Monday - 5/30/11
Roofing work started on Saturday and proceeded through the start of Monday but by Sunday afternoon I was having serious misgivings about HOW the roof was being installed.
Most metal roofing installers want to leave the original roofing behind to, in their words ,"add a layer of protection" during bad weather. What they're really wanting is to not have to strip the roof and haul away the debris and pay to drop it in a landfill somewhere. Since my roof had only one layer of shingles, I didn't have a problem with that scenario. The additional layered coverage was OK with me.
Before I go on, there's a moral to this particular blog entry: Review all contracts and supporting documents provided by any contractor, PAY ATTENTION to the details, and be on site while the work is underway, and most of all, pay attention to your intuition.
The contract called for several majors things to occur:
- Install three skylights with flashing
- Lay down a GAF product called Shingle-Mate over the existing roof shingles to provide a clean fresh layer of water protection
- Use 1-1/2" screws when laying down the 1x4" firing strips that the sheetmetal was to be screwed down to.
- Use 1-1/2" screws when attaching the sheetmetal to the firing strips
- Use a GAF product called StormGuard to seal all potential points of water intrusion.
As mentioned previously, the roofing crew showed up unexpectedly on a Saturday morning. Had I had advance notice as to when the work was to commence, I would have selected any Monday through Friday. As it was, it was too short notice to even consider taking a day off at work. I had to go to work! So I came back on my lunch hour to check the progress as well as when getting of work.
My first intuitive warning that I didn't pay attention to was that the crew chief had not been informed about the installation of the skylights. When I told him there were three, he became slightly flustered but said they would do it. I showed him where they were to be installed.
On Sunday afternoon I stopped by during my lunch to take a quick look at the progress. I became concerned about how they were going about installing two of the three skylights I had provided. The holes were properly located but they stripped all of the factory flashing off the skylights. I started questioning why they would do that given you can't really get a better seal that what the factory provides. Also, they pulled back all of the original shingles and underlayment at the top end of the skylight opening exposing the decking below it and were about to lay the sheetmetal down without any protecting underlayment. Given the sheetmetal has high ridges, I couldn't see how they were going to deflect the water from above around the skylight. The crew boss assured me they would seal everything up. Alarm bells started to sound in my head.
When I came home Sunday evening, I climbed up on the roof to take stock of the work done thus far. I started to notice a couple of things I hadn't noticed the day before (hence my advice to pay attention!). I went back through the supporting sales literature and contract again and found several items I had missed that were crucial to the install process that had not been done properly.
There was no black felt waterproofing underlayment. They failed to lay it out. Neither did they screw down the 1x4 firing strips. They used a power nailer. I could see the smooth nail heads through the decking...but I could not see any screws. The 1-1/2" screws for the metal decking should have been clearly visible through the decking and I couldn't see those either. I did find a box of 1" screws suggesting the sheetmetal was screwed down to only the 1-4" strips and not the roof deck itself. So essentially there was only a series of smooth nails holding the roof down....and as anyone knows, high winds have incredible forces and could very well lift the roof right off the building.
At 5:00am on Monday morning I woke up in a sweat consumed about the status of the project. With the roof 3/4 installed correcting any of it had the makings of a major nightmare. No contractor wants to undo something that's that far along. I sat down at my computer and drafted in writing (for legal purposes) an email articulating my areas of concern. I sent that off to Ron, the salesman, and the owner about 7:00am and then at 8:30am called Ron on his cell phone and expressed my serious misgivings about the work done so far. He said he would come right out.
I informed Antonio, the crew chief, that the Ron was coming out to take a look at the roof. When I explained to him why Ron was coming, Antonio got a little defensive saying that he was not told he needed to do those things. Not to get bogged down in the literal conversation, it struck me that if Antonio had a long term relationship with the roofing company, how could he not know that those certain things I outlined were a "standard" for the roof that was being installed. It set me thinking about the possibility of there being other homeowners out there who got the same roof and the same sales spiel but did not get the added protections they thought they were purchasing.
To his credit, Ron did come out immediately. I showed him my areas of concern and I could tell by looking at him that he recognized the problem. Also to his credit, he immediately agreed there was a problem with how it was installed, and that it was a communications issue on their end and that he accepted full responsibility for what had transpired. After reviewing everything, Ron surprised me by asking me what I thought needed to be done..... My answer to that was that I did not want to wonder every single time it rained if the roof was going to leak. It was pretty obvious to both of us what needed to occur, I think he was just hoping I would say something to get him off the hook.
The ONLY resolution was that the entire roof would have to be removed and redone the way they were selling it. Ron knew it and finally said it out loud. He assured me that it would be done and that I would be satisfied. Well, words can sound great but you have to follow that up with action.
I had to get to work so I left him at the house with him giving me assurances that the roof would be removed and redone correctly. I did see the owner driving up the street as I was leaving so I know he was on sight.
Wednesday - 6/1/11
I was driving by the the roofing contractors place of business Wednesday morning just as the owner was pulling into the parking lot so I whipped a U-turn and when back to the shop. I introduced myself. He knew immediately who I was and invited me into his office. He acknowledged that the roof was not installed properly and again apologized for the turn of events. He assured me they would remove and reinstall the roof the proper way. I was relieved that he did not try to evade the truth of the situation and openly admitted to the problem. I've heard horror stories about roofing contractors so while the platitudes were nice to hear, I'm still left holding my breath in limbo land until the work actually occurs.
Friday - 6/3/11
I placed a followup call to the Ron to find out when they would be returning to complete the work. He said "absolutely" they would be removing the incorrectly installed roof, lay the proper foundation for it and reinstalling it. We talked about scheduling and I was relieved again to hear him say it out loud again, but again, those are just words. I'm still caught in the unenviable limbo land between their assurances that they will redo the work and the work actually being completed correctly.
Sunday - 6/5/11
Still hadn't heard from the Ron. I was starting to get annoyed but also starting to formulate a plan B to get the roof redone even if it meant hiring another company. I also shot off another documenting email.
Monday - 6/6/11
Ron called me back profusely apologetic that he had not called back as promised and again reassured me they would be coming out this next Saturday and Sunday as it was the only time slot open. He advised he would be onsite the entire time to make sure it got done right and since I had to work those days, offered to take pics for me so that I could be assured it was being done right. I felt better about the turn of events and feel he's being sincere but then again he's still one of those dreaded "roofing contractors" so until I see the work completed satisfactorily, I'm still stressing.
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