Time to Clean the Roof.

Here in Dallas Fort Worth there are a lot of big old trees. You can here the acorns hit my Gerard roof when you're outside, but not inside. Everybody, except for a select few, know to clean their gutter but there is more.
Leaves build up in valley and out of sight behind the chimney. If you don't have a cricket behind your chimney you won't have any galvanization on the metal pan flashing behind the chimney either. All you'll have to protect the metal is the rust and wet compacted leaves.
So if you need to clean your yard or gutters, you'll probably need to at least inspect your roof.
Then there are the microbes. An air borne fungus that loves to eat asphalt commonly known as slime mold will make the roof ugly and old. The mold wants to get to the organic base of the roofing, asphalt. To do so it must get past the granules that are designed to protect the asphalt from ultra violet degradation.
I don't care what the so called experts say. I am the one and for years we've been doing what they say not to do. Wet the roof with a little diluted bleach and then hit it with a very low pressure water stream. If you set it to kill you can blast yourself through the masonry and create a new portal into the home.
We bought a cheap pressure cleaner at Harbor Freight Tools that can't even be set on stun. They can't tear off the roof with this. It is not a crowd control device.
This will last a couple of years but there is an easier way. Go cut a couple of piano wires out of the baby grand and tuck them along the ridge on the effected side and the roof throat lozenge will keep your roof happy, healthy, and wise.
Don't fall off because even if you land on your feet it'll hurt because its cold (and a long way). Plus wet roofs are slippery.

www.jonwrightroofing.com

Roofing, Recycling, the Environment, and You and Me

We've got it all wrong. I apologize. I've mislead my clients.
We have been selling energy efficiency and green roofing practices to our customers as a long term saving plan. The impetus has been on the economic return of being green. This is wrong and selfish. We should be green because we are not red. We should go and not stop.
As Jason Garrett said, when asked why he was training so hard when he probably would never get to play, for the inherit benefit of it.
That is why we should recycle: for the inherent benefit. Profit is great. I love it. But contentment and satisfaction are better.
Here's my idea:
Cities recycle for profit. Irving does not recycle glass containers because they can't make money on it.
Duh? They don't do it for the common good?
I have a plan. Why don't we form cooperatives where people specialize in recycling. One neighbor or two do the glass, another the paper, others still the plastic. We could dedicate compost areas and work together to keep out the rodents.
Another idea is the adjustable kiln. One temperature setting could melt metals, another glass. The fuel could come from the waste we can't recycle. Burn baby burn. Otherwise we could work to share and gather the trash and call in professional recyclers. Nothing wasted, everything gained. We'd all feel better. Maybe we could make some change while keeping Mother Earth a little cleaner.
Trash cooperatives, energy generation, glass and metal production, fertilizer, seeds, landscaping blocks could all be made. It would be like art school and Boy Scouts rolled into one.
We recycle roofing for some body's profit. Why not mine and yours?
A few shared locally run machines and a little donated effort by our unemployed or under employed neighbors and we could create a worker's paradise. As long as it is voluntary you can count me in. If you try to force me I'll rebel.
We could make our own bottles and ferment our own beer, wine, or vinegar. Just think. The possibilities are endless. We might even make some roofing material. Siding material? Pavement? Street repair goop? News? Goodwill? Energy? Good feelings?
If anyone has a good idea on how we can collectively make our neighborhood trash into treasure I'm all for it.
I'm going to figure out how to use the thousands of pounds of trash I collect every year into a planet saving scheme.

Possible new Energy Star Tax Credit for Radiant Barrier Energy Efficient Decking

News flash! I have not confirmed it but it seems the IRS has approved radiant barrier decking as an Energy Star tax credit product for 2010. That would mean many people who haven't used their one time tax credit for up to $1500.00 can now do so. That credit is for 30% of the material cost on only some Energy Star products. Just because the a product has an Energy Star rating it does not mean it is tax credit worthy.

More tomorrow.
Steven Placker of Techshield, or Louisiana Pacific if you prefer, just informed me that the Reflective Insulation Manufacturers Association-International, or RIMA, an industry group consisting of structural boards and insulation with reflective surfaces, has been in negotiating with the IRS and the product has passed certain milestones but has not been approved by the IRS yet for the tax credit. They expect the news to come down sometime next year.

Properly Nailing Roofing Felt in Dallas

Installing dry sheets may seem like a dry topic but it is essential to any roof system. This fist layer determines how the new roof, either a composition roof or a flat roof, will perform against wind and breakage, and how it looks.
If the felt of a composition roof or the base sheet of a flat roof system like a built up (BUR) hot or cold, or even an SBS self adhered system is not flat, the material over it will not be just unsightly, it will be susceptible to breakage over time, breakage under foot, and can act as a place for wind to grab. Yes, wrinkled roofs blow off more than flat ones.
To keep the dry sheet flat the roofer needs to think like a carpet layer but on an incline. The roll of material is rolled out and nailed next to the roll on the high side. This is because gravity is pulling on the felts and if you nail it on the low side it will be loose. The roofer on the other end, where they started the roll, kicks the felt tight in the direction of the roll. Then it is nailed according to specified nailing patterns. If the felt or base sheet is left overnight it probably will be wrinkled. The roofer can wait until the sun flattens it out but if he left a flat roof open over night he would not be on my roofs anymore.
Thirty pound felt is more likely to wrinkle, sometimes even after the roof is installed. If you are going to pay the extra for thirty pound then you might as well buy a hybrid flat laying felt. These are strong like 30 lb. but lay flat like 15lb. Shinglemate by GAF, Gorilla by Atlas (boo hiss) and Roofer's Select by Certainteed are prime examples.
Self adhered base sheets are very flat laying but if there is a controlled environment underneath then moisture migration will be impaired. We roofers know not to mess with Mother Nature. Just use a nail-able base and an inter or mid ply sheet and you'll have a great system.
Anyway, if your roofer can't take the time to lay a flat felt then he just doesn't care.
go outside around dusk and look at your roof. If you see snake like bulges in your composition roof then the felt is wrinkled and the roof might blow off because it has something to grab.
Here in Dallas the weather can change on a dime. I've seen a warm day turn into a cold dark windy day in thirty minutes. Felts not installed according to the nailing pattern will wrinkle under these situations and can effect adversely the entire system.
Dallas Roofer
Dallas Roof
www.jonwrightroofing.com