I posted this ten days ago, got just two responses. Any other takers?
I’m a professional Remodelor (25 yrs) and often get button-holed by relatives for advice; this one puzzles me. My inlaws have a 1966 house on the water on Cape Cod, MA with a 1988 red cedar roof. (Do the math- the first roof lasted just 22 yrs. Solid sheathing (over trusses), 15 lb felt, copper valley backers, 5″ to the weather. 6/12 pitch. Galvanized staples.
In recent years, some ridges have come off, a few shingles here & there replaced. The staples are rusting through in places. But no blow offs, so far. But it needs maintenance, for sure.
A builder of renown brings a roofer over to look at it. They say “we can renail this roof for you for about $1500, so you might get another ten years out of it. We do this a lot around here.” Mother-in-law asks her son-in-law the expert: I say it’s pretty cheap for all that next-to-impossible blind nailing under the butts; in fact I can’t believe they want to do it (the roof is about 30 squares), but if you get even close to ten years more life it’s worth it. She says OK.
Fast-forward to my visit in August: asked to “check the work,” I get up there and see to my horror that the “roofers” (3 guys, 4 hrs, $1600) have blasted two 1-1/4″ ribbed nails into each shingle, every other row, over the entire roof. (Do the math–that’s close to 10,000 new penetrations). The guns countersunk the nails nearly through the shingles, leaving a crater (and little place for a puddle) over every nail. The valleys and the stepflashings around the chimney got plenty of these nails.
I say the builder is an idiot. He says they’ve done it before. I think those other jobs were probably skip-sheathed 10-pitch older houses with thick plaster, and it’s only a matter of time and weather. I think this roof will start leaking this fall, and once the wet-dry cycle starts splitting those shingles around the nails the roof will fail within a year.
I try to be fair to a comrade in the field, but am I crazy to think that they just sent a couple of guys to go WAHOO with their nailers, and that they shortened rather than extended the life of this roof?
Edited 9/15/2002 2:17:48 PM ET by THEBOWTIE
Replies
1st.. what ever possessed you to tell her it sounded like a good idea?
it didn't .. even IF they had blind nailed..
and then the old .." we've done it a lot around heah"...BS.. around heah is still someplace on this earth.. and that technique is just bogus..
you gave bad advice.. the ROOFERS gave bad service..
and the roof(s) are failing because they are on solid sheathing.. the shingles stay wet long enough to rot..and CAPE COD.. salt water atmosphere.. galvanized staples are a no-no
rip it off now.. (now that the last idiot has face nailed them ) and redo on furring or Cedar Breather
but hey, whadda i no ?
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Edited 9/5/2002 11:48:01 PM ET by Mike Smith
They stuck daggers in a man dying of old age to save him from wetting the bed.
So now he's sh_t the bed
Replace the roof before winter or make sure it's tarped down because the ceilings will be ruined in the spring.
I might even take a dozen pictures and get an inspectors report first to take to court. These guys are frauds. I'm betting the publicity in a small community will bring out any others who've been so screwed by them! Make it class action! Maybe even get the attorney general into it. Fraud deserves criminal action.