[Hren]

My fiance and I are new homeowners. We had a tree fall through our rafters, and now have a deadline from our insurance company to get the damage fixed.

The roof had been in semi-lousy shape when we bought the house. So once the storm did more damage, we just decided to replace the whole thing.

The roofer finally did a day's work on our roof yesterday. And I'm not at all satisfied.

I'm hoping some more experienced people here can tell me if I'm nuts, or if this looks like very bad work to them, too!

Here are three examples:

The new bead board didn't match the old bead board's width, so they just put in filler pieces of wood. Also, fascia has a gap, through which I can see sunlight.

This is looking down out of a dormer window, where the blue house shingles meet the roof line below. Why can I see nails and the top of a course of shingles?

And this shingle is cracked, right? I've already seen a bunch like that.

 

[joecaption]

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...8A114E94A869E0A4692BF15BE9196&selectedIndex=2

Can not see a crack in that last picture, I do see what just looks like scrap piece of shingle near the butt joint.

Yes there should be no gap behind the facia.

 

[Windows on Wash]

No wall flashing?

 

[joecaption]

Sure hope you have not paid them yet.
100% chance of it leaking where that flashing is missing.

 

[ddawg16]

On the bead board.....assuming your existing is wood and can be painted....once you toss a coat of paint on it....I doubt anyone will notice....

On that second pic....you need flashing that goes under the blue shingles and then sits on top of the asphalt shingles....like the guys said....without it....it will leak.

Last pic....it looks like you have dimensional shingles....that is just a strip off one of them

 

[wrongdave]

The filler strips shouldn't be a problem. It's hard to exactly match old stuff, and once painted, it won't be very noticeable. Getting an exact match would likely be more expensive (custom milling) and unless you requested and paid for that, you probably got what you paid for. It would have been nice if they explained that to you though.

The gap behind the fascia where light is shining through is probably a problem. You need to look at the area above that to see how the light is managing to shine through there. Ideally, you would have also liked to have that fascia primed on all sides before installation, but that's not absolutely required. Are they finished working on the roof? If not, that could explain the light coming through.

The flashing (or lack of) at the wall is probably your biggest potential issue. There may be something there that we can't see, but I would be concerned about that. As far as the nail heads go, that's not uncommon but they should be sealed. Personally, I would have cut and glued a strip of shingles over that.

That shingle in the last pic may be normal (it's hard to tell). To get the random look, some of the shingle manufactures will actually end a shingle with a very small piece of laminated shingle like that.

It looks like you got a budget shingle job. You don't get perfection with a budget job so don't nitpick everything, but you should have expectations of a roof that's installed to code and isn't going to leak. The wall flashing is potentially a serious problem and should be checked out (if you can't see any flashing there, call the roofer out to explain). And I have no explanation as to how you can see light behind your fascia if the roof is finished, so that should also be checked out.

 

[Roofmaster417]

Pic # 1 ; A coat of paint should work.Remember the old has been subjected to the elements and has bowed and is not as flat as the new.So without replacing everything there will be a difference between the 2.I am really not liking the way they intersected the 2 connecting ends.I like to miter mine,,,much cleaner and nicer.But it looks like that's the way it was before it was repaired.

Pic # 2 ; Looks like a rookie mistake of knife handling.Chances are a shingle was cut over this one and the blade cut both shingles.Best thing to do should have been to use the sliced shingle in another area requiring a shorter shingle.Either that or the shingle was put in really tight causing a lift to that part of the shingle and instead of replacing the shingle they sliced that area causing the shingle to relax.

Pic # 3 ; It looks to me like there is flashing but instead of being exposed its nailed over with 2 courses of shingles.And its missing the top strip and that nail blow through looks fairly nasty.

 

[RobertoAguiar]

I would be fairly upset with a job like this, seems like he was in a hurry and didnt pay much attention to the work he was doing. You should call another professional roofer to give you a second opinion about it, cause from what you show us we might think its aweful but maybe he did do it right and maybe not, i would get a second opinion from a professional. Im sure they can do free estimates and opinions.

 

[Hren]

I appreciate all of your responses. So much!

Those are just three examples of the MANY problems we're seeing on the house. The fascia boards are uneven and don't line up with one another at corners, shingles are sloping instead of straight in some places, they've left the job site a disaster (plastic shingle bags stuck in our trees, piles of new shingles stacked on the roof for days, and they keep dropping debris on our window AC and into our storm windows), and they aren't using the materials we were quoted in the contract (in one case, cutting straight shingles instead of installing proper GAF ridge caps).

We asked for a historically accurate repair, and we are paying SERIOUS money for this roof. Over $14k including the tree damage repair. It's a tough roofing job-- irregular roof with an extremely steep slope-- and we were cautioned about that when we had the house inspected before we bought it.

But I won't accept anything less than a stellar job for what we're paying. And this is barely even acceptable, much less stellar.

Thank you guys for giving me the confidence to be demanding with the roofers. I'm not letting them back on the roof until we have a long, long talk! (If at all.)

 

[Hren]

PS: Just to give you a sense of the scope of the roofing job, here's the house from the front and from the side. "Irregular" is putting it mildly!

 

[PatChap]

My main concern would be how improperly nailed the shingles appear to be. If that nail is indicative of the rest of the roof, you will have voided the shingle warranty. Anything more than 3/8" out of that red line is too high, and on a steep roof it wont take long before the lower piece of the shingles start falling out. Nailed as is, they are only held in by the adhesive strips.

Covering the end-wall flashing( if its there) is acceptable, though not a best practice.

The roof itself doesn't appear to be too hard or complicated, though perhaps high and steep roofs aren't common in your area.

 

[Windows on Wash]

+1

Roofers wouldn't have very full weeks if they just did 5:12's with 2 sides.

Not too concerned about the overhangs as many have mentioned.

Nailing pattern and the nailing over of the flashing are not my favorite.

 

[AndyWRS]

This is very similar to a job we did 9 months ago. 15/12 pitch home built around 1890, 4 layers 2 comp over 2 wood shingle. Very similar bead board eves and we did a similar fix to what you got. I can't tell how much wood replacement you will have until its torn off. At that point i will give you the option, a repair like you have with standard materials as best as possible or milled to match. The $ for the milled work usually always has them going with option 1, the repair with readily available materials. Once painted it will look fine and for a lot cheaper depending on the amount of wood replacement needed. btw, this is the first job we did in so California where i actually see knob and tube...never seen it before except on TV and i have been roofing here from 1985. Not too many "old" homes in orange county.

 

[Hren]

I hear you guys on the beadboard issue. It's 100-year-old board. I get that you can't just pop into any lumber yard and get the same size and same v-groove.

But we don't need to special-order mill all new soffits. It's maybe 15 linear feet, times two boards. How expensive do you guess would that be? $300 more? $500 more?

 

[chitownken]

Priced some custom moldings a few years ago. $750 to make the knives, $1.50 per foot to mill, plus the cost of the raw wood.

 

[AndyWRS]

Hundreds of feet would cost a lot, 15 feet not so much. Either way, I would have given you your options and gone in the direction you wanted. If it was over the front door get it milled, 2 story back of the house then i would be ok with what you got. If you have historically accurate written on the contract then i think it means milled to match existing regardless of location.

It sounds like this is just a portion of your issues with the install. Hopefully they will work with you...i am sure they will if your holding $ still.

 

[Gary in WA]

Those narrow strips of filler next to the soffit boards will twist out from existing space unless T&G'd in there, or solid backed with another surface and pin nailed every 6". Because they were not primed, seasonal humidity changes will move them even more. Fascia board should have been primed... Dormer rake wall/roof flashing appears to be a trim board? Closer picture would help. Missing roof/wall metal flashing at all areas though pic. is far away... Did they not vent anywhere- no intakes or exhaust?

Gary

 

[Roofmaster417]

Bottom line is this,,,,,Steep roof,walkable roof,2 straight sides,dormers,turrets,flat roofs,shingles,shakes,metal,copper,aluminum,tile,slate,3/12,5/12,8/12,10/12,24/12+,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 story or more this guy knew what the job entitled.PERIOD.

Job complexity is a P.I.T.A but its what separates the true roofers from well,,,But seriously he knew what the job looked like so its on him.

Job complexity ? Basically don't take on a job that you are not qualified to do or is out of your league.

Not braggin but this job was very complex.And we knew what it took to do the job,,,and do it right.We didn't cry cuz it was super steep and multiple stories or that we had to redeck it,,,or the fact the material left NO room for error.And the custom copper work I did.We did the job because we agreed to do it and signed a contract stating we were qualified.

http://www.diychatroom.com/members/roofmaster417-81546/albums/steeper-better/

 

[Hren]

Those narrow strips of filler next to the soffit boards will twist out from existing space unless T&G'd in there, or solid backed with another surface and pin nailed every 6". Because they were not primed, seasonal humidity changes will move them even more. Fascia board should have been primed... Dormer rake wall/roof flashing appears to be a trim board? Closer picture would help. Missing roof/wall metal flashing at all areas though pic. is far away... Did they not vent anywhere- no intakes or exhaust?

Gary

You may be responding to the pictures of the full roof, from the front and side. If so, those are from two years ago. The new roofer has only done two days of work, and hasn't finished much. So I don't have much to show in pics yet, other than what I showed in the closeups.

 

[Gary in WA]

Yes. I figured it was the old roof as the drip lined up on every other course, now arch. shingles. I just hope they cut out the bottom area for new metal flashing at the wall/roof and side-wall/rake roof as it looked nonexistent before. No continuous soffit venting near the fascia for optimum air-flow; scroll down to pp. 615+ http://books.google.com/books?id=Z8apR1RkUHUC&pg=PA606&dq=attic+airflow+with+gable+vents&lr=&as_brr=3&cd=13#v=onepage&q=attic%20airflow%20with%20gable%20vents&f=false

Gary
PS. I'd get a new roofer or re-write your contract.