My next door -- townhouse -- neighbor and I had our roofs replaced by
the same guy at the same time, about 6 years ago.

She called a guy to clean her gutters and he said he found that the
black rubber "grommets" (my word) around the plumbing vents on her
house and mine were deteriorating. These are the things that have
a metal cone, with an angled flange at the bottom. The whole thing is
pushed down the pipe that vents the sinks and toilets, etc. and then
shingles are laid over the flange.

Do they make these things so cheaply that they could deteriorate
seriously in only 6 years?

Thanks

On 9/7/2011 9:34 PM, micky wrote:
My next door -- townhouse -- neighbor and I had our roofs replaced by
the same guy at the same time, about 6 years ago.

She called a guy to clean her gutters and he said he found that the
black rubber "grommets" (my word) around the plumbing vents on her
house and mine were deteriorating. These are the things that have
a metal cone, with an angled flange at the bottom. The whole thing is
pushed down the pipe that vents the sinks and toilets, etc. and then
shingles are laid over the flange.

Do they make these things so cheaply that they could deteriorate
seriously in only 6 years?

Thanks

Like most things, they make cheap ones and good ones. I remember on one
of the TV shows, they showed repair kits for them, but replacement is
the proper cure. Most people just keep dabbing roofing cement on them,
but that looks like crap (if you can see them from the ground), and you
never know when it is gonna start leaking again.

Hope you kept a couple spare bundles of shingles, or you have a common
enough shingle style that they can be matched. If the existing shingles
are still in good shape, sometimes you can get away with reusing them,
but it is best to have spares before you start prying up the old ones to
switch out the vent stack cap.

--
aem sends...

On Sep 7, 9:34*pm, micky wrote:
My next door -- townhouse -- neighbor and I had our roofs replaced by
the same guy at the same time, about 6 years ago.

She called a guy to clean her gutters and he said he found that the
black rubber "grommets" (my word) around the plumbing vents on her
house and mine were deteriorating. * * *These are the things that have
a metal cone, with an angled flange at the bottom. *The whole thing is
pushed down the pipe that *vents the sinks and toilets, etc. and then
shingles are laid over the flange.

Do they make these things so cheaply that they could deteriorate
seriously in only 6 years?

Thanks

Hw do you know the guy that replaced the roof also replaced them?
Might be he left them alone.

"micky" wrote in message
...
My next door -- townhouse -- neighbor and I had our roofs replaced by
the same guy at the same time, about 6 years ago.

She called a guy to clean her gutters and he said he found that the
black rubber "grommets" (my word) around the plumbing vents on her
house and mine were deteriorating. These are the things that have
a metal cone, with an angled flange at the bottom. The whole thing is
pushed down the pipe that vents the sinks and toilets, etc. and then
shingles are laid over the flange.

Do they make these things so cheaply that they could deteriorate
seriously in only 6 years?

Thanks

Yes and that is assuming they were actually replaced.

If you plan to stay there, do yourself a big favor, bite the bullet and
replace that crap with a real lead variety. It will last through several
roof changes if handled carefully each time.

I personally am finished with that rubber crap.


--
Colbyt
Please come visit http://www.househomerepair.com

On Wed, 07 Sep 2011 22:06:11 -0400, aemeijers
wrote:

On 9/7/2011 9:34 PM, micky wrote:
My next door -- townhouse -- neighbor and I had our roofs replaced by
the same guy at the same time, about 6 years ago.

She called a guy to clean her gutters and he said he found that the
black rubber "grommets" (my word) around the plumbing vents on her
house and mine were deteriorating. These are the things that have
a metal cone, with an angled flange at the bottom. The whole thing is
pushed down the pipe that vents the sinks and toilets, etc. and then
shingles are laid over the flange.

Do they make these things so cheaply that they could deteriorate
seriously in only 6 years?

Thanks

Like most things, they make cheap ones and good ones. I remember on one
of the TV shows, they showed repair kits for them, but replacement is
the proper cure. Most people just keep dabbing roofing cement on them,
but that looks like crap (if you can see them from the ground), and you

Neither of us can see it from the grround. This seems like a
substantial roofing company, at least based on their webpage, fwiw.

I reread her email, and she wrote me that her vent pipe "boots" were
leaking. Mine haven't but they can't be far behind.

I outweighed the guy's ladder and it was raining, so I was scared to
go on the roof**. He had invited me up, but I only got half way. So
he took pictures. He also said my ridge vent was dislodged, but he
would fix all this for me. How much? Lunch, he said. There were
two of them so I promised him 30 dollars. Then I began thinking
The strange thing is that it shows a 12" square patch of roof next to
the pipe that isn't shingled, and my roof doesn't have that.

So I rushed to take my 6' ladder upstairs and get into the attic
before he had time to fix anything. I was almost up when I heard a
little pounding, but coudln't tell if he was on my roof or my
neighbors. When I got up there, I couldnt' see anything wrong with
the ridge vent. Looked at the whole thing. I'm thinking, maybe he
keeps those two pictures in his phone and shows the same pictures to
lots of people!!!

OTOH, 30 dollars is not much money, OT3H, maybe he did almost nothing.
OT4H, my neighbor said specifically that her boots were leaking, so
how far behind can mine be. I also sort of thought she knew these
guys, just because her brother was friends with the general repair guy
who was here a year ago.

The old boots were mostly metal with a rubber thing at the top. He
didn't put new boots on, just another rubber thing on top of what's
there, and he said he woudl caulk it. Then a second one on each
pipe. I'm at 245 now when I shoudl weight 160, so maybe I can lose
enough weight by spring to go up there. My friend has a ladder I can
use.

never know when it is gonna start leaking again.

Hope you kept a couple spare bundles of shingles, or you have a common

No. I forgot. I was depressed at the time, but it still amazes me
that I forgot. One can't see the back half of the house's roof from
the ground, but the front half can be seen. If it comes to that,
I'll have to use shingles that don't match. Ugh. I don't think I
even got a wrapper so I don't know what company or anything else about
them. All I can say is that I was depressed.

enough shingle style that they can be matched. If the existing shingles
are still in good shape, sometimes you can get away with reusing them,
but it is best to have spares before you start prying up the old ones to
switch out the vent stack cap.

He didn't want to replace the vent stack cap. He had rubber
"washers", about 6 inches in diameter, that did look like the top of
the vent stack cap, and he was going to put one on and then caulk it.
Then he decided to use 2 on each cap.

** I asked the guy about his going on the roof when it was wet, and he
shurgged. Then he told me he knew a guy who 5 years ago fell off a
wet roof, 2 stories Ithink he said, and broke his back. Golly.

And this guy seemed genuinely disgussted that the guy who did the
roof hadn't spent "6 dollars" each for the vent boots.

OTOH, I read about this on the web and it seems rodents eat holes in
them, so maybe it's not about how much money one spends. Or maybe
only the cheap ones are tasty to squirrles. OT3H, I've never seen a
squirrrel on anyone's roof. OT4H, I can see a few roofs but they are
in the ceneter of the n'hod, awy from the trees. The ones by the
trees I can only see when I'm on the roof!

On Thu, 8 Sep 2011 09:36:57 -0400, "Colbyt"
wrote:


"micky" wrote in message
.. .
My next door -- townhouse -- neighbor and I had our roofs replaced by
the same guy at the same time, about 6 years ago.

She called a guy to clean her gutters and he said he found that the
black rubber "grommets" (my word) around the plumbing vents on her
house and mine were deteriorating. These are the things that have
a metal cone, with an angled flange at the bottom. The whole thing is
pushed down the pipe that vents the sinks and toilets, etc. and then
shingles are laid over the flange.

Do they make these things so cheaply that they could deteriorate
seriously in only 6 years?

Thanks

Yes and that is assuming they were actually replaced.

Good poiunt. Also from you, Jame. Although I just realized that I
did go up on the roof when it was 99% done and I think I saw shiny new
vent pipe cones. If they were old and non-shiny, I would have
noticed,, I think, even though I was depressed.

There was a rain collar missing from some of the chimneys, including
one of mine. He didn't have one and I called all over to find one,
once I remembered. It was a one day job but because of rain every
day, it took him 3 or 4 days elapsed time. I could only find a
universal, adjustable lentggh column, and it had to have some of the
metal trimmed off. For some reason I wanted to do that and put it on
myself, so I did. It rained a lot, but at the second part of each
day. When I went on the roof it was dry. Plus I weighed 30 pounds
less.

If you plan to stay there, do yourself a big favor, bite the bullet and
replace that crap with a real lead variety. It will last through several
roof changes if handled carefully each time.

I personally am finished with that rubber crap.

On Thu, 8 Sep 2011 12:46:00 -0700 (PDT), Frank Foder
wrote:

This thread nicely answers at least some of the questions I posed on
the thread I started a few days ago.

Yes, as I suspected, those cheap rubber sleeves aren't worth much, in
the long run. That's why they're cheap.

Actually, the ones that Lowes sells are all black rubber. No metal
parts. The rubber seals around the vent pipe, and it's th erubber that
you nail down under the shingles.

I just saw pictures of those, but I'll go to Lowes to look at them.

But be careful about the lead sleeves. It is well known that rodents
(squirrels and the like) do like to gnaw on them, and where they gnaw,
which is right up at the vent pipe where they fold over to keep rain
out, is one of the worst places to have holes. Yes, the lead sleeves
will last forever if it's just about weather. But it's not.

I rarely see squirrels, maybe one every few years. but someone ate my
only peach. I forgot about it and I'm sure it fell off the tree, and
now there is no trace. I bought a fruit cocktail tree two yeas ago,
but all the branches diied except one. I'm going to buy another and
plant it in a better spot. It might have been 15 dollars and it
looks like thin stick, with a traditional cloth mop on the end (the
roots.) I've never seen them in the store, only by mail.

Squirrels on roofs? All the time in Texas, with trees nearby. Raccoons
too, occasionally, looking a bit lost. Never a possum, a coyote, a
deer. or a turtle.

But if you don't have squirrels around, you're good to go with a lead
liner it would seem. Actually, if you don't have overhanging trees,
you're especially good to go with lead.

On Fri, 9 Sep 2011 12:55:32 -0700 (PDT), Frank Foder
wrote:

Squirrels on roofs? All the time in Texas, with trees nearby. Raccoons
too, occasionally, looking a bit lost. Never a possum, a coyote, a
deer. or a turtle.

But if you don't have squirrels around, you're good to go with a lead
liner it would seem. Actually, if you don't have overhanging trees,
you're especially good to go with lead.

My lot is only 30 feet wide, counting the house, and there are plenty
of tall leafy trees just to the left of the lot, yet in 25 years, I've
only seen one or two leaves in my gutters, total. But I saw the
roofing guy a couple days ago pull handfulls of leaf semi-sludge out
of my neiigbor's gutter, and he said I had it too. 25 years ended 3
years ago,probably the last t looked. I wonder what changed.

Haven't learned anything more about the thread since last I posted.