Snow & Ice In Dallas

Everyone by now knows that the DFW area just recieved record snowfall. What they don't know is that there are some very unique roof problems that will happen this Saturday and Sunday as snow and ice melts.

People will get leaks on perfectly constructed roofs. That can not be right you say? Well it is. First, snow and ice behave very differently than rain. It piles up. It thaws and then refreezes only to thaw again. It gets into siding and flashing in a way that rain never will.

Second, roofs in the South are not constructed for snow and ice. In the North, many additional precautions are taken to prevent water intrusion from melting snow and ice. Primarily, rubber ice and water shield is used in valleys, around, penetrations, dormers, and many other areas. We could easily do the same in the South, but with as little snow fall as we normally receive, the cure on the whole is worse than the illness. Even with roofs not designed for snow and ice, it will be a very small number that have problems.

So what to do if you are one of the unlucky few that do have have a problem? If the leak in question has never been seen before, waiting to see if it will occur again may be your best answer. A rain with no problems later is a good sign that this was a unique problem that may not occur until the next these frosty weather conditions repeat.

Improper Nail Pattern

Now that I can easily add photos to this blog, I have added this one. See my prior post on the bad rap CertainTeed recieved. The problems here are poor workmanship. The nail pattern must be very specific so that two shingles, not just one, are penetrated by each nail.

"High Nails" as shown here are far less common when roofs are hand nailed.

Something you really can not see in the photo is overdriven nails which is also a big problem.

Problems with one by ten decking

 

 

Older homes may be decked with one by ten lumber. These boards cup over time and can create a leak situation no matter the quality of the roof above them. A new deck is best in most situations.

NTRCA Awards Banquet

Bert Roofing was in force at the annual NTRCA Awards Banquet.

For the third year in a row Bert Roofing has won a "Golden Hammer" Award for community service with our participation in the NFL Retired Players Association "Benefit House".

This project builds a house for a needy family and raises money for the kids at Children's Hospital in Dallas.

Rain Rain Go Away

Based on the very unofficial record keeping at Bert Roofing, it has rained 32 of a possible 61 days for September and October of 2009 in Dallas. Despite all this rain, we are not close to any records per the Dallas Morning News weather blog.

http://weatherblog.dallasnews.com/archives/records/

In short, we have been very busy. In fact any roofer worth his salt is very busy. So why is there a new roofer in my backyard (Lake Highlands) that has time to go knock on doors? (more on that later)

News Crew gives Certainteed a raw deal

Earlier this year (2007) sometime around February heavy straight line winds whipped through the area. There were missing wind blown shingles all over.



One of the worst hit areas were the Northern suburbs of Dallas; Plano, Frisco, and Allen amongst others. There should be little surprise that the land of new construction was hardest hit. One particular area in Plano that was hard hit was the subject of a TV news story on the storm damage.



Here is a print version of the story, but it also aired on TV mentioning Certainteed by name.

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa070226_mo_shingleproblems.183b3e75.html

There is little doubt this was horrible pub for Certainteed. Shortly after the story, the local Certainteed rep (whose livelihood is tied to the sale of Certainteed shingles in this market) quit.

But was it deserved?

In short, no. I had the opportunity to give an estimate on one of these homes in the subdivision referenced above. Poor workmanship was all over this property. High nailing was everywhere. The shingles were gun nailed. Many nails were also over driven. In my opinion, any three tab from any manufacturer would have similar results with that workmanship.

What about that newer subdivision right next door with no damage at all?

The did not mention any specifics in the print article, but the TV camera pans to a laminated shingle roof with no blow offs. It is not fair to compare three tab shingles to heavier laminates. It is just not apples to apples. There is also a good chance that the crew that installed the laminate shingle roof is not the same as the blown off 20 year roof.

I would not have taken much leg work to get a few more facts and presented a more balanced story. The majority of blow offs I saw had two things in common; entry level shingles and pneumatic instillation. The brand of shingles did not really matter in my unscientific observations. What was a real surprise was that it did not matter if it were nails or staples, but that they were applied with a pneumatic device.

Beware the guy with no line.

The late spring and summer of 2007 have been one of the wettest on record. I don't know what the records are, but we are close to many.

We are busy. Every quality roofer I know is busy. What is normally a few days wait is many weeks.

Now some customer with a small problem calls and is told it will be at least two weeks until we can see him. He replies "Roofer X can get out right away". We can not.

Now I do not know Roofer X. But really, what kind of roofer does not have a load of calls during this monsoon? Its like the hail storm when a guys has so few calls he can casually go door to door in a neighborhood hit hard.

The good roofers are very busy during peak times. So just pause a second and ask "why is this guy not busy"?