Your Roof Is More Important Than Your Grass
Why You Should Repair Your Roof Before Replacing Your Sod
I'm seeing it all over the place - people buying sod at Home Depot, checking out flowering trees, buying bushes, planting tulips, but when I look up from the grass toward the roof, I see problems that aren't being addressed. Yes. the grass is beautiful, but it won't save your belonging from being ruined in the coming Spring thunderstorms.
It's sunny right now, and people are out taking care of their lawns, but look at the weather forecast:
Today
A slight chance of showers after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 77. West wind 6 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Tonight
A slight chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 52. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Wednesday
Scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 4pm. Cloudy, with a high near 65. Northeast wind 7 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
Wednesday Night
A slight chance of showers before 9pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 45. East wind around 6 mph becoming calm in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Uh, oh. Thunderstorms are looming, and you forgot about that skylight leak that you had during the winter. Oh, never mind- you'll put a pot under it like you always do, and hope that the crack doesn't get worse. Perhaps a little spackle and some paint might help brighten it up before Mother's Day. . .
All the while, as the pot gets full, even on days when you don't need the drip pot, your roof is deteriorating, crumbing, growing mold, and becoming more and more expensive to repair.
Oh, boy. No wonder you had a leak! It seems that your skylight was installed improperly. This one had to have all the plywood and shingles around it removed, new plywood installed so that the skylight lays flush with the deck, new ice and water shield installed over that, and then new shingles all around. This job, if tackled the moment there was a leak, might have cost very little for the home owner. Two years down the road, and it's costing him over $1000 to fix.
Other things that I see in the Spring are:
- Drip edge leaks from old ice dams at the gutters.
See the "warbling" in this roof? Right away I can tell that this roof has sustained major ice dam damage. I don't like the way the roofer installed this roof. It's likely that the whole roof will have to be checked. There's something suspicious about how far he let those drip edge shingles hang into the gutter. More evidence of the problem was water dripping from the soffits - see the picture below:
Now we'll have to pull the shingles at least 3 to 6 feet up from the gutter, replace the plywood, install new ice and water shield, and install new shingles.
To sum it up, as you're watering your new flower sand sod, please take the time to look up, and check your roof. Repairing problems now will save you thousands of dollars down the road.
Your blogging roofer,
Nick Muja
Best Quality Roofing and Chimney, Inc.
631-281-9100
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