Head scratcher.

[Bill Kibbel]

I have never had a problem telling folks that this crap shouldn't have been installed on their house. On a few occasions, I've also been the one to discover roll roofing installed when "rubber roof" was on the invoice.

There's a couple large inspection firms that bless this stuff as "common for city homes" and "performs well on low-slopes with an expected life of 15 years". Some of it is only smooth-surfaced roll roofing with a silver coating. When their clients become sellers, they're really pissed when the new buyer's inspector calls it out.

I once had a document, from (I think) the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Assoc., that I used in litigation. It basically stated that asphalt roll roofing is intended for underlayment and flashing details on residential buildings. It also stated that mineral-surfaced roll roofing is only used as a primary roof on "secondary use" buildings.

So,

if it's only allowed to be an underlayment, how do we reconcile it with IRC 905.5?

OT - OF!!!

M.

When I was involved with the case I mentioned, I did some research. The top 2 manufacturers of roll roofing (they make over 90% of it) don't admit to it being manufactured as a primary residential roof covering. Their literature was cleverly worded with statements that the product is ideally suited for sheds, carports, barns or flashing material. Their warranties for the roll roofing lines were only that it is free from manufacturer's defects.

[hausdok]

. . . Will it last as long as other types of roofs? No. Can it remain perfectly serviceable for six to ten years? Yeah, it can if it's properly maintained. . .

What's proper maintenance for roll roofing?

- Jim Katen, Oregon

Just like any other asphalt roof. Keep the tree debris and moss off it and touchup the mastic when necessary.

OT - OF!!!

M.

[hausdok]

I have never had a problem telling folks that this crap shouldn't have been installed on their house. On a few occasions, I've also been the one to discover roll roofing installed when "rubber roof" was on the invoice.

There's a couple large inspection firms that bless this stuff as "common for city homes" and "performs well on low-slopes with an expected life of 15 years". Some of it is only smooth-surfaced roll roofing with a silver coating. When their clients become sellers, they're really pissed when the new buyer's inspector calls it out.

I once had a document, from (I think) the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Assoc., that I used in litigation. It basically stated that asphalt roll roofing is intended for underlayment and flashing details on residential buildings. It also stated that mineral-surfaced roll roofing is only used as a primary roof on "secondary use" buildings.

So,

if it's only allowed to be an underlayment, how do we reconcile it with IRC 905.5?

OT - OF!!!

M.

When I was involved with the case I mentioned, I did some research. The top 2 manufacturers of roll roofing (they make over 90% of it) don't admit to it being manufactured as a primary residential roof covering. Their literature was cleverly worded with statements that the product is ideally suited for sheds, carports, barns or flashing material. Their warranties for the roll roofing lines were only that it is free from manufacturer's defects.

Isn't that essentially what every roofing manufacturer's warranty says? Keep in mind that this stuff won't last as long as regular shingles and nobody that installs it expects it to. One is lucky if it will last 10 years. Still, if you're a minimum wage schlub busting your ass six days of the week just to put clothes on the kids, getting a decade out of a cheap roof that's paid for or you can finish paying for quickly is a whole lot better than tacking another $10 to 12K onto the mortgage or on top of the credit card balance.

It is what it is - a cheap material; but it can and does work for some applications. You just can't expectit to perform like the higher priced stuff. In my mind, that's what buyers need to know about it. Hell, if I tell the client it's a cheap product that's only expected to last, if they're lucky, about half as long as the cheapest grade of fiberglass shingle, the client shouldn't be under any allusion that they're getting a great roof.

If they buy it after that, it's not my problem; I gave them the truth.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[GrantJones]

Besides hearing your great insights on roll roofing, I just added the word Schlub to my vocabulary. an awesome word that we can let die with the ages.

[hausdok]

Besides hearing your great insights on roll roofing, I just added the word Schlub to my vocabulary. an awesome word that we can let die with the ages.

Kewl,

Now, if I could just remember when/where I learned it, 'cuz it definitely isn't the kind of word that would have come out of the Irish-American dominated population of the little hamlet where I grew up and I can't remember ever using it anywhere before.

I struggled for two hours the other night to remember where the Army hospital was on Ft. Devens in 1980 when I was stationed there and what it looked like at that time. I even went on the internet and cast around for photos. Nothing I found registered at all. That image is completely gone. Now I'm wondering what else is completely gone; trouble is, if something else has fallen out of there there's no way to know.

I used to cuss at my absent mindedness and call it early onset Alzheimers; my troops would often tell me, "You're pronouncing it wrong, Sgt. O, it's oldtimers, not Alzheimers.

Jeez, one more year and I hit the six-o and my brain has already turned to tapioca.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Jim Katen]

. . . Now I'm wondering what else is completely gone; trouble is, if something else has fallen out of there there's no way to know. . .

Don't tell me you've forgotten where you stuffed D.B. Cooper's body?

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[hausdok]

Not sure, it might be over in my storage locker; I don't think I've opened that in about a year.

OT - OF!!!

M.