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Well things were very different down there than in the DC suburbs where I live .
Tin caps to nail down roofing felt .
Roofs with 1/8″ fall per foot ???!!!
I reframed the flat sections to give them at least 3 inches of fall per ft and then used the roll roofing that is so common down there on the flats . keep in mind this was a 3,000 sq ft home in a very nice area . Fungus resistant 25 year shingle on the rest of the house and I installed cobra vent . Didn’t see another vented roof in sight . Whats up with that ??? The people had bids of 10,000 to 18,000 and we did the job for 7,000 including my flight and all materials and labor and the other guys weren’t going to reframe anything . BTW that included my 3,000 fee which should have been 5,000 LOL. Can you believe they dump roof coating on those flat roofs every year to keep them from leaking . What a scam they have going there . But the heat will kill you , it sure hurt me and when it wasn’t hot it was raining . And they use a product to seal the vent pipes and seams on the roll sections and guess what they call it … Bull . I’m not joking . I tell you what you could never get away with the built in maintence where I live . Anyway thanks for all the tips and it’s good to be home !!!
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There have been a lot of comments about Florida builders here. I'll have to drop a line to Chicago friends who are now in FL.
1/8" per foot ... it thunders there all the time, like every afternoon. Eventually the air gets so humid it just can't go on any longer.
Where are you from DC? We're in Arlington and I'm thinking of poking some holes in the roof.
*Im on the Alabama coast and I dont know how anybody can be a roofer down here. Its rains almost every afternoon in the summer and right now its been raining for 4 days straight and at least 1 more on the way. Its way too hot to be on the roof in the summer anyway but the stress of everything getting wet would drive me crazy.
*I'm from Ohio and the term "bull" for roof cement goes back generations. I have a good friend who has roofed in Fla. that told me of the differencas in their roofing practices. Drip edge and all roof penetrations must be "bulled" in to be water tight to prevent the water that blows under the shingles from hurricane force winds to leak in. Also, step flashing is useless against this horizontaly driven rain. The water runs uphill under these conditions. I suppose this may be true of the ridge vents that we install up here. As for the inflated prices, I'm told this is due to the state-wide contractor licensing. Too much work and not enough licensed contractors. John
*Andrew I am actually from Southern MD (Charles County)but say DC because I am about 40 minutes from there and everyone knows where DC is . John The roofs I saw weren't even holding up to normal rains much less hurricane force . 1/8" fall per foot is simply unacceptable without some sort of center drain IMO. When you see birds bathing on the neighbors flat roofs every morning you really have to ask why . As for the ridge vent I was able to purchase it right at the roofing center and it said metro-dade approved . In the humid weather they have this has to greatly benefit the life expectancy of the shingles . And John I'm all for getting top dollar but charging it to redo something the same way (the wrong way)is insane . Charles it was very stressfull but luckly they already had serious water damage to their ceilings so a little more was no big deal . BTW Their roof was only 7 yrs old and leaked in many places . With all the concerns about hurricanes I was suprised to see the old roof had been installed with staples which I think we all would agree have substantially less holding power than nails .
*One more thing Jon . Ask your friend if he knows why they bother to put vents in the soffits if they aren't going to use ridge vent ??? This puzzled me as well . I also have to mention the weird trim work I saw in Fla as well . Putting DC98 , Door casing down as base molding is just idiotic IMO . Just because it's 10 or 15 cents a foot less doesn't make it right .