Friends:
Two weeks ago we had a torrential downpour in our area-- about 4 inches
overnight. I received a call Sunday morning from a client who we had
installed a roof mount system for almost 5 years ago. Their roof was leaking!
I hurried right over in the rain and sure enough, there was a leak right
below one of our feet placements. I inspected the caulking, and though it
was not as pretty as I might have done myself, there was no apparent leak
path. Seeing no other apparent reason for the leak, I assumed it was
through our penetration. I re-sealed the two penetrations nearest the leak
and promised the home owner I would take care of all repairs..
That evening the client called and the roof was leaking again. This seemed
unlikely since I had carefully sealed my penetrations. Upon further
inspection, there was a valley near the leak and there was a tiny little
sand dam in the valley.
The next clear day, I hired a local, large, well known, reputable roofing
contractor to deconstruct the valley. My arrangement with the client
was: If the leak was not caused by my work, I pay nothing. If I caused
the leak, I pay for everything, (including ceiling repair). It turns out
the valley was installed incorrectly with many deficiencies: There was no
paper in the valley, there were nails through the sheet metal, there was no
mastic and the sheet metal was allowed to bulge up to allow a sub-valley
away from the actual center of the valley and there was a hole in the paper
right above the leak.
This same thing happened to us a year ago on a tile roof. We were able to
deconstruct the valley ourselves and the roofing estimator who had
originally blamed us came right back over and verified we were not to blame.
I am relating this to the Wrenches list because any of you could have this
happen to you. The moral: Don't be quick to accept blame for a roof
leak. Inspect valleys carefully for debris. Shingles or tile should not
encroach too closely to the center of the valley. Look for mastic under
the shingles. Don't be afraid to lift tiles and look for water staining
and debris trails.
Good luck out there!
William Miller
William Miller
Miller Solar
Voice :805-438-5600
email: will...@millersolar.com
http://millersolar.com
License No. C-10-773985
_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Home Power magazine
List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org
Options & settings:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List rules & etiquette:
www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
Check out participant bios:
www.members.re-wrenches.org
