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Did I Get Screwed By an Incompetent Roofer? Need Advice

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Did I Get Screwed By an Incompetent Roofer? Need Advice mg 06-03-2007
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Posted by mg on June 3, 2007, 12:24 pm
I just had my house reroofed yesterday. It already had two layers of
shingles on it. So, it was necessary to remove all of the old asphalt
shingles before putting the new ones on. I have given the contractor
about half of the money as a deposit, but I haven't given him the
other half yet. The two issues I have with the job he did are:

1. He roofed right over the swamp cooler legs instead of removing the
legs and then putting the roofing underneath them. Now I have little
teepee like or vulcano shaped mounds made out of bent shingles going
up around the legs along with gobs of some sort of roofing sealer
plastered all around legs. When the day comes that I have to replace
the swamp cooler, I'm obviously going to have to tear off part of the
shingles and then do some sort of a repair job. He also did the same
thing with my satellite dish antenna. So, I'm never going to be able
to get it off either without tearing off some shingles, etc.

2. Removing the Shingles made a helluva mess in my yard. I did raise a
lot of Cain with those guys before they left in order to get most of
it picked up, but there is still some left and there are also pieces
of shingles in the rain gutters. The normal method of cleaning up was
obviously to use a rake and then any pieces that weren't picked up by
the rake were left for the homeowner. The problem is that this leaves
one helluva a lot of asphalt shingle pieces in my yard that range in
size from a dime to a dollar and even larger. In addition, there's no
way to be sure that all of the nails have been picked up. So, you
never know for sure if a child, for instance, could wind up with a
nail in his foot someday.

My two questions are, do I have legitimate complaints about the
workmanship and even if the roofer lifts the legs of the swamp cooler
and takes the antenna off and does it right will the patchwork repair
job he does on the shingles be acceptable?


Posted by Joseph Meehan on June 3, 2007, 12:34 pm
mg wrote:
> I just had my house reroofed yesterday. It already had two layers of
> shingles on it. So, it was necessary to remove all of the old asphalt
> shingles before putting the new ones on. I have given the contractor
> about half of the money as a deposit, but I haven't given him the
> other half yet. The two issues I have with the job he did are:
>
> 1. He roofed right over the swamp cooler legs instead of removing the
> legs and then putting the roofing underneath them. Now I have little
> teepee like or vulcano shaped mounds made out of bent shingles going
> up around the legs along with gobs of some sort of roofing sealer
> plastered all around legs. When the day comes that I have to replace
> the swamp cooler, I'm obviously going to have to tear off part of the
> shingles and then do some sort of a repair job. He also did the same
> thing with my satellite dish antenna. So, I'm never going to be able
> to get it off either without tearing off some shingles, etc.
>
> 2. Removing the Shingles made a helluva mess in my yard. I did raise a
> lot of Cain with those guys before they left in order to get most of
> it picked up, but there is still some left and there are also pieces
> of shingles in the rain gutters. The normal method of cleaning up was
> obviously to use a rake and then any pieces that weren't picked up by
> the rake were left for the homeowner. The problem is that this leaves
> one helluva a lot of asphalt shingle pieces in my yard that range in
> size from a dime to a dollar and even larger. In addition, there's no
> way to be sure that all of the nails have been picked up. So, you
> never know for sure if a child, for instance, could wind up with a
> nail in his foot someday.
>
> My two questions are, do I have legitimate complaints about the
> workmanship and even if the roofer lifts the legs of the swamp cooler
> and takes the antenna off and does it right will the patchwork repair
> job he does on the shingles be acceptable?

Cleanup is a matter of degree. Any roof job is going to leave a few
pieces of old and new roof as well as a number of nails around. It is just
part of that kind of work. It sounds like yours was worse than it should
have been. As for the swamp cooler, I really don't know what good practice
is for that kind of issue. I have never had a house that had that kind of
problem.

I suggest you start by reviewing any kind of contract you may have
signed or they may have given you. See what it says.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit




Posted by marson on June 3, 2007, 12:54 pm
wrote:
> mg wrote:
> > I just had my house reroofed yesterday. It already had two layers of
> > shingles on it. So, it was necessary to remove all of the old asphalt
> > shingles before putting the new ones on. I have given the contractor
> > about half of the money as a deposit, but I haven't given him the
> > other half yet. The two issues I have with the job he did are:
>
> > 1. He roofed right over the swamp cooler legs instead of removing the
> > legs and then putting the roofing underneath them. Now I have little
> > teepee like or vulcano shaped mounds made out of bent shingles going
> > up around the legs along with gobs of some sort of roofing sealer
> > plastered all around legs. When the day comes that I have to replace
> > the swamp cooler, I'm obviously going to have to tear off part of the
> > shingles and then do some sort of a repair job. He also did the same
> > thing with my satellite dish antenna. So, I'm never going to be able
> > to get it off either without tearing off some shingles, etc.
>
> > 2. Removing the Shingles made a helluva mess in my yard. I did raise a
> > lot of Cain with those guys before they left in order to get most of
> > it picked up, but there is still some left and there are also pieces
> > of shingles in the rain gutters. The normal method of cleaning up was
> > obviously to use a rake and then any pieces that weren't picked up by
> > the rake were left for the homeowner. The problem is that this leaves
> > one helluva a lot of asphalt shingle pieces in my yard that range in
> > size from a dime to a dollar and even larger. In addition, there's no
> > way to be sure that all of the nails have been picked up. So, you
> > never know for sure if a child, for instance, could wind up with a
> > nail in his foot someday.
>
> > My two questions are, do I have legitimate complaints about the
> > workmanship and even if the roofer lifts the legs of the swamp cooler
> > and takes the antenna off and does it right will the patchwork repair
> > job he does on the shingles be acceptable?
>
> Cleanup is a matter of degree. Any roof job is going to leave a few
> pieces of old and new roof as well as a number of nails around. It is just
> part of that kind of work. It sounds like yours was worse than it should
> have been. As for the swamp cooler, I really don't know what good practice
> is for that kind of issue. I have never had a house that had that kind of
> problem.
>
> I suggest you start by reviewing any kind of contract you may have
> signed or they may have given you. See what it says.
>
> --
> Joseph Meehan
>
> Dia 's Muire duit

As far as cleanup goes, most roofers in these parts will lay a tarp on
the lawn below the roof. This is a better-faster-cheaper way to deal
with tear off mess.

Just running the shingles up the legs of the swamp cooler sounds
shoddy to me. I guess in hindsight you should have asked him how he
would deal with it. I would certainly think the best way would be to
get the new shingles under the legs, but I'm not familiar with them so
can't say what the standard practice is.


Posted by SJF on June 3, 2007, 1:17 pm

>
-- Content clipped --

> Just running the shingles up the legs of the swamp cooler sounds
> shoddy to me. I guess in hindsight you should have asked him how he
> would deal with it. I would certainly think the best way would be to
> get the new shingles under the legs, but I'm not familiar with them so
> can't say what the standard practice is.
>

On my recent reroof job the contractor jacked up the air conditioner support
frame sufficiently to shingle under the mounting. I would expect that this
is the normal and preferred practice.

SJF



Posted by Joseph Meehan on June 3, 2007, 3:55 pm
marson wrote:
..
>
> As far as cleanup goes, most roofers in these parts will lay a tarp on
> the lawn below the roof. This is a better-faster-cheaper way to deal
> with tear off mess.
>

That is the way my recent hail damage re-roof was done, but it does not
totally eliminate clean up or offer 100% The guys who did the job were
careful. They also did a after removing the taps clean up and followed up
with an industrial magnet to catch additional nails, but even with all that
there were a few nails and scraps left behind. I might add that the gutters
were clean when they left, but a few days and rains later, they had some
scraps and nails in them.

I agree that good workmanship means it should be clean when they are
done, and I consider what that crew did was clean when they finished. As my
uncle always said, "Only God is perfect." He of course never tried to be
God. :-)

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit




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