carpdad - the roofer scammed us? Oh, we know that now. Can't believe we got taken as bad as we did / how much of a BS artist he is. The job was done 2 years ago now. We gave him a deposit for about 1/2 the work. That's all he got. we figured we paid half of a regular roof, we'll get 1/2 the life of it.
I think the flashing is aluminum. So that's not rust that you see (where's that). I don't know if I heard that before to replace rather than reuse. but a quick googling and yeah, that's what I see. OK, maybe not 1/2 the life of a correctly installed roof...
Realistically, with ALL the issues I had, he'd have to redo the whole thing from scratch. And it'd be unrealistic that he'd be willing and would I really want him back doing the roof?
The steps you describe are the tip of the iceberg I would do normally. But having paid him half, in the end, I saw it just dragging out to get him to (try to) do things correctly. What's the saying - if you don't have time (skill) to do it right the first time, how will you have the time (skill) to do it over?
He pitched that he was certified by Owens Corning. We'll get a longer warranty because of that, etc. etc. Turns out when I climbed the ladder at OC, they don't get involved in workmanship issues. And to be 'certified' by OC, means he paid $$ to them. Nothing more. The longer warranty? That would be through him (not the better warranties from OC). And even the OC product warranties would be invalid because he didn't install it right. OC might come out (and look at the roof from the ground... they don't climb ladders) as part of me giving a review of the installer, but that's only when the job is paid in full,
I had another roofer come out to look things over (at a higher level of installer on the OC website - that level actually takes more than $$ to obtain). He said yeah, this is not how I would do it, that's not right, etc. I tried getting him to give me a quote to fix things / go to court for that money against what I owed the installer. But he never came up with a quote / seems he didn't want to get involved in a big patch job. And we didn't / haven't had a leak so we're moving on. Other things like big scuffs on the shingles / removed granules, cuts in the shingles - they cut other shingles directly on the installed ones?! vent pipe covers - some had nails in them, some didn't. Some nails were caulked, some didn't.
ridge vent - some ends had visible nails, others didn't some visible nails were caulked, some weren't. LOADS of nails, scraps of roof, underlayment, drip edge, etc on the roof (some nails stepped on and pushed into the new shingles (you step on something, you think you'd pick it up and toss it?!). shingles overhang the new gutters he put in by 1 1/2". Some of the gutters don't drain : ) (someone said that could be for asthetics - I fixed that and the facia is a bit not level so having the drain the right pitch looks off a bit.)
We are making sure to trash this installer where possible, but viewing it as a lesson learned.
YES on using HD installers! We had that with a water softener install. The installer did great work, but knowing I had HD behind them if I didn't like something, was reassurance.
Along the same vein - we had garage doors installed. Used a guy at a county fair. That was a mistake. crap workmanship... there was a scratch on the door. his guy used (white) spray paint on it. Didn't mask off the black fake barn door hinges (I still remember saying 'you want me to get some PFFFFFFFF paper to mask the hinges.... too late).
So the guy USES A SHARPIE saying that's the official black touch up for Amarr doors.
went to amar and nothing came of it. (and again, realisitcally - they take off the black hinges and put new ones on. the screw holes get a tad bigger... and then you have other problems.