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Tuesday, July 24, 2012

How Thick is Your Roof?

Let me put the issue of shingle grade in a clearer light. Insurance companies are initially paying for the lowest grade of roofing upon their inspection. As most roofers are not familiar with industry history and changes, and because they are in a hurry, they just use whatever the insurance pays for and sometimes even put thinner, lighter, less warrantied products on.

The insurance adjusters want to do the right thing but sometimes their bosses tell them to do otherwise. I've been told by adjusters that their boss says they are broke and can't pay right. So you, the homeowner, pays.

If the gauge works to their advantage, they use it. An Allstate adjuster tried to say my replacement Class IV Timberline ArmorShield shingle was a 30 year because his Haag Engineering gauge said it was. If he had read their article (found here, question #12) on the usage he would have known the gauge does not apply to Class IV shingles. The product is made differently, and thickness and years in warranty do not effect impact resistance ratings.

They always look for a way to dumb down the roof. One of my previous customers in Irving has a 1995 Presitque Plus and it is a real looker. Thick and beefy but they want to put on today's "50 year" which is much thinner. She wants the same look but the adjuster says that he can only pay for what she has. So what's the problem?

50 year single manufacture in 1995.
"50 year" shingle manufactured in 1995.

50 year shingle manufactured in 2012.
"50 year" shingle manufactured in 2012.

Now he's looking at warranty, not thickness. If it has a higher warranty but gauges thinner, they pay for a thinner less warrantied roof product.

Demand similar! They will walk all over you and devalue your home in the process.

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
    Follow jwrightroofing on Twitter

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

How Insurance Companies Evaluate the Grade of Roofing You Have

They do a poor job. Often they call all laminates 30 year when until recently the 40 year was the most commonly sold product.

When the laminated shingle craze began was in the era of cedar shingles and many were installed over the cedar shingles. When subsequent damage occurred the replacement roof was the middle quality or heavy. The lightweight looked horrrible over wood shingles.
Let me digress. GAF introduced a thick 340 lb. Timberline organic product in the 1970's which failed because it was thick and full of paper , ergo organic. In about 1980 the fiberglass version arrived at about 300lbs. per square with a 30 year warranty..

Here came the idealistic and innovative folks at Elcor, with their Woody Wood Pecker mascot, and new market strategies. Thus was born the Elk Presique II, a 240 lb. 25 year little brother to the 320 lb. Prestique  (I) 30 year. They had hoped to upgrade homeowners from the basic three tab model to the PII but has inadvertently cost them the PI business. So they came up with the 375 lb. Prestique Plus 40 year and completely dropped their Sunseal 25 year three tab.

Over at GAF all sorts of convulsions were going on. The Timberline continued for years as a 5" exposure 30 year but then came a Woodline 25 year, a Woodline Plus 30 year and the Timberline 30 year.

Times were good. The 25 year was about 250 lbs., the 30 year was about 300, and the 40 was about 400 lbs.

In 2001 Atlas upgraded its 30 year to a 35 and it's 40 year to a 45. So everyone started to leap frog and the old 25-30-40 years became 30-40-50 respectively.

So here we are with all the insurance companies calling every roof a 30 year and as the margins are about the same the storm roofers don't care what they put on. They make the same whether it is a 30, 40, or 50 year. Ethical and concerned contractors will fight for months to get the insurance to pay for the right grade, which costs the insurance more but makes him the same. That  is bad because when your costs go up and the profit in dollars is the same, then the percentage of margin goes down, increasing risk.

The plot thickened last year when all the roofing manufacturers discontinued their 40 year, the middle grade. all the insurance carriers except for Allstate will pay for the next grade better, the 50 year. That is enough to get the class 4 laminated. Allstate stands alone stating they pay for what is on the roof whether or not it is available.

My friend Adela told me that her roofing company was having problems because some 25 year three tabs were gauging out at 20 year and that is all the insurance would pay for despite her copies of her invoices stating she bought Royal Sovereign 25 year.

An Allstate adjust told me that she didn't care if the code said I had to replace certain flashings and when I mentioned that the roof was on reduced exposure, using 20% more product to compensate for a low slope, she asked me to show her the code for that. I left her on the roof and told the homeowner to sue them. She basically called me stupid. That....

Now that we have established that they use the code when they want and ignore it when they want, we know they ignore thickness whenever, no, all the time. There are no standard laminates that match the Prestique Plus for thickness. Period! You have to go to specialty roofing to match them. They won't go there.
One USAA adjuster, and don't get me wrong because they are excellent for the last two years, told me they wouldn't go from a 30 to a 50 year. Ii told her she wasn't. They were going from a 40 to a 50.

So use a micrometer and ask for a comparably thick product. Size matters when it comes to looking at a roof. That Haag gauge is good but even they admit it is flawed. As Captain Barbossa said: 'And thirdly, the code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules." and in no way can the gauge apply to class 4 roofing.

The way to determine your roof quality is with an invoice or actually sending it to a lab. When we sent one to Farmer's Insurance lab, they lied through omission. They said it was a 30 year, and it was prior to 2001, but it is not today. Now it is a 40 only replaced with a 50, unless you have Allstate. They you are treated differently than all other insurance companies treat their customers.



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
    Follow jwrightroofing on Twitter

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Electricity Rate Hikes, Efficient roofs and Attics, Solar Energy

Deja Vu all over again. Last week I heard that Texas has approved an electricity rate increase of up to 25%. Also in the news were reports that if we have a really hot summer that there will be rolling blackouts. You must prepare for this now by one of several means:
Increase your ventilation to meet the manufacturer and building code requirements of balanced ventilation. A few roofers know the math and the way to design the fluid dynamic flow of a Venturi tube attic ventilation system. (Refer to other blogs here about ventilation or go to Ehow and read my discourse on ventilation.)
Install moe insulation but do not block off your intake vents.
Install either radiant barrier decking or high emissivity Energy Star roofing.
Install solar panels or solar shingles. We have both.
Hire a marriage counselor or, if you wait, a divorce attorney.

No matter what, you risk living in a hot home with sweaty sheets all night long. People die from this. Don't say I didn't warn you. The first three methods will reduce your energy costs but the forth one might save your life and/or family.

If you buy a solar energy system and you sell excess back onto the grid, so called net metering, the system shuts down during power outages. The electric companies don't want you to electrocute their employees and they don't want you to have electricity when your neighbors don't. They might kill you. Put down the gun.

This is a real possibility and will happen to some of us sooner or later. If we all work together by being prudent then we'll improve our odds. So quit being greedy and raise the thermostat from 72 to 78 and turn on a fan. Otherwise we might all face hell.

The Spanish word for summer is invierno but the word for hell is infierno. No hay quatro estaciones del clima aqui' en Texas. Son dos: invierno y infierno,

http://www.theroofforum.net/2010/08/should-roof-have-vents-or-ventilation.html

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
    Follow jwrightroofing on Twitter