Roof Flashing: What it is, Where it is Located, What it Does

One of the most important parts of your home is the roof. It is the first barrier in defending your home from the elements Mother Nature unleashes. An important part to your roof doing that is the flashing. If it isn’t installed right, or if it is missing, the intrusion of water at various parts of your roof can cause major damage.

So What is Flashing Anyway?

It is a protective seal around chimneys, dormers, skylights, and vents and it prevents water from intruding those areas. This is one of the most critical things your roof needs to prevent your home from moisture damage.

Where is Flashing Located?

Anywhere on your roof that has possible penetration points like the edges, gaps, grooves, intersections, joints, roof projections, and valleys.

Improper Flashing can Damage Your Roof

When flashing is not installed properly, has come loose over time or is simply not there, the joints of the roof are at risk for premature deterioration. This leads to expensive repairs or even a total roof replacement.

Best Prevention?

Examine your roof periodically and if you see anything like loose or missing shingles, have them fixed immediately.  Take another step and have it examined by a professional once a year or right after a storm. The sooner you get repairs made, the longer you roof will last and the less risk you’ll have of needing a replacement.

After the Storm, What’s First?

This area of the country goes through some stormy weather year-round, but the spring is the worse when it comes to homes being damaged, even demolished.  When you see it on television, it’s upsetting but when it happens to you, it turns your life upside down. It is mind numbing and overwhelming. It can be hard to know which way to turn or what to do first. 

Here we are going to offer some suggestions toward making plans before it happens, so you can get things back to normal as quick as possible.

First: Safety

Regardless what kind of damage your home has received, flood, lightening, wind, etc., the first thing you need to do is make sure everyone is safe. The aftermath can create some very serious dangers such as downed power lines that are live, debris and parts of structure falling. There is also the risk of mold
forming and spreading as time goes by.

Leave your home until officials have advised you it is safe to return. Make arrangements to stay indefinitely and when you can go back to your home, get enough belongings to make do. Safety should
be the first and foremost concern and then evaluating the aftermath.

Second: Federal Assistance

The government agency that is in charge of helping people have who have lost their homes or homes that have been damaged is FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). They provide different types of assistance such as temporary housing, meals and if your home can be repaired, they can find assistance with that, as well. They will also help you with your homeowners or renters insurance claims getting filed. 

Third: Document the Damage

If you haven’t gone back to your home yet, you’ll need to in time so that you can document the damage your home as received. You will want to take notes and take pictures. Even if the insurance company has sent an adjuster, or have one on the way, take your own notes and pictures. It doesn’t hurt to take
pictures before a storm and have on file for comparison if you should ever have this to deal with.

Fourth: Insurance Claims

Contact your home owner’s insurance company and advise them of what has happened. You will be assigned a claim representative who will assign an adjuster to you.  They will come out to take notes and pictures and make their recommendations to your case representative who will work with you to get repairs done. This process can often take months and your deductible will be subtracted from the amount they determine to be paid. The majority of homeowner insurance policies do not have flood damage coverage. If you have taken flood coverage separately and the damage is from a flood, you’ll need to contact them.  Your insurance representative will recommend a disaster clean-up company to begin the process of post-flood clean-up. If they don’t recommend one, ask for a recommendation.

Keep Your Rain Gutters Clean Now and Avoid Problems Later

You probably don’t think much about your rain gutters and just how essential and important they are to your home’s overall protection. We are going to share some reasons why you should give your rain gutters some thought and why you need to keep them cleaned out.

Exterior Damage to Your Home

Without rain gutters, the water from the rain and the snow will simply pour off to your home’s foundation leaving it at risk for erosion or leaks. Gutters keep that water from backing up under the shingles which can cause damage like a leaking roof. Rain gutters help to avert this backup – unless they are clogged with debris, leaves, etc. This is why it is important to clean your gutters out regularly, or have it done.

Potential Clogs Revealed

It is usually apparent when your rain gutter has a clog by way of a big puddle located close to your home’s base.  Getting a regular check-up is still recommended so that any possible clogs can be caught before they begin that puddle.  Once that puddle begins and goes unnoticed, it can start seeping in your home’s foundation and before you know it, there is that moldy smell in the basement or creeping into the house.

Are Repairs Needed?

When you have your rain gutters cleaned regularly, you can check to see if there are any repairs needed. During the winters in this area, there can be a lot of snow and that puts a lot of weight on your rain gutters, making them bend or break. Get those things fixed as they are found to prevent more costly repairs to your home’s foundation or roof.

Bugs and Pests Go Away

When excess water is left sitting in rain gutters, it attracts bugs and pests like mosquitoes and termites. Bugs and pests thrive in water and when rain gutters are neglected, it makes a perfect breeding ground.

5 Questions to Ask a Rain Gutter Contractor

Some of the most commonly asked questions a homeowner will ask any contractor are:

• “How long have you been in business?”
• “Do you belong to the BBB?”
• “Do you have recent references?”

While these are good questions, when it comes to hiring a rain gutter contractor, or a roofing contractor that installs gutters, there are five more questions you need to ask:

What are the size of gutters you install?

The majority of homes will have five-inch gutters, but a six-inch size gutter is more effective, especially for a home with expansive and steep roofs or has multiple levels.  The six-inch gutter will handle forty-percent more water, and you may want to ask about seven-inch gutters. 

When you install the gutters, what do you use to make sure they are level?

A level is a tool that tells a contractor if something is, well, level. It may surprise you to find out how many contractors that install gutters do not us a level. Without your gutters being level and properly pitched, you can be pretty sure you’ll have problems later on. If you’re talking to a sales person, they often have no idea what actually happens on the job.

Is your company bonded and insured?

For any contractor business, liability and worker’s comp insurance are must-haves, but they are expensive. Contractors in the gutter and roofing industry pay some of the highest insurance rates, too, but that isn’t your concern. You never want to hire any contractor that does not have current liability and workers comp insurance. This can make you liable should any of their employees get injured while working on your property.

How close do you place the gutter hangers?

Gutters that are properly installed will have hangers that are hidden. These are brackets that will hold your gutters in position. They can increase the price of a gutter job, and unless it is by city zoning, there is no law on how many hangers or how close they should be for a gutter contractor. So, a contractor is often tempted to use as few as possible and save on the job. What this means to you is a weak install job that can break with too much weight from rain, snow or water. The average is 24″ apart.

What improvements are there for my gutters?

Gutter installation is a low-margin business, so for most contractors, they make it up in volume. What that means to you, they are in there and done fast and moving on to the next house. When you are getting quotes, ask each contractor what they would recommend to improve your home’s gutter design and then see what they offer. This can tell you a lot about the contractor’s attention to detail, their experience, and even the quality of work they offer.

How Important are Gutters on Your House?

Gutters on a house aren’t just a decorative thing to have. They actually serve an important purpose. Rain is a natural element and it can cause damage to your home when not controlled by gutters. Here we are going to talk about the benefits of having gutters installed and keeping them maintained.

The Benefits

• They keep the soil stabilized around the foundation, minimizing problems
• Prevents flooding happening under your home and into your basement
•  Prevents erosion and preserves your landscaping
• Prevents water damage to the siding  
• Prevents water staining to the brick or stone masonry on your home
• Lessens the cracking and settling of the driveway, patio, and sidewalk around your home
• Preserves the exterior doors to your home

Properly Installed Gutters

Not only are gutters important to your home’s stability, but they must be properly installed to do their job. Each roof edge that is sloped should have rain gutters and they need to be fastened securely to avoid problems. If they hold water instead of sending the water to the downspouts, it can backup under the shingles.

The downspouts should be placed so that they go out and away from the foundation at least three feet. In some cases, the contractor will install a section of flexible black plastic hose/pipe material to the end of a downspout so that the water can be directed away.

Maintenance

Once gutters are installed, the work isn’t done. They need to be cleaned from time to time to remove any debris, leaves, or limbs that have blown in or fell in them. When gutters are left uncleaned, you may experience one or all of the following:

• Water dams up and rots the eaves
• Water will begin to leak in your house and damage the ceiling, flooring or walls
• Mosquitoes and other insects will breed in the water
• The leaves can be a fire hazard
• The gutters will begin to rot, then leak

Are Gutter Guards Necessary?

Are gutter guards really necessary? Isn’t the idea of gutters to catch debris, leaves and stuff?  Well, the answers to those questions are: Yes. No.

The purpose of gutters is to keep the rain from your home’s foundation and away from the ceiling and walls. The purpose of gutter guards is to keep them from getting clogged up with debris, leaves, limbs, and more. Because when the gutters are clogged up, the rain just backs up under the shingles and down to the foundation, washing it out and eroding the soil.

It is the general opinion by experts that gutter guards aren’t foolproof in keeping everything out of your gutters. You will still need to clean, or have your gutters cleaned, once or twice a year. But they do reduce how frequent you need to clean your gutters.

Purchasing gutter guards isn’t just a matter of buying them and having them installed. There are different types of gutter guards and they each work differently. There are several ways that gutter guards are classified and here are 6 of the basic types:

1. Bottle brush

2. Foam type

3. Mesh

4. Non-gutter cover

5. Nylon

6. Reverse curve

Bottle brush gutter guards are somewhat like the pokey bristles on statues that keep birds off of them. The bristles face upward so that they aren’t hindering the flow of water through the gutters to the downspout.

Foam type gutter guards are made of plastic and fit directly on the gutter to block all the debris and leaves out of the gutters.

Mesh gutter guards are sheets with holes. They are attached to the roof and cover the gutters. The smaller holes are most recommended because they let the rain into flow through and won’t clog up.

Non-gutter covers essentially replace your gutters with thin louvers which divert rain coming off the roof and out, away from the house.

Nylon gutter guards are recommended for homes where there is a lot of ice and snow.  These fit into the gutters, but do not attach to the shingles.

Reverse curve guards are designed to send the water downward in the gutter by way of a small slit and direct the leaves onto the ground.

4 Reasons Why Your Neighbors Are Getting Metal Roofs

Are you looking around the neighborhood and wondering why everyone is going with a metal roof? Well we are going to let you know 4 reasons why:

They Are Green

No, we don’t mean that by the color but by the fact they are eco-friendly. As the awareness of how things are impacting our environment, more and more people are looking for ways to make their homes “greener” and metal roofs are one of the best ways. The majority of the metal used on roofs is recycled material and it can also be recycled itself once it has lived its life expectancy, which is much, much longer than traditional asphalt shingled roofs.  Metal is extremely lightweight so it has fewer emissions released while being produced and transported. And last but not least, because of its reflexivity to high solar, metal roofing is also very energy efficient.

Long Lifespan

The lifespan of a metal roof is fifty years or longer. Tour a downtown area of an old, established city and you’ll see that most historic buildings have metal roofs that were installed when the building was new and is still in good shape today. Your traditional roof will last fifteen to twenty years max.

They are Durable

The reason a metal roof will last forever is because metal is characteristically water-resistant and when additional coatings are applied, rain and snow both roll off easily. In parts of the country where snowfall is traditionally heavy, this is particularly important so that you don’t have to worry about the snow sitting for weeks to months on your rooftop. The only maintenance a homeowner will have with a metal roof is clearing debris and cleaning the gutters, both of which can hold water and cause the roof corrosion.

A Cost-Effective Option

The initial expense of having a metal roofing install will be as much as 2 to 3 times higher than an asphalt or wood roof. Where you’ll save is over the life of the roof because it won’t have to be replaced as soon.