The Truth About Roofs

Hi Everyone:

I have read a lot of stories this winter about people who have leaking roofs. I have also seen first hand just by driving around, a lot of homes with the roofs shoveled/raked off with snow. People don't normally clear their roofs off unless there is a reason, like a leak. Some of the stories that I read dealt with homeowners who had their roofs fixed several times, but to no avail.

When a roof leaks into a wall, I'm not talking about a leak from the middle or top of a roof section, the reason is almost always the same. First you have a lot of ice daming in your gutters. As the ice continues to build up, it can, depending on how the roof was built, touch the plywood sheathing of the roof. The ice can and will push up under the tar or felt paper. The end result is the same, water leaking down the inside of the roof and then onto and down the walls. If this is a problem you or someone you know has, there is only one common sense solution to permanently stop the problem.

First you must find a reliable, experienced roofing contractor with checkable references. Even if your roof is not past it's lifespan, all the shingles and tar or feltpaper must be removed. You see its not your shingles that are leaking, but the way the layer under the shingles was installed that is wrong. The common sense solution goes like this:

1) Have all gutters separated from the facias to approximately 3-4".

2) Use ice and water shield that begins approximately 3" on the facia, which is why the gutters were pulled a little bit away from the facias, then continue up, around and onto the wood sheathing. There should be approximately 2' 6" of the ice and water shield on the roof proper.

3) Use ice and water shield on all valleys.

Now you can install any type of roof you want. It is the all important first row of protection that is THE most important. The object is to cover any and all wood from being exposed or should I say touched by ice. If the ice can't touch any wood what-so-ever, there is no way to have leaks due to ice daming. Leak problem solved. This will not stop ice daming, but since it can't
touch wood, there are no leaks.

Obviously this is not an inexpensive solution, but it is the only solution. There is no patching of a roof, no matter what a contractor may tell you, that will work. How do I know about this? I had my roofing contractor do this to my roof 10 years ago and there have been no problems. I must tell you though that my roofing contractor never installed ice and water shield in this matter before mine and now he swears by it.

Til next week.

Peter

Common sense can help solve any problem.