How Does A Roofing System Work?

The roof is the only thing protecting your home and your property from the elements of rain, snow, and sun. It is a most essential part of a dwelling, after all you never hear someone say, “I have good walls between me.” (Although we're experts in walls as well) they say, “I have a good roof over my head.” But many homeowners don’t know how a roof works and when it’s time to have it looked at. Let’s take a look at how a roofing system works.

First of all, roofing is known as the exposed surface material that is applied to the exterior top of a building. It serves two purposes, it provides a weather tight barrier of protection against aforementioned elements, and it enhances the appearance of a structure. There are several types of roofing systems today, but the most popular system out there is asphalt shingles. Asphalt shingles were invented back in the late 1800’s; at that time slate shingles were the norm of roofing systems, and in a perfect world they would still be the popular choice due their incredibly long life expectancy, but the cons outweighed the pros when comparing to the new-at-the-time asphalt shingles. Slate shingles were heavy, expensive, and weather exposed nails would rust easily, but asphalt shingles solved all those problems at the cost of lower durability lasting somewhere between 20 and 50 years.

Asphalt is a residue left from evaporated petroleum or crude oil that is used several things include roads and waterproofing roofing material. Today, nearly 80 percent of fall residential structures in North America have roofs covered with some sort of asphalt material. If you’re indoors, you’re probably reading this articles with some kind of asphalt over your head. The biggest flaw for asphalt is that it doesn't hold up very well to direct UV rays by itself, that’s where granules come in. Granules are small colored stone chips that are stuck to the forefront of a shingle to protect asphalt from the heat of the sun.Unfortunately time and weather will take a toll on the granules. Over time they wear down, heavy hail will knock granules off, heavy wind cause shingle to flap about, all these things contribute to granules coming off the shingles and rain will accelerate the loss of granules. This doesn't happen all at once, sometimes it can take as much as six months after a hail storm for the granule erosion to cause problems. Once enough granule is off, the asphalt is exposed and the UV rays of the sun will evaporate the shingle exposing the wood under the shingles. When this happens rain can get to the gaps and nail holes causing leaks in the ceiling.

The best way to stop leaks from happening is to take a look for any signs of granule loss on your roof, but 90 percent of roof damage typically can’t be seen from the ground. That’s where a roofing contractor comes in, a roof inspection consists of a trained specialist going up on the roof to look for problems in it, and from there the contractor will typically work with the home insurance company to get the problems fixed. 

Discontinued Shingles What Went Wrong!?

All over the Atlanta area, we've found two types of discontinued shingles, Atlas Chalet and CertainTeed Horizon. We already have an article for Atlas here, but CertainTeed Horizon is a type we’re only recently starting to find more of. So what’s wrong with these shingles?

For starters, both of these types of shingles very similar in appearance and problems. When these shingles were used, they were a 3 tab shingle but presented the appearance of a dimensional shingle and as such were passed off as dimensional shingles. They were a cheap way for builders to roof houses. It all goes south within the first few years. The granules wear down ten times faster than they should. A tale-tell sign of having one of these shingles, if the roof is less than four years old and a large amount of loose granules are found. Both these shingles can be replaced by minimal amount of wind damage.

While they’re not so common, there’s also T-Lock shingles which were once pretty popular. Rather than be glued together, T-Lock shingles were interlocked together using the T formation of the shingles themselves to snap the shingles into place. This made the shingles very resistant to wind; however, when hail storms came along, it was clear the T-Lock shingles were weak to hail damage. In the same way wind affects Atlas and CertainTeed, if minimal hail damage is found on T-Lock shingles, the insurance will replace the roof.

If you have a defective roof system, you qualify to get a new and improved roofing system. If you've talked to the insurance company before about this matter and they did not accept the claim, our best advice to talk to them again. It may not be an easy process, but with persistence the insurance company will grant your request to protect your biggest investment. When a claim is accepted, we work with the insurance company as well. In most cases, we’ll communicate directly with the team or adjuster assigned and the process of putting on a new roof as soon as possible, and we try to make the process as financially painless for the homeowner as possible.

Of these shingles, the most common and infamous in Georgia is Atlas Chalet shingles which we already have a detailed article about, you can read about at http://www.rcsga.com/#!atlas/c1bul.

How Does Wind Damage a Roof?

Wind itself needs no formal introduction as it is such a comment type of weather. It is essentially the bulk movement of air. Wind does so many things, it is capable of taking hot air balloons on short trips, carrying sail boats across bodies of water, shaping land forms, and dispersing seeds from plants allowing them to produce new plants; however, it has its share of destructive capabilities. When strong enough, wind determines the spread of a wildfire, destroys animals’ homes, and make airplane flights difficult and dangerous. Wind also has great consequences on a house, a gust of wind strong enough can compromise the shelter of home.

The most obvious example of wind damage would be tornadoes and hurricanes; these weather events have the potential to completely destroy structures. There are; however, wind events that can cause hidden damage to a roof and wind damage can happen to any asphalt shingle in severe enough conditions. Typically shingles are with wind resistance up to 60 miles per hour (mph); in extreme cases some specialty shingles resist as much as 130 mph. Installation of shingles also play a part in wind resistance though; no matter how much wind resistance a shingle is supposed to have, if shingles aren’t nailed down with enough nails or aren’t nailed properly, they are all the more vulnerable to wind storms.

When wind damages a roof, it is typically believed the shingles have to be blown off the roof, and while that is one way one can easily tell the roof has been compromised, that’s not the only way wind damage happens. When a storm strong enough the shingles begin to loosen and flap around, adding rain to the mix will cause water to get into the wood where the shingle should be protecting the house, so leaks are caused even if shingles are intact. When a shingle has weakened by wind; it can be found by looking for small creases where granules are no longer present and bare asphalt is starting to show. These creases are where the shingles have been flapping around and indicate that they are susceptible to letting water in or possibly falling off the roof in the next bad storm.

Atlas Chalet and CertainTeed Horizon shingles have been recalled due to wearing down ten times faster than an average shingle. They are also susceptible to wind compromising their already low life span. If minimal wind damage is found on a roof with these shingles. The home insurance company will typically pay to completely replace the roof due to having no like, kind or quality anymore.

How Does Hail Damage a Roof?

Let’s start with what hail is. Sometimes when it rains and the air is below temperature, rain will start out as water, but it’s exposed to the freezing climate, it will freeze into stones. Hailstones themselves have an onion-like structure containable thick, translucent layers weighing them down and causing them to fall hard from the sky. Hail is typically formed in severe thunderstorms with intense updraft with heavy rain where the cloud is below freezing temperature. Not all hail damages roofs, hail less than 1 inch rarely causes any problems to homes. Hail that is 1-2 inches; however, or as big as quarter size has great potential to cause property damage.

Sometimes it is believed either through personal experience with hail on their car or with the impression disaster movies give, one may believe hail is strong enough to put holes in a roof and that’s when the roof needs to be fixed. Thankfully, that’s far from the case as hail may be strong to break or smash windshields but asphalt shingles are much more durable. That doesn’t mean they’re not damaged after a hailstorm; in the case of shingles, the hailstones typically will damage the ceramic granules which provide protection from the sun's UV Rays. Missing granules on a shingle are signs the roof will give a property trouble later. If there has been a hailstorm in your area, a close inspection of the roof will determine if the shingles have been damaged. Hail can also cause bruising, causing dimples or indentations that when examined have a soft spongy feel, much like a skin bruise. It’s hard to believe at first, but small cracked spots on a roof can cause serious problems over time if left unchecked, these small circular spots of bare asphalt are where a hailstone knock off the granules.

After a hail storm, the damage may be hard to notice if you have any, but 90% of the damage found on roofs are not noticeable from the ground or the road. Hail damage doesn't typically affect the rest of the home right away, the gaps in the granules aren't enough to expose the asphalt to the sun, but time eventually takes its toll on the compromise shingles. When wind, rain and other effects of the weather comes into play, the damage start to worsen and the material damaged by hail start to loosen further. Without sufficient protection of the granules, the sun eventually dries up the asphalt exposing areas that rain can easily get into and cause leaks.

These are things to consider when a hail storm comes through your neighborhood. Was the hail severe enough to damage your home? We won't know until we evaluate for your home for FREE to inspect for damage. Check out our website www.rcsga.com. 

Who We Are, What We Do

Welcome to the Rosser Catastrophe Services blog! We have started this blog is to share regular updates as to what's going on with RCS. We're going to warn you when potentially damaging weather is headed your way… or if it's already hit your community.

My name is Charles E. Strawser and at least for the most part. I'll be posting in this blog. Anyone who knows me would say that I have a bit of a humorous personality so I'll try to have fun with my blog posts when I can, but more importantly, I'll be informative with what I present. Your home is your biggest investment and that’s no laughing matter.

We are a restoration contracting company that offers services in and around Georgia. At this time our main focus has been roofing, particularly replacing roofs built with defective and discontinued products like Atlas Chalet, a product discontinued by the Atlas Roofing Corporation due to the poor protection it provides. With the recent cold weather being more brutal than usual, we've also turned our attention to water remediation; restoring properties after a flooding event. The majority of our work right now is being done in Loganville, Conyers, Stockbridge, Locust Grove and Cumming but the metro Atlanta area isn’t the only area we work in.

We are a company that cares about the people try to reach out to. Our inspection services are free and we're aren't out for a cheap buck, we're around to make sure you have a stable and safe roof over your head. Here are some things to consider if you want to contact us:

• When we inspect your home, we will not ask for any money, our inspections are only to determine if repairs are necessary for your home, and if repairs aren't necessary, you own us nothing.
• When it repairs are necessary, we work with the insurance company to get your home repaired with the only cost being your deductible to the insurance company. We do whatever we can to make sure the financial process is as painless as possible.
• We offer rebates if you've served in the military.
• We are very detailed with our inspections. While on your roof we'll take several pictures of what we find, show you what we found and explain any issues your home has based on what we find.
• Even if the insurance company has turned down your loss claim before, give us a call. We can re-inspect the property with an insurance company representative present and we may be able to present new facts that aren’t widely known in the industry.

Thanks for taking a moment to read this blog and check back often for updates.

We are Rosser Catastrophe Services, this is who we are… and what we're all about. If you suspect your home is compromised in some way or you have any questions about RCS, give us a call at 1-888-317-0892. Thank you and God bless. =)