Archive for the ‘Arlington VA roof repair’ Category
Friday, October 1st, 2010
One of the top sources for roof leaks is the flashing around the chimney. Making and installing flashings on the roof is part art and science and it takes a considerable amount of skill to do properly; I’ve found that the art end of the job is what gets people in trouble. The following pictures show how we do our work; the flashings we make for chimneys and skylights are bulletproof and have never caused us to return to a clients house again, I also think they are lovely to look at.
We measure the length and width of your chimney and the slope of your roof. The flashings are custom made in our sheet metal shop for your chimney. Depending on the type of roof we can make the flashings from zinc, copper, stainless steel, aluminum and lead coated copper; they can also be painted any color you wish. We can fabricate flashings of any size no matter how big or small your chimney or skylight.
Once the flashings are made they are sent out to the project with all other necessary materials. The pictures below show the old flashing and shingles being removed, some rotted wood being replaced and finally the installation of waterproof underlayment.
The old flashing is rusted through tin
new piece of 1x6 roof decking where the other had rotted
Installing waterproof underlayment around the chimney
Most elements on a slate or shingle roof are installed from the bottom up, here we start by installing the lowest flashing called the apron.
Installing the copper apron flashing
Next we install step flashings, step flashing are small “L” shaped pieces of metal that are laced in to each course of shingles as they climb up the side of the chimney.
Step flashings are installed in each course of shingles
This is the most critical piece of the entire assembly, the pan flashing does most of the work in shedding water. We form our pan flashings with a rounded bottom edge (vs. a sharp fold) to keep this area dry; creased or square folded metal can hold water which leads to corrosion and leakage. All of the seams we use are double locked and are completely waterproof, no matter what nature throws at this house the chimney will not leak.
Copper pan flashing being installed behind the chimney
The pieces that cover the step flashing along the sides of the chimney are called counter-flashings, here it is being trimmed to fit beneath the pan and over the apron flashing.
Counter flashing being installed on the chimney sides
The final step is applying a bead of high quality sealant to the joint between the new flashings and the masonry.
Completed copper chimney flashing repair
This roof will be good for another five years, when replacement of the roof becomes necessary our flashings can be reused. If your chimney or skylight is leaking we have a bulletproof solution, call any time and we will be on our way.
Tom 703-299-8888
P.S. If you are out our of our service area we can make and ship a complete skylight or chimney flashing kit to you. All you need to tell us is the measurements of the chimney or skylight and the slope of your roof and we can have it on the way to you in a day or two. Just call 703-299-8888
Tags: chimney flashing kit, chimney flashing kits, chimney flashing repair, chimney leak, copper roof flashing, copper skylight flashing, diy chimney flashing, DIY flashing repair, flashing kits, how to flash a chimney, skylight and chimney flashing
Posted in Alexandria VA Slate Roof, Alexandria VA roof repair, Alexandria VA roofing contractor, Arlington VA roof repair, Roof leak alexandria, VA roof repair, VA roofing, falls church roofing contractor, metal roofing, northern va roofing | 1 Comment »
Thursday, September 30th, 2010
This house has a fairly deep soffit, a soffit or eave is the section of roof that protrudes past the wall of the house. The area where the roof passes the wall of the house can be troublesome in winter, in the right conditions ice dams can occur. Ice dams happen when the roof is covered with at least 4″ of snow and the outside temperature is below freezing. Heat from the attic melts the snow from the underside, that water then rolls down the roof to the edge where it is confronted with a colder section at the eave; then the water refreezes at the edge of the roof near the gutter. Once this thaw/freeze cycle happens over a few days there begins to be a pile up of ice at the edge of the roof; the ice can get so high that the meltwater can’t get off the roof and begins to pool. The pool of water can then backup into the house, soaking everything below it.
Step one: we remove all the existing roofing and check the plywood roof deck for any rot.
Because this roof has a deep soffit we needed to install 72″ of ice and water shield to protect against ice dams. The lighter gray material close to the edge is the ice and water shield; its a self adhering membrane bonds to the plywood roof deck, once in place it acts like a waterproof liner in the event of harsh winter weather. Now the snow ice can pile up more than 25″ high (very unlikely) and my clients will be safe and dry in their home.
Once the drip edge, ice and water shield and felt paper are installed we can begin to install the shingles.
We cut back the roof decking to allow for a ridge vent, this will remove the hot moist air from the attic.
Matching caps over the ridge vent allow it to disappear. You may be able to notice that the caps look like they are hovering a half an inch over the peak of the roof, that is the airspace that the ridge vent requires to exhaust the attic.
New 16oz copper flashing was fabricated for the chimney, this will keep one of the most vulnerable points in the roof watertight.
Final cleanup, and we’re on our way to the next house . This roof is now ready to face the worst possible weather conditions.
There are a lot more steps than this; I just wanted to highlight the really important ones here. If your roof suffered through last winter you should take action now, I can come up with a plan for your house that will make snow something to look forward to instead of dreading.
Call me at 703-299-8888
Tom
Tags: ice and snow roof repair, ice and water shield, ice dam, roof ice dam protection, roof ice guard, roof replacement va
Posted in Alexandria VA roofing contractor, Arlington VA roof repair, Northern VA roof repair, arlington VA roofing contractor, falls church roofing contractor, northern va roofing, snow guards | No Comments »
Friday, September 10th, 2010
This is a covered porch on the rear of a house we completely re roofed a few years ago. The structure was built by Harry Braswell, Inc. and is designed to give the owner some covered outdoor space.
The main house roof is covered with GAF Timberline asphalt shingles in Charcoal with a few lower accent roofs in standing seam copper; keeping with the same scheme, copper became the obvious choice for the new porch.
One very important note here; you’ll notice that the rosin paper and felt are secured with copper nails; I have seen many jobs where the underlayment was installed with steel nails, cap nails or even staples. Using anything but copper nails will lead to a failure; copper is soft, steel nails and staples will eventually wear through the copper panels as the panels expand and contract over the nail heads and staple crowns. If you are considering installing a metal roof ask your contractor how he installs his felt and paper, if he says staples or cap nails you should find another roofer.
The black paper is 30# asphalt felt, it provides temporary waterproofing if it happens to rain before the job is finished; the pink paper you see is Red Rosin Paper, its job is to isolate the copper panels from the asphalt felt. I could write pages about why copper needs to be kept away from felt paper but I’ll save that for another post.
As the panels are laid out across the roof they are locked to each other and then are folded over the copper drip edge at the eave edge of the roof. This curved eave end detail you see here is virtually unknown on this side of the Atlantic. Although this detail is barely visible from the ground I think it adds a “hidden jewel” aspect to the job.
“Can you show me how to do it??” Sadly, no; the only two people I’m teaching this to are currently in Kindergarten and Pre-School, and they are going to have to wait at least 12 more years to learn it.
After the eaves and seams are completed we installed new snow guards. These bronze guards clamp onto the standing seams and keep ice and snow from sliding off the roof in large sheets. There are many different designs for this purpose, guards can be casted to look like eagles, pineapples, fleur de lis, and clovers.
And finally a copper gutter to carry the rainwater away.
If your house needs a hidden (or not so hidden) jewel you should call me, I’ll be happy to help.
Thanks for reading,
Tom
Tags: copper roof, copper roof eave detail, copper roof flashing, falls church metal roof contractor, Standing seam copper roof, standing seam metal roof
Posted in Alexandria VA roofing contractor, Arlington VA roof repair, Northern VA roof repair, Standing seam copper roof, Standing seam tin roof, VA roof repair, VA roofing, Virginia roofing contractor, arlington VA roofing contractor, falls church roofing contractor, metal roofing, northern va roofing, sheet metal, snow guards, standing seam | No Comments »
Thursday, August 5th, 2010
This is an EPDM (rubber) roof; it was installed over an existing built up (tar and gravel) roof; due to a number of factors it consistently held about 4″ of water on its surface. Although the name can be deceiving, a flat roof needs slope; not a lot, just enough to encourage the water to drain off to a gutter or roof drain within 24-36 hours after a rain. This house used to hold about 2″ of water all year round; if the owner wanted to he could have started a brine shrimp farm.
After the EPDM was peeled back it became obvious that the roof has been leaking for a very long time. The brown insulation board the previous roofer installed over the tar and gravel roof has basically dissolved. Now only rusted screws remain, holding fast to a charge that has since washed away beneath their once tightly drawn heads; decades spent diligently doing a job that had been doomed to fail. (I don’t think anyone reads these posts; prove me wrong- send a text to 571-830-zero six three four and I’ll send you a gift card)
When new roofs are laid on top of old roofs this happens more times than not; old flashings, lumpy surfaces and less than ideal substrates make it difficult to achieve good drainage and solid details. In fourteen years I have never done a recover; every roof we replace has the old roof removed first.
All of the EPDM and the last of the tar and gravel are being removed from the roof. Once all the old roof comes off we check for rotted decking and loose boards.
The existing skylights were mounted on flat curbs; all roof components need slope. Because the old curbs were perfectly flat the glass skylight lenses leaked. I built new curbs with a 15 degree slope, now water and debris will wash off.
You can also see the first run of tapered insulation being installed; it may be hard to tell but the insulation is thicker on the right side of the picture than it is on the left. Tapered Polyisocyanurate insulation board is basically 4′x4′ modules that are sloped in one direction, we install these in various sequences to add slope to a flat roof where there is none. Installing tapered insulation is far less expensive than adding new framing or moving rafters and achieves the exact same results; it also adds some pretty good r-value to the roof assembly.
With the insulation installed we now have a perfect surface to install our new roof; the roof now rises from .5″ at the gutter to almost 9″ at the front wall. There will be absolutely no ponding water on this roof or on the skylights.
This is TPO; its a thermoplastic roofing membrane that comes in a few colors but white is by far the most popular. TPO requires no glue or sealants, the seams and flashings are welded with a hot air welder; once properly welded they require no further attention–ever. The bright white surface will keep the upper floors of the house a lot cooler than the black EPDM roof that was in place before. We also replaced the skylights with new energy efficient lenses, these are lo-e and have UV blocking properties that let sunlight in but block out the solar wavelength that brings heat.
This picture was taken at the end of the first day; although not 100% complete there is no danger of this roof leaking if it rained over night (which it did). I was happy to see in the morning that the roof had no water on it and we were able to go right back to work.
Before
After
TPO flat roof with skylight flashings
This roof will last much longer than its predecessor; proper layout, flashing details and planning can give a roof a chance to live up to its potential.
If you have a problem with ponding water on your roof, give us a call.
Thanks,
Tom
703-299-8888
Tags: Energy Star Flat Roof, flat roof repair, flat roof replacement, leaking flat roof, old town alexandria flat roof, old town alexandria roof repair, row house flat roof, tapered roof insulation, TPO flat roof, White Flat Roof
Posted in Alexandria VA roofing contractor, Arlington VA roof repair, Northern VA roof repair, Roof leak alexandria, Virginia roofing contractor, arlington VA roofing contractor, flat roof, northern va roofing, roofing | 5 Comments »
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
This was one of my favorite projects this spring; the existing slate roof was on it’s last leg and had been the victim of some lousy repairs over the years. You can see where some of the slates have just turned to powder, when more than 25% of the slates have gone bad the most prudent thing to do is schedule a complete replacement.
The light gray blobs between the slates is old roof cement; this was someone’s attempt to stop a leak; sealing between slate keyways will usually make the leak worse-not better.
At least 60% of the existing slates have lost the will to live; some have turned to powder that hasn’t blown away yet.
Tear Off: we removed all the existing slate, we checked the roof deck and made a few minor repairs. Despite the condition of slate the roof has surprisingly few leaks.
Underlayment and layout of the new roof:
First step is the installation of new 20 oz copper drip edge, this has two purposes; first it becomes our square edge to start layout, secondly it keeps water from backing up and rotting the facia and soffit. Once the drip edge is installed it pretty much disappears but its a critical part of the roof and must last as long as the slates will; hence super heavy 20 oz copper.
Next we installed waterproof underlayment at the eave to a point 24″ inside the warm wall of the house; this will protect the roof from ice dams. then we install two layers of 30# felt to temporarily protect the structure from rain and to give us a clean smooth surface to lay out our slates. We take a long time during layout; before any slates are installed we make sure that they line up evenly on each side of the house. Failing to perform these calculations can leave the house with full slates on the left side and little tiny slates on the right; instead of even sized slates on both sides; look at some houses; you’ll see what Im talking about.
My client chose Del Carmen slate, they are quarried in western Spain and are rated S1. The S1 rating means they will have a useful life of no less than 100 years; they come in many different sizes, these are 16×10 ultra heavy. The previous roof was a thin soft slate in 24×12; I thought they were too big and looked like dinner plates on the roof. It took roughly 350 more slates of 16×10 than it would have if I installed the same 24×12’s; more slates look better, and the thicker profile of the ultra heavies give the roof a rich texture.
End of day three; although the roof is very steep we made very good progress. The cloudy gray dust is slate marl (dust) that gets on the slates when the quarry cuts them in Spain, a few hours of rain will rinse it off and let the rich color come through.
The front porch got a new roof with less obtrusive copper loop snow guards; they still keep ice from sliding off the roof but are a little less visible than the larger ones we had to use on the main roof. We also installed a new copper gutter on the upper main house roof.
The trees cover my gorgeous roof; I’m sad to report that this is pretty much the best angle to see it. This picture was taken about a month after we finished the job, the copper is starting to turn a dark bronze color and the true deep rich color of the slate is coming through.
Before:
this is the day before we ripped the old roof off.
After: back to beautiful again. 
I love slate; I’d love to put it on your house, call me if you love slate too.
Thanks,
Tom
703-299-8888
Tags: del carmen slate roof, new slate roof, slate roof contractors, slate roof specialist VA
Posted in Alexandria VA Slate Roof, Alexandria VA roofing contractor, Arlington VA Slate roof repair, Arlington VA roof repair, Northern VA roof repair, Slate roof repair, Uncategorized, VA Slate roof repair, arlington VA roofing contractor, northern va roofing, slate roof, slate roof snow guards, snow guards | No Comments »
Monday, December 28th, 2009
Rotted Roof decking
How long has it been leaking? Its my first question when someone calls about their roof; and sometimes its hard for my clients to answer.
“Not that long”; is by far the most common answer.
However, “Not that long” can mean a week , or it can mean three months and it can mean four years; it depends on the clients perception of time; sometimes the memory devices people use to date the problem can be quite entertaining. The all time longest was an elderly woman who was able to trace the start of her roof problem with the birth of her grandson in 1999; she called me in 2007.
Water damage happens slowly, then all at once.
Water intrusion is unique in the way it damages a house. Usually roofs don’t fail catastrophically, it starts small and slowly gets worse.
The faster you get to the problem the cheaper it will be to fix. If the leaky roof is ignored the damage and cost for repairs grow exponentially; what might cost $565.00 to repair today could turn into $5,650.00 within three months. If water is allowed to come into the structure for extended periods you not only must repair the problem that caused the leak, but sometimes everything below the leak. By the time three rainy months have passed the insulation in the attic, plywood roof decking, rafters, drywall, electrical outlets, lighting and flooring may have been ruined. There are also mold and insect problems that come up when roofs are let go.
If you are having roof problems don’t wait to call; the sooner you deal with it the cheaper it will be. If cash is tight and you can’t pay for it all, ask us for help. If I can afford it I might be able to extend your time to pay. The universe has been good to me and i find that when I am good to others I’m rarely let down by them.
Leaking roof and rotted decking
Tags: cost to repair roofing, how long can a roof leak, how long can i put off repairing my roof, long term roof leaking, roofing repair cost, when to repair roofing
Posted in Alexandria VA roofing contractor, Arlington VA roof repair, Northern VA roof repair, Roof leak alexandria, Slate roof repair, VA roof repair, VA roofing, arlington VA roofing contractor, northern va roofing, roofing | No Comments »
Sunday, December 20th, 2009
Ice dam section view
Ice dams occur when temperatures are low and there are a few inches of snow on the roof. The only way to make it stop is by removing the ice and giving the water a place to flow safely off the roof.
It is extraordinarily dangerous work, so if you are going to do it on your own please wait until you can get a friend to help.
You can also hire a roofing contractor to do the work for you.
The right weather conditions for ice dams is usually when outside air temperatures are in the low 20s (°F) for several days with several inches of snow on the roof.
Research shows keeping the attic air temperature below freezing when the outside air temperature is in the low 20s can reduce the occurrence of ice dams. Research has also shown that sun exposure in the winter has little effect on attic air temperature. Warm air from living spaces below penetrating into the attic is usually the culprit in the formation of ice dams.
Edit 2/14/10
Watching the news for any more than 25 minutes will have pains shooting down your left arm; their job is to terrify you. They want you upset so you stay tuned during the Folger’s Coffee commercial. Most of what they are saying about the snow on your roof is pretty much all wrong.
When to worry:
1) You have water coming in through the tops of your windows or water coming in along the outside walls. If water is leaking into your house you must stop it, the only way to do that is to remove the huge chunks of ice that have grown along your gutter.
2) You heard an unmistakable cracking sound and then you saw a crack in the drywall at the ceiling or wall. If you saw or heard anything like that then the roof you are under is over loaded. NOTE: Residential roofs almost never fail catastrophically, under the current snow load you have a better chance of winning the lottery than you do of having your roof wind up in your basement.
When not to worry:
1) If your roof isn’t leaking now then chances are it probably won’t.
2) You have huge piles of ice on your gutter; it will melt, relax. The worst that can happen is that the gutter falls off, move the glass patio table out of the way so nothing else gets damaged.
If you are having leaking call us, we can help. Dont waste your money hiring someone to remove the snow from your roof because the anchor man with the comb-over scared you into it.
When the snow and ice are gone you can call me to inspect for any damage.
Tom
Tags: ice and snow roof removal, ice dam removal, ice dam removal alexandria va, ice dam removal arlington va, ice dams, roof clearing, roof dam, snow and water damage roof, snow dam, snow removal from roof, water damage to roof
Posted in Alexandria, Alexandria VA roofing contractor, Arlington, Arlington VA roof repair, Northern VA roof repair, Roof leak alexandria, VA roofing, northern va roofing | 2 Comments »
Thursday, November 12th, 2009
Before
The interior of this house is being redone, the Owner also decided to give the house a little bit of a face lift.
The existing roof wasn’t in the worst shape, it was a standard three tab shingle that was about 12 years old; no leaks, but it didn’t really add anything to the curb appeal. The Owner plans to stay here for the next 30 years so she wanted a roof she would never have to deal with again.
Shingle roof complete
The shingles we installed are GAF Timberline Lifetime. The color is Slate Blend; this roof with its copper flashings and great shingles won’t require replacement for at least 50-70 years.
This roof does a few things; first, I think it looks fantastic. Secondly, since it will outlast at least three standard roofs it is keeping thousands of pounds of trash out of the landfill.
You can read about how roofing affects the environment here:http://www.lyonscontracting.com/new-environment.html
Copper tile
Since the project started because the house needed an update, the Owner wanted something original, a jewel to make the house unique. If you know Arlington, there are thousands of houses that look just like this one.
We came up with a few ideas; standing seam copper?, no. How about standing seam zinc?,no, too gray and dreary. How about copper tile?, diamond shaped tile? That sounds perfect; do it!!
Bar folder
The machine to the left is a Peck, Stowe and Wilcox bar folder, it’s 135 years old and is one of my favorite machines. It does one thing; it bends a straight angle in sheet metal and is does it perfectly. When fabricating parts that are to be installed sequentially it is imperative that they all be perfect; if just one of these is off by as little as 3/32″ it can throw off the whole pattern.
Copper tile
A closer view of the tile on the porch roof. Each of the tiles are held in place with two copper hooks; I made the hooks out of scrap copper. The hooks are completely hidden so there are no exposed fasteners. All of the copper on the house is bright and shiny now, but in a month or so it will begin to turn a dark bronze color, a few years after that it will start to turn that beautiful mellow green.
I can’t wait to see my tiles with a full green patina, I’ll have to put it in my calendar for 2015 to schedule a drive by.
Copper tile and Timberline roof
Our work is done here; the new architectural shingle roof and the one of a kind copper tiles give the house real curb appeal. The bracing on the front porch will be removed as soon as the mason finishes the new slate walkway.
If your place is getting lost on a block of identical houses give us a call. Id be happy to install a one of a kind roof for you too.
Tom
Tags: copper tile, GAF Timberline, new roof, new shingle roof, roof replacement, shingle roof replacement, timberline shingles, Timberline Slate Blend
Posted in Arlington VA roof repair, VA roof repair, arlington VA roofing contractor, northern va roofing, sheet metal | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
This is one of those classic examples of a “Roof in a Can”.
Roof in a Can is a term we came up with when describing a repair job we’ve seen; it’s when the person working on the roof can’t figure out the right way to do something so he just squirts caulk over the problem. I have a collection of these pics somewhere, I’ll put them up someday.
Before:
Leaking pipe collar and caulk
These plumbing vents are really close together; too close for the installer to use two pipe collars. The pipe collar is installed on the pipe on the left, the pipe on the right got the Roof in a Can treatment.
I would love to know how the person decided which pipe got the collar and which one got the caulk. Flip a coin? Did he ask a coworker? Did he think the larger pipe was mocking him? Maybe he just wanted the smaller pipe to have the collar, pulling for the underdog on the roof.
copper pipe flashing
This took me about thirty minutes; it’s made out of 16oz copper and will last for the next three roofs. No caulk to dry out and crack, just copper and lead solder. Solid.
There they stand ready to face the weather again. Both pipes treated with practical dignity; flashed with copper and installed with pride.
Caulk is not a roof and caulk doesn’t last, don’t let someone “repair” your roof with a caulking gun.
If you have leaking pipes on your roof give us a call.
Tom
Tags: copper pipe flashing, copper roof flashing, leaking roof, leaking roof vent, pipe collar, Roof repair, shingle roof repair
Posted in Alexandria, Alexandria VA roofing contractor, Arlington VA roof repair, Northern VA roof repair, Roof leak alexandria, VA roof repair, VA roofing, northern va roofing, va | No Comments »
