From: marie@paris.erg.sri.com (Marie desJardins)
Subject: Re: Shake roof maintenance
Reply-To: marie@paris.erg.sri.com (Marie desJardins)
Organization: SRI International, Menlo Park, CA
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 00:14:48 GMT


In article <BxJ1F2.JM4@hfglobe.intel.com>, labelle@hfglobe.intel.com
(George La Belle) writes:
|> 	... Another neighbor tells me preasure cleaning actually
|> 	dries out a roof and reduces its life.
|> 
|> 	What to do? Anybody have definitive answers to properly maintaining
|> 	a shake roof? 

I also have some questions about shake roofs.  We bought a house
with a shake roof that appears to be about 25 years old, and in
poor condition -- many missing or damaged hip shingles, a couple
of holes and missing shingles in the roof itself (some of which is
squirrel damage), moss growing on part of the roof, and a number of
dry, curling, and/or split shakes.  There are also some rusted drains
and flashing.

We had a local roof repair company come out this morning to give
us an estimate.  We had been figuring that we would have to spend
about $500 to get a minimal patch job that would get us through the
winter, and then we would put on a completely new roof next year
or the following year.  But this guy says that he can restore the
roof to the point where it will be completely leak-free, and will
last for another 25 years if properly maintained.

He says he will pressure-clean the roof (after putting temporary
patches on the holes), repair the missing and damaged shingles,
sand and repaint (with Rustoleum) the rusted metal, and treat the
entire roof with cedar oil (I'm not sure that's what it's called.)
One point he made is that the shingles that are up there are first-
growth, very high quality shakes, so they should last for longer than
you would expect a new roof to last.

We really like the look of the shake roof, and would like to keep
it if we can, but don't know whether to trust this guy.  If we got
a new roof, we probably would not get wood shake (due to cost and
fire codes), so the decision we're making is between restoring the
existing shake roof or getting a new fiberglass-shingle (something
along the lines of Prestique, modulo cost) roof.

My questions are:
    - Is this kind of restoration job really comparable to getting
    	a new roof?  When would I expect to need a completely new
    	roof, assuming that we retreat every 5 years as he suggests?
    - We plan to get other estimates, but in the meantime, does
    	$3000 seem like a reasonable price for this process (the house
    	is approx. 1400 sq. ft, and the roof is not very steeply
    	pitched)?
    - Does anybody in the Bay Area have any experience with this
    	company (Roof Savers)?  They claim to have done 21,000 (!)
    	roofs (they've been around for a long time).
    - We're going to drive around our neighborhood and look at some
    	other roofs that they've worked on.  Any tips as to what to
    	look for to determine the quality of their work?
    - Any other questions that we should ask, or promises we should
    	get?  (He gives a five-year warranty on fungus growth and
    	dry rot, and a one-year unconditional warranty on leaks.)
This is our first house, and I have no experience whatsoever, so
I'd appreciate any information at all that people could give me that
would help me to make this decision.  E-mail or post responses -- if
there is interest, I'll summarize for the net.

Thanks in advance.
Marie desJardins
marie@erg.sri.com
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house