The Ten Commandments of Composition Steep Slope Roofing

1) Always remove the existing roof.
2) Install the felt in a waterproof method, including integration with the metal edge.
3) Follow the 300 Rule of  Balanced Ventilation.
4) Never use pneumatic nailers. Only hand nail composition roofs.
5) Use a certified roofer for better installation and warranty.
6) Replace old or plank decks with solid decking.
7) Follow all local building codes. They are modified from the IRC basic codes with consideration for local extremes.
8) Always inspect the attic, especial after the roof is completed so you don't kill the residents with carbon monoxide.
9) Never shingle beneath a 2/12 pitch and use two ply felt, even if it is synthetic or peel and stick, when roofing beneath a 4/12 pitch. I don't recommend roofing beneath a 3/12 because if the roof sags you might cross the line.
10) Replace all chimney, skylight, and wall flashings.These are problem areas and the nail holes might come back to haunt you for your sin of cheapness.

Many other issues could be brought up but these are the basics. Better felt, leak protectors, better rated roofing materials, insurance, and other items may make for a better roof but these are the basic items that must be followed. Some would disagree on some of these items, especially the hand nailing part, but I disagree.

Follow these rules and you'll get a decent roof.

Jon Alan Wright

Jon Wright Roofing, Siding, and Windows

1915 Peters Rd., Suite 310

Irving, TX 75061

972.251.1818 Office

214.718.3748 Cell

972.554.8090 Fax

jonwright@jonwrightroofing.com

www.jonwrightroofing.com

   

Arnold Schwarzenegger's Big Roof

While everyone is guffawing about Arnold and his so called "love child" I was looking at his roof. What a spread. There must be 300,000 lbs of concrete up there.

Did you know if a house with concrete tile is on fire the firemen won't usually enter. Too dangerous. Maybe Arnold should stay out too. We seem to think that Arnold has an indiscretion but what if Maria told him that their children weren't his? She didn't, she won't, and Arnold has fallen from the high mountains of Olympus to mate with a mere mortal. He left the world of giants to mix genes with a human and there will be a cost.

The love of his wife will never be the same if at all. His children will be inextricably attached to the other woman out of curiosity for their half sibling just like Senator John Edward's deceased wife knew her children would be around the other woman forever as she prepared for judgement day.

The lesson is that people who can afford expensive roofs are just as human, if not more so, that the rest of us who really work for a living. Too much free time allows you to commit indiscretions you would never forgive another for making.

I feel for the pain Maria Shiver feels. I hope she gets to keep the roof. My respect for the man has just gone out the window, which we install also.

Jon Alan Wright

Jon Wright Roofing, Siding, and Windows

1915 Peters Rd., Suite 310

Irving, TX 75061

972.251.1818 Office

214.718.3748 Cell

972.554.8090 Fax

jonwright@jonwrightroofing.com

www.jonwrightroofing.com

   

The History of the Roof Granule

Over 100 years ago the first attempts at making asphalt shingles began. They couldn't be shipped because they would stick together and when they got to where they were going they didn't last long. The UV rays of mama sun ate them up in a hurry. Organic materials don't do well in solar wind. Thus the roofing granule was invented and all was well in the universe. Then all hail broke out and the storm chaser industry was born.

The little pebbles began as larger rocks smashed into smithereens, a rarely used roofing term, and thrown onto the shingle just like a miniature gravel road. Aesthetics and function found harmony in the new cheaper roofing product that helped build homes much faster and with less lumber than was required for the traditional tile, slate or wood roofs. Sure wood roofs don't weigh much but then it rains and they are brutally heavy. Their wet weight reaches close to tile.

Without these little pebbles the asphalt in the roof would be digested in a short time by sol and the roof would look bad and leak.

Nowadays many insurance adjusters think that granule loss without fabric tearing does not constitute hail damage to an asphaltic roofing product and amounts to a cosmetic damage only. Well hoot-a-nanny. Ask any home inspector, home buyer, roofing, manufacturer, laboratory expert, or bird what they think of granule loss and they'll tell you all bets are off and the roof is ruined.

Some fire resistance is offered by the granules because without them the burning brands used by the testing labs would catch the asphalt on fire and leave the roofing without it's A or C fire rating. I've always wondered why we never heard of a class B fire rating. Maybe someone could phone in the answer. The third caller gets a free shingle.

In retrospect, granules serve four primary purposes and one secondary one: to provide evidence that hail hit the roof and fill up the local motels with riff raff.

Someday I'll right about the evolution of the granule from natural to synthetic for color steadfastness. Did you know that roofers lose most of their fingerprints from grabbing those rough old shingles? That's why DNA testing was invented.

Jon Alan Wright

Jon Wright Roofing, Siding, and Windows

1915 Peters Rd., Suite 310

Irving, TX 75061

972.251.1818 Office

214.718.3748 Cell

972.554.8090 Fax

jonwright@jonwrightroofing.com

www.jonwrightroofing.com

   

Choose The Roofer And Then The Price

So you weren't planning on buying a roof and all you want to do is avoid costs. You might be setting yourself up for mountains of costs if you let your greed take over. Some of the homeowners fall real deep into the trap and try to profit from their insurance claims. I'm not faxing that fake bill and going to prison. You do it.

Here's how to stay out of the trap. First find a good source for roofers like one of the big three certified roofer groups:GAF, Certainteed, or Owens Corning. Then find out what he can do it for, what he'll do for what you got, and how much can you get done. Apply your greed to a better roof, better ventilation, better looking roofs, or anything that makes your home more valuable, more sell-able, or saves you money on utilities or insurance premiums.

If you fall into the "knock, knock, knock, I'll save your deductible" trap you might lose the entire check paid by your insurance and have to do it over out of that fat wallet you think you own. These words will be wasted on the greedy but will resonate with those who are wise or have suffered at the hands of those willing to steal. Just remember, you're next.

Jon Alan Wright

Jon Wright Roofing, Siding, and Windows

1915 Peters Rd., Suite 310

Irving, TX 75061

972.251.1818 Office

214.718.3748 Cell

972.554.8090 Fax

jonwright@jonwrightroofing.com

www.jonwrightroofing.com

   

Why You Might Not Have Any Warranty On Your Roof

You have a new roof and don't know what the 300 Rule is. You have a limited warranty, or even an enhanced warranty from a Master Elite like myself but balanced ventilation means nothing to you.

You're going to replace your roof sooner and maybe the deck. Your kids might be breathing sewer gases because of negative pressure in your home. Asthma is rampant in your grandchildren. You neighbor has the same A/C, the same size house, and the same frugal Judeo-Christian civilized culture with an overlay of Protestant work ethic but your utilities are higher. You can't even sell your home.

That is what is going to happen to 90 something percent of the homes even if it hails again and the roof gets replaced.

That sure is a lot of money to give to someone who knocked on your door, is not certified, and has little more than a BBB membership.

It is time to read and study because the wind will blow, the rain and ice will come,  the home will be sold some day, and definitely the sun is going to beat down on your roof every summer cooking your roof and attic.

It's your decision to make. Do your homework. Read and investigate. The roofers haven't and hope you won't too.

Jon Alan Wright

Jon Wright Roofing, Siding, and Windows

1915 Peters Rd., Suite 310

Irving, TX 75061

972.251.1818 Office

214.718.3748 Cell

972.554.8090 Fax

jonwright@jonwrightroofing.com

www.jonwrightroofing.com

   

Insurance Money is Treated Like Food Stamps

Free money is often wasted while hard earned money is spent wisely. Have you ever won at gambling? I bet you didn't spend it as well as you did the money earned. In fact, you probably wasted the lucky money faster than you did the earned money.

Remember last year when Bloomberg said we should allow people on food stamps, or whatever it is called, to buy sugary drinks because they cause diabetes? Have you ever noticed how those with the Texas Card buy frozen dinners, like they don't have time to cook like me the single father who cooks almost every night. I call it kitchen karate. High-ya! The rest of us are buying meat, milk, vegetables,flour, and other items our skilled hands can turn into healthy and delicious nourishment for our families.

How will you spend your roof insurance money? Like free money not earned, only to be used unwisely and causing you to give diabetes to your air conditioner and all the other things I rant about here. Later this lottery money might make you poor. Why not hire an adviser that can direct you toward long term savings that can end up being in the tens of thousands of dollars over the next few years or a lump sum when you can't sell your home.

Don't use the wise roofer and you will have to replace your roof out of your own pocket after replacing your HVAC, insulation, deck, and repainting your house.

If you don't understand just go back and start reading my early blogs. That deductible is a hook that can really make you bleed.

Jon Alan Wright

Jon Wright Roofing, Siding, and Windows

1915 Peters Rd., Suite 310

Irving, TX 75061

972.251.1818 Office

214.718.3748 Cell

972.554.8090 Fax

jonwright@jonwrightroofing.com

www.jonwrightroofing.com

   

Who's Worse: The Carpetbagger roofer or the Cheap Insurance Company

My kudos to State Farm. They don't buy every roof but when they do, they buy it right. They need about seven hits per square but Allstate needs eleven. Eleven! Since when! Since I've been in the business, six, seven, eight, but never eleven.

Allstate said that they wouldn't replace the sewer vents or the flashing on skylights or chimneys. First, these are leak prone areas, part of the roof system, they are full of holes, they get beat up and dented in the tearing out of the shingles, the supply house does not provide the parts for free, my roofers want to be paid for doing the work, and the NRCA guidelines as well as GAF and all the other roofing manufacturers say they should be replaced if they are not in "like new" condition.

We take it in the pocket book, or as my father likes to say:we pass it one to the consumer through reduced profits. I hate that. We already have to carry insurance, go to roofing school to get our credits, and keep a good local reputation. Plus the manufacturer sneeks around behind us and surveys our customers and then has the gall to place those ratings on our listing at their site.

Somehow a few insurance companies feel that their clients aren't due as good a roof as other insured are. And why does the program they all use, Xactamate, have provisions for these things. Plus Allstate wants to use Home Depot as a price gauge, which is something we are not willing to do. Their Timberline shingles are not the same ones we use. Neither are their sewer flashings, nails, felt, valley metal and starter shingles.

Now after you get squeezed by your insurance company, along comes a roofer saying he'll save your deductible and might even toss in a better shingle and some money back. Well, I've been around the sun almost 54 times and I haven't seen the inside of a pokey since I was 18, when I failed to pay a parking ticket. My girlfriend had to drive my big 460 F-250 pick up with a broken power steering unit to her parents house to get the bail money. My tickets get paid now. That was 1980.

Seriously, if you don't replace the metal edge, don't bill the insurance for it. Nor anything else fraudulent. Two wrongs don"t  make a right.

Remember that if someone will steal, they will steal from you too. Would you want that false billing carpetbagger finding your wallet. You may not know where the line is but you know when you've crossed it.

Bargaining for a better job, getting referral fees, and better warranties are all fair game but false invoices to an insurance company can translate into wire fraud, mail fraud, or just plain old fraud, the kind your bootlegging carpetbagging slave owning fifth cousin five times removed used to do.

Do you know why they call it the pokey?

Jon Alan Wright

Jon Wright Roofing, Siding, and Windows

1915 Peters Rd., Suite 310

Irving, TX 75061

972.251.1818 Office

214.718.3748 Cell

972.554.8090 Fax

jonwright@jonwrightroofing.com

www.jonwrightroofing.com

   

Certified Roofer Versus 18th Century Roofer

Is your roofer certified?
What does that mean?
(Read prior blogs)
It means that instead of a 100% full coverage replacement policy for 50 years you get a
prorated material warranty only.
So what? It's going to hail.
Really. Are you sure? That $4000.00 roof in 2003 is now a $10,000.00 roof
and in another eight years it might cost $40,000.00 and the insurance
companies will find ways to cover less of that cost or they will have to
raise your rates even more. Probably both.
If there is no hail, and ask any Realtor if they have had clients whose
roofs have failed inspection and have had to buy a new roof that the buyer
got to enjoy, you'll have to pay for a new roof to leave your home. Or, if
you used an illiterate roofer who did not know about fluid dynamics, Ideal
gas law, Venturi Tube, and Bernoulli, then you probably have no warranty to
fall back on to at least cover the fraction of the materials left in your
prorated material warranty. No 300 Rule and no warranty.
But if you have a certified roofer and you upgrade your warranty, you'll
have 100% protection for 50 years on most roofs, and could have a 25 year
leak guarantee.
That's crazy.
So you believe it will hail before too long again? If it does, the insurance
needs to put it back like it is. If you have a reputable and well made Class IV impact
resistant roof, the roofers will need to leave you alone. And if it doesn't hail,
ask your Realtor what is happening every year in Carrollton, Coppel, Farmers
Branch, and Lewisville.Homeowners replacing roofs from their kid's college funds.

Jon Alan Wright

Jon Wright Roofing, Siding, and Windows

1915 Peters Rd., Suite 310

Irving, TX 75061

972.251.1818 Office

214.718.3748 Cell

972.554.8090 Fax

jonwright@jonwrightroofing.com

www.jonwrightroofing.com

   

Slow Down, Don't Move So Fast. Roofer

Ask yourself a few questions before putting on a roof.

Did I have the attic, deck, structure, and ventilation inspected or did I just go with it.?
Am I just putting on what I had or did I consider options for beauty, energy savings, longevity, and insurance discounts?
Is my roofer certified by the manufacturer we're using?
Is my roofer insured?
If you don't care then just go ahead and burn right through those thousands of dollars the insurance has handed to you.
One more question. Why are you in a hurry? Haste makes waste and if you have no deadlines then go into mosey mode. That roof may be up their for the rest of your life. sure it probably won't but you might also have to replace from your pocket when it is time to sell and in a few years asphalt roofing will cost as much as metal roofing.
And metal is not a bad idea either. Looks great. Tastes great. Less filling.
Don't just get a roof to get a roof. Do some of your own homework and make sure your roofer is certified by the manufacturer. That way you know some vetting has been done and you'll get a much better warranty.

Jon Alan Wright

Jon Wright Roofing, Siding, and Windows

1915 Peters Rd., Suite 310

Irving, TX 75061

972.251.1818 Office

214.718.3748 Cell

972.554.8090 Fax

jonwright@jonwrightroofing.com

www.jonwrightroofing.com