In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 25 Jan 2020 06:16:38 -0800 (PST), trader_4
wrote:

On Friday, January 24, 2020 at 9:43:13 PM UTC-5, micky wrote:
What does this picture show:
https://static.companycam.com/lambda...eg?d=2880x2880

My standard 3-tab shingled roof is leaking into the 2nd flor in one spot
and a roofing company came out and looked at it.

I can't see the back half of the roof from the ground and I haven't been
up there, but from inside the attic I do see that several sheets of
plywood are water damaged, so even though it's only 13 years old, I need
a new roof, right? But I'd rather wait until warmer or drier weather,
and I'd like to just solve the one leak into the 2nd floor until then.


A roofer who came to look at it told me it shows that those who put on
the replacement roof 13 years ago caulked the weepholes in the ridge
rail, and that's the reason for the lake that bothers me. Is that what
you thought too?

Does that happen? Is it a problem?

Are those oblong holes the weepholes. Of those in the picture, it looks
like only one is partly blocked, and the others are open.

Can I get a handyman to clean out the weepholes, to last me until the
summer?

If it's the caulk, it's been there for 13 years. How come no drip into
the 2nd floor until this year?

Thanks for any help you can give.


This is interesting. Do you remember several years ago, we were

I'd forgotten about that but I do remember now.

discussing ridge vents here? You claimed that the cutout for your ridge
vent was like a foot wide? And I said that can't be, that they are
typically cutout about one inch on each side, two inches total?
And that having one that wide made no sense? But you insisted that was
the way it was? Well, I guess you were right. LOL

Your roofer was a hack. With a normal 2" wide cutout, the ridge vent
cover is wide enough that water can't go uphill under it and get inside.
And they are not caulked, like yours is, which is further proof the
roofer was a hack. If the opening is indeed very wide, then the roofer
who did the replacement probably caulked at the edges because he figured
wind drive rain would get under it and run inside. Bad idea. The
correct idea would have been to reduce the size of the opening to what
it should be.

He didn't suggest that. Mine was the third probably identical townhouse
I know of in this n'hood that he'd done. They worked efficiently and
cleanly and I talked to the first owner and he was happy. The owner
of the first one has moved but I'm still curious enough to ask the new
owner how their roof is. I think they might have solar cells on the
roof now (and did a very attractive job, compared to the other nbor with
raw metal conduit running down the front of house). (I'm not sure which
house got the second roof.) My friend also had him do her roof but she
had an entirely different house, and she moved a few years ago, so I
don't know how it did.

Is that the only picture? I presume the main area
is over your unit, where the problem is? To the right, which I assume
is your neighbor, there the roof sure is hosed big time, right up by
the ridge vent. It's all buckled.

I don't know how that happened. It wasn't like that 13 years ago, and I
don't know what could have messed up the metal.

Yes, my neighbor's house is in the back on the right, but the picture
shows the front half of my house and the leak is in the back. I don't
know what the ridge vent looks like there.

Is this even your problem? Isn't
this a condo situation, where the roof is a common area? If not, IDK

No, it's not a condo or a coop. . I own the roof, the yard, even 3 feet
beyond my fence, which had to leave room for people to walk around the
houses, but the easement is still my responsibility. At least one of my
n'bors doesn't understand that when it comes to his house.

how this works, because it's all one continuous roof. What was the
process 13 years ago when the new roof was put on?

Then we both needed roofs and we split the cost, with my paying a little
extra because he did a couple other little things for me. This time I
asked the new owner how the roof is and he said no problem. (Of course,
it could have problems he doesn't know about yet. Maybe I'll ask the
next roofer to look at his roof too.) All the houses are in pairs like
this but I wouldn't be the first one to replace only one half.

Interesting, in map view Google maps shows his house and mine as one
house, because the roof is all one color. Where the roofs are two
colors, map view shows them as two houses. (Also fwiw, it shows my
house in the wrong place because it has the house numbers going the
wrong direction. It's only 400 yards from one end to the other so I
haven't bothered to send in a correction.)

Finally, how old is this place? Back in the 80s for construction like

1979

this they were using fire retardant plywood on the east coast. It had
a chemical added that activates at high temp and inhibits the fire.
Problem was that over time, roofs got hot enough that it activated
with no fire and the process releases an acid, that destroys the wood.
I'd make sure you don't have that crap. Most of it has already
been replaced.

How can I tell if that's what I have? Won't it have been gassed out by
now? Since the house was 4 years old, I have a roof fan that keeps the
attic somewhat cooler (plus full-width soffit vents and the roof vent,
and I got a less dark colored roof last time to keep the attic cooler in
the summer. (The soffitt vents get covered by what I think is milkweed
every few years, but I think the milkweed tree** fell down, so maybe
that won't be a problem. **It was on land my n'bors and I don't own,
wooded land that's ultimately owned now by the rich guy from Omaha,
whose name I can never remember.

Of course you won't see any of this, since you have
me blocked from the little safe space that you're living in. Carry on.

This is my roof so it's important to me. ;-)

I would love to be able to talk to you, but a) you seriously insulted me
by saying I put party ahead of country. Of course I put country first
but the events of this very week have shown, and I hope have shown you,
what happens if one thinks someone from the other party, no matter how
moderate or how much she works across the aisle, can be relied on when
it really matters to, herself, put country ahead of party . And at least
two men are like that too. If those 4 were Democrats, there would be
witnesses and documents, and maybe other differences in procedure, like
not herding the press as they've done this week. You insulted me,
incorrectly no less, and have never retracted or apologized.
b) When we were discussing one thing, you'd bring up one or another of
your favorite complaints about me, even though it's unrelated to the
thread. I hope you don't do this in person. It makes reasonable
discussion nigh impossible. You'd do the same thing to a degree with
Trump complaints, but that's different. I enjoyed those.
c) I think there was a 3rd significant reason but maybe not.