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KeriVit · Jan 11, 2008, 06:03 PM

Thank God, Georgia has had no rain this year. But, when we do get it, my roof leaks. There's a storm coming now. We've had the house for a year. The roof is supposedly 3 years old. We had a guy out, -he said they screwed up at the seam where 2 roofs meet, the skylight and parts where smaller shingles were used.

He never came back with a quote.

Called another guy, he never showed up.

It appears about 1/3 of the roof needs to be replaced and who knows about damage underneath the shingles. Then there's ceiling repair inside. Sigh.

I just felt like sharing.

mindwaves · Jan 11, 2008, 06:17 PM

Just spread some tar or some goop on top of your roof where you think the water is coming through. It is a temporary fix until you can find someone better.

KeriVit · Jan 11, 2008, 06:20 PM

OK, sounds better than a big blue tarp!

sek929 · Jan 14, 2008, 02:32 PM

That goop could take the roofing contractor an extra day to rip out of his way once he starts to fix your roof. Not to mention that it can be maddening to actually locate where the leak starts.

I've fixed several roofs that were leaking and in one case the leak started a good twenty feet away from where it was dripping in the house. Get it fixed ASAP, having a good roof on your house is incredibly important.

design219 · Jan 14, 2008, 03:37 PM

When we built our house, the roofing contractor came with good recommendations and seemed to know what he was doing. However, he was over 350 lbs. and never got on the roof himself. His "crew" was average age of 22 or so, and the oldest guy had epilepsy. The contractor worried about him through the entire project (two stories with steep 6-10 pitch plus a small 3rd story tower). Needless to say, we had to have a different contractor come back a few months later and fix a number of issues with the roof.

KeriVit · Jan 14, 2008, 04:30 PM

So, I was wondering don't roofs come with some kind of guarantee usually?

sek929 · Jan 14, 2008, 05:01 PM

If the roof was installed by a licensed contractor it usually follows the warranty on the roof shingles. It sounds to me like the guys who did your roof were amateurs. A skylight leak is a sign that somebody didn't know what they were doing. I've installed dozens of skylights and none of them leak

I assume the work was done when you didn't own the house so you'd have to get the previous owner and contractor involved and I doubt it would be very fruitful.

You also said that they stitched the new shingles into the old ones. How old is the old part of the roof? If it's about time for it to be replaced then a whole re-roofing is certainly in order. If you plan on staying at this place for a while then it's a sound investment to have an all-new leakproof roof.

Get the contract in writing and make sure the contractor allows for a year warranty on his work or so. My father does this for over a year based on what we would need to fix.....but we never need to fix anything anyways.

sek929 · Jan 14, 2008, 05:03 PM

Originally Posted by design219

His "crew" was average age of 22 or so

I've been roofing since I was 17, so don't always write off young people. In fact, we're a lot lighter and quicker on our feet, making us the best candidates for scrambling around on a roof.