On Fri, 11 Nov 2005 22:20:46 -0600, John Willis
wrote:

:On Sat, 12 Nov 2005 02:25:51 GMT, Dan_Musicant
:scribbled this interesting note:
:
:an, the brand of cap won't sabotage the perfomance of the covering. I'm
::just anal about aesthetics, some people probably wouldn't notice, even
::if/when it was pointed out. I probably notice this practice, because I'm in
::the business, and it rubs me the wrong way.
:
:OK, then I probably won't bug them about that. However, I think they may
:have to replace the ridge cap in which event I may say something about
:the replacement cap and ask them if they will use z-ridge, or whatever
:it is that Elk Corp. supplies. Another poster in this thread, though,
:says z-ridge is a bitch for some reason.
:
:That was me.
:
:First, Z-Ridge is a smaller shingle than any other factory supplied
:hip and ridge shingle that I've ever seen (they come four to the three
:foot shingle instead of three.) Secondly, it obviously has a different
:composition than standard Elk shingles. That composition makes the
:Z-Ridge shingles very brittle in cold weather. They are far more
:brittle than the standard Elk Prestique (or whatever flavor of Elk
:shingles you bought). Thirdly, when breaking them apart, that
:different composition makes them tend to tear easily. Fourthly, when
:installing them, which takes far longer because of the extra work
:involved, they sometimes fall apart along the lines where they are
:supposed to fold.

They installed a ridge vent, something I didn't mention. Maybe everyone
assumed that. I don't know if that's a factor. The shingles they used
were Prestique Plus High Definition:

http://www.elkcorp.com/homeowners/pr...stique_phd.cfm

The weather around here doesn't get all that cold. Over a 50 year period
it probably won't get colder than 25 F.


:
:If you ever have a hail storm, your roof will likely do just fine, but
:the ridge shingles won't. They are that brittle.

We get hail, not often big hail. The biggest I've seen is maybe 1/2 inch
if that, I guess, maybe 1/4 inch.
:
:Personally, I prefer to cut my own ridge shingles. Is it cheaper? Not
:really, once you take into consideration the extra time (that means
:labor cost) it takes to do it well. Quite frankly, I really prefer a
:triple ridge out of three tab shingles. It is more expensive but it
:looks better and holds up well. It would hold up far better than the
:Z-Ridge Elk sells.

I don't think I'll mention the ridge shingles, then. Thanks!
:
:As for your problem with the nails, you got a bad job. It was an
:inexperienced, poorly trained crew that was under-supervised. There is
:no excuse for exposed fasteners. If there is one then that is one too
:many. Actually you have more problem fasteners than that if they were
:truly that bad. See, water has a certain amount of cohesion; call it
:surface tension, and that causes the water to 'curl' around the bottom
:edge of the shingle. That water will get any nails that are too low,
:yet under the shingle above that one, wet. Over time even those
:unexposed nails can become leaks. Especially where the pitch is less
:than optimum.
:
:It was the luck of the draw. You got the less experienced sub. I hope
:the contractor makes this right, but you may have small problems that
:show up from time to time, for years to come.

Luck of the draw is right, I guess. The estimator called me 4 days
before the job was to start and told me when the crew would arrive and
told me the name of the project manager and volunteered that he was very
good. But when the day of the job came, it turned out to be a different
project manager. I asked the estimator why this was and he said that
there was a last minute problem - "a wedding" and the first guy couldn't
make it. He assured me that the replacement guy was also good. When the
project manager got here, he was reading the bid as we spoke. He told me
he'd just been given the job that morning and that he hadn't had time to
read the bid. I guess maybe I was unlucky. I suppose the crew chief was
as responsible for the mistakes as the project manager, probably more so
because he was the guy who was there the whole time. The project manager
only came by every other day or so and he didn't inspect anything. He'd
converse with the crew chief. I suppose it was the crew chief's job to
make sure people were doing what was required. A day or two into the job
I saw him treating his injured index finger. I looked at the top portion
of the finger and saw a red patch of about a square centimeter of skin
missing, and of course the finger was quite dirty. He was about to put a
bandaid on it. I implored him to come in the house and wash it and
remarked that it must be quite painful. He rinsed it at my bathroom sink
and put a bandaid on it. He'd hit it with a hammer, I believe. Next
morning I asked him about it asked if it might be broken. He said
"almost!" with a smile, and he clearly meant it. He was in obvious pain
for another day or two at least. I guess the job got out of hand.