem. But a 100 percent guarantee and a highly think are two different things. And this is what gets other contractor’s in trouble with homeowners with not being upfront and educating the homeowner on how roofing work’s.
Our reputation is important to us and speaks for itself. We are a credentialed contractor with many of years on top of roofs and pretty much seen it all as far as roofing issues or shotty workmanship. We even offer consultation on helping you with choosing a roofing contractor to complete your job if you choose complete roof replacement as we only offer roof repairs.
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