Roofing News

Does a New Roof Add Resale Value?

Does a New Roof Add Resale Value?

The honest answer is that a new roof usually does not return its full cost at sale. It also usually costs you less than leaving an old one in place. Both of those are true, and the apparent contradiction is where the useful thinking sits. A roof is not an upgrade in the way a […]

Landlord or Tenant: Who Pays for the Roof?

Landlord or Tenant: Who Pays for the Roof?

When a commercial roof needs work, the first question is usually not what it costs. It is who pays. And the answer sits in a lease that was signed years ago by people who are often no longer involved. This is not legal advice: lease interpretation is a job for an attorney, and the terms […]

Roof Access and Fall Protection for Building Owners

Roof Access and Fall Protection for Building Owners

Building owners think about the roof as a waterproofing question. It is also an access question, and the access side attracts more liability than the waterproofing side ever will. People go on your roof more often than you probably realize: HVAC technicians, telecoms engineers, window cleaners, kitchen exhaust cleaners, roofers, and occasionally a member of […]

Restaurant Grease and Roof Membrane Damage

Restaurant Grease and Roof Membrane Damage

If your building has a commercial kitchen, the exhaust fan on the roof is quietly doing more damage to your roofing than the weather is. Grease-laden vapor condenses on the roof surface around the exhaust curb, and most single-ply membranes have very little resistance to it. This is a narrow problem with a straightforward solution, […]

Wind Uplift and Edge Metal on Commercial Roofs

Wind Uplift and Edge Metal on Commercial Roofs

When a commercial roof fails in high wind, it almost never starts in the middle. It starts at an edge or a corner, and it starts with the metal. This is worth understanding because edge metal is a modest line item that governs the performance of a very expensive assembly. Building owners routinely scrutinise the […]

Skylight Leaks: Curb-Mounted vs Deck-Mounted

Skylight Leaks: Curb-Mounted vs Deck-Mounted

When a skylight leaks, the skylight is usually not the problem. The flashing around it is, or the glazing seal has gone, or what looks like a leak is condensation. Those are three different problems with three different answers, and telling them apart saves a lot of unnecessary work. The mounting type matters too, because […]

Chimney Crowns and Counterflashing

Chimney Crowns and Counterflashing

Chimneys are the most common source of roof leaks on houses that have one, and the reason is structural rather than accidental. A chimney is a heavy masonry structure passing through the roof plane, made of a material that absorbs water, moving independently of the timber frame around it. The complication for a homeowner is […]

Satellite Dish and Solar Panel Roof Leaks

Satellite Dish and Solar Panel Roof Leaks

Every hole in your roof was made by someone. Most were made by roofers, who flash penetrations for a living. A few were made by a satellite installer with a cordless drill, or a solar crew working to an electrical specification rather than a roofing one. Those few are responsible for a disproportionate share of […]

Starter Strip and Ridge Cap: The Accessories That Matter

Starter Strip and Ridge Cap: The Accessories That Matter

Two components on a shingle roof get substituted more often than any others, and both substitutions are invisible from the ground. Starter strip at the eaves and rakes, and hip and ridge cap along the peaks. The shortcut in both cases is the same: use ordinary field shingles, cut down, instead of the purpose-made product. […]

Red Flags in a Roofing Contract

Red Flags in a Roofing Contract

A roofing contract is usually two or three pages and takes four minutes to read. Most people sign it in the kitchen without reading it, which is understandable and expensive. This is not about spotting outright fraud. It is about the clauses that quietly move risk from the contractor onto you, and which look entirely […]