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Snow curls off of New York roof that has no snow retention system installed (C) 2013 D Friedman Roof Install, Inspect & Repair

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Here we provide an index to our step by step articles explaining how to Install, Inspect, Diagnose, Repair Roofs.

These articles provide procedures for roof inspection, installation, diagnosis, repair & replacement guide. We give in-depth unbiased articles about building roofing materials, installations, inspection, roof problem or roof leak diagnosis and repair, roof covering or shingle product failures, roof warranties, roofing and roof structure defects, roofing repairs, and all types of roof covering products.

Page top photo: collapsed barn, Cooperstown, NY leaves only its roof in view - Daniel Friedman

InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.

- Daniel Friedman, Publisher/Editor/Author - See WHO ARE WE?

Roofing Installation, Inspection, Diagnosis & Repairs

Photograph of really worn out asphalt roof shinglesExample topics discussed in our building roofing articles include asphalt roof failures including thermal splitting and other defects, causes and types of asphalt shingle roof leaks, shingle blow-offs and wind damage, shingle cracks, blisters, stains, fire retardant plywood roof sheathing defects, and other damage .

How to find and choose a roofing contractor, how to inspect roofs, product failures, class actions, and warranty claims, roofing repair methods, product sources for residential and light commercial roofs, slate roof inspection and repair methods.

At left is a beautiful if complex roof over a Russian Orthodox temple in Buenos Aires. [Click to enlarge any image]

Our roofing inspection, diagnosis, repair and installation articles listed below provide roof inspection, roof leak or problem diagnosis, roof installation, and roof repair information as well as details about the factors that affect the life of any roof.

This website also includes detailed information about roofing age, life, inspection, troubleshooting, and repair.

Particular sources of roof damage such as hail damage, ice dam damage, and wind damage as well as insurance inspections and claims are explained here.

We discuss often-argued-about proper roof flashing, roof slope, roof job estimating, roofing felt or underlayment, roof ventilation, and we include roof warranty and claim information and links to roofing product sources. We also discuss roof safety hazards and safety procedures & standards for roofers.

To find what you need quickly, if you don't want to scroll through this index you are welcome to use the page top or bottom SEARCH BOX to search InspectApedia for specific articles and information.

Raised plywood roof sheathing edges show up as buckled shingles (C) Inspectapedia.com DovBer Kahn

Clay roof tiles Patzcuaro Mexico (C) Daniel Friedman

Metal roofing examples (C) Daniel Friedman

EPDM or membrane roof (C) Daniel Friedman

Corrugated cement asbestos roofing

EPDM rubber roof installation and repair details (C) Daniel Friedman Eric galow

Above: a leakhy EPDM roof inspected by the author - this on a flat roofed home in New York state.

Standing seam roof installation (C) Daniel Friedman Eric Galow

Above: a new, heavy-duty standing seam roof being installed by the author and prime contractor Eric Galow, in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Photograph of really worn out asphalt roof shingles

Asphalt shingle and modified bitumen roof above - photo by David Schwaderer.

Slate roof deterioration example = soft flaking slates (C) Daniel Friedman

Sod roof in Molde Norway (C) Daniel Friedman

Stone roof, Wolvercote, Oxford, U.K. (C) Daniel Friedman

Stone roof above: Wolvercote, Oxford, U.K. by DF.

Thatch roof el Charco, San Miguel de Allende Mexico (C) Daniel Friedman

Thatched roof above, el Charco del Inginero, San Miguel de Allende (DF).

Improperly set wood shingle roof (C) Daniel Friedman

Other roofing variables

  1. The cost of roofing installations 

    varies considerably by geographic area as well as material selected, pitch and height of roof, and roof shape or design complexity.

    Roofing cost estimates do not necessarily include the cost of any necessary structural or roof decking repairs that may be needed when re-roofing, nor do they include the cost of removing and disposing of old roofing materials.
  2. All of these roofing materials have a fire rating 

    of A except wood shingles which, if treated with a fire retardant, are fire rated B. Untreated wood roof shingles have no fire rating and are not permitted by code in some areas.

    A class A fire rated wood shingle roof can be installed using special procedures and materials that include plywood and gypsum board.

    See ROOF COVERING FIRE RESISTANCE
  3. The life expectancy of any roof depends

    significantly on other factors besides its composition, including the installation workmanship, the condition of the roof decking, and proper roof ventilation. For best life expectancy, fiberglass based asphalt shingles should meet standard ASTM D-3462 and organic mat based asphalt roof shingles should meet standard ASTM D-225.

    Architectural asphalt roof shingles can be expected to last longer than less costly three-tab asphalt roof shingles.
  4. Older roof cost numbers:

    "Choosing Roofing" in Fine Homebuilding Magazine (1995 data shows relative costs; absolute prices will have changed).

Roof Slope or Roof Pitch Definitions

Summary of Definitions of Roof Slope Types: Flat, Low Slope, Steep Slope Roofs

Roof slope definitions and illustrations (C) Carson Dunlop Associates

The illustration just above, courtesy of Carson Dunlop & Associates, summarizes the ranges of roof pitch or slope for flat, low-slope or conventional or "steep slope" roofing. Slope and pitch are synonymous terms for this topic.

Flat roof: 0-2" rise per foot of run

Low-Slope Roof: less than or equal to 3" rise per foot of run

Steep slope roof: 4" rise in 12 or more.

[Click to enlarge any image]

Details about how roof slope is measured or calculated along with examples of converting between angle, slope and grade are

at ROOF SLOPE DEFINITIONS.

Roof Covering Fire Resistance or "Fire Ratings"

Thermal splitting of fiberglass-based asphalt roof shingles was particularly common for product manufactured in the early 1990's.

In the U.S. and most other countries, roof coverings are rated for their ability to resist fire and to avoid spreading fire if the building burns. Both UL 790 and ASTM E 108 fire classification tests use the same test methods.

Class "A" roof fire ratings mean that under the specifics of the UL (or ASTM) fire rating test definition, the roof is effective against severe fire exposure.

Class "B" roof fire ratings mean that the roof is effective against moderate fire exposure.

Class "C" roof fire ratings mean that the roof is effective against slight fire exposure only.

Details about roof fire resistance effectiveness and roof fire ratings are

at FIRE RATINGS for ROOF SURFACES.

...


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Reader Comments, Questions & Answers About The Article Above

Below you will find questions and answers previously posted on this page at its page bottom reader comment box.

Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

On 2023-09-18 by Sam - Identify this sticky yellow fluid on my torch-down roof

tobacco juicing from new asphalt roof (C) InspectApedia.com Sam

I just had roof material referred to as Torch Down which is an asphalt roofing system. After completion, the next day it rained a lot. The day after I woke up to this yellow liquid substance around the premeter of my house.

I did some research and tobacco juicing was the best terminology I ran into.

According to its description, a yellow sticky liquid the one on my property is not sticky is yellow more liquid like water and there's no oder to it either.

My question is could these be tobacco juicing? There seems to be an excessive amount its pooled on the ground as you can see in pictures. I think it may be something other than tobacco juicing?

On 2023-09-19 by InspectApedia DF (mod) - tobacco juicing from new asphalt roofing products

@Sam,

Your photo does look like "tobacco juicing" a brownish watery runoff from new asphalt roofing products. GAF and other companies say it's not a defect.

Here is GAF's TOBACCO JUICING ROOFING RUNOFF EXPLANATION [PDF]

 

On 2023-04-06 by Melanie Mix - How can I identify this defective asphalt shingle?

wrong shingles installed and roof damage (C) InspectApedia.com Melanie

Recently had a new roof installed (Dec 2021) and I thought they were IKO shingles (per the contract) but after speaking with IKO they can not identify my shingles that were installed 16 months ago,

they say their architectural style shingles are made with a non woven fiberglass mat and that the tooth size doesn't match theirs, my shingles are showing a tightly woven jute/burlap type of fabric underneath the asphalt that had broken away. My shingles look like soggy wet cardboard and swell when wet.


I'm looking for some help to identify my shingles as everything I've researched here in the US and in Canada don't have a tightly woven natural type fiber mat or core. The contractor say's IKO and IKO say's they aren't and that they have never seen shingles like mine.

I also asked on the website Ask A Roofer and their opinions were the same as IKO and unable to identify them too.

Really worried about all the roof issues I'm having since having a new installed.
Thank you

On 2023-04-07 by InspectApedia Editor - defective roof shingles installed - is that a one-off "splice shingle"

(Above: Asphalt shingle components from CertainTeed - original source https://blog.certainteed.com/2022/02/the-anatomy-of-a-shingle/ )

@Melanie Mix,

It looks like a defective product in which there is no asphalt impregnation of what looks like a canvas shingle backer, and the granular surface is not adhered to the backer.

Watch out: Possibly that's a "one-off" splice shingle used to keep the asphalt shingle material moving at the factory. If so there should be just one or very few of these on your roof.

In the asphalt roof shingle factory on the production line, successive rolls of asphalt shingle raw material may be spliced together to keep the shingle cutting machine running. On occasion a "splice" gets made into shingles that ought to have been taken out of the package but were missed by everyone.

That could explain this odd case that looks as if there is canvas backing on your shingle.

That's more likely if there are just one or two of these odd shingles on your roof. If there are many of them, it's probably something else.

See details at

SPLICE DEFECTS on ASPHALT SHINGLES

If the roofer continues to insist that those are Iko shingles, he should be able to give you a receipt for their purchase.

If not I suspect he could be held obligated to replace the roof since there's no shingle manufacturer warranty and the product isn't that for which you contracted.

I suspect the roofing contractor is not going to want to do that (it's a big loss to the roofer) so you may end up in small claims court.

Frankly if you don't trust the roofer you may not want him to do the repair work.

Do you have any photographs of the roof work in process and in particular of the packaging of the shingles?

I'll do some further research to see if we can find something. But I have to say that like Iko, that's a shingle I have never seen before.

Let me know what happens and let me know if you have more information about the product from a receipt or from photos.

On 2023-04-07 by Melanie

wrong shingles installed and roof damage (C) InspectApedia.com Melanie

@InspectApedia Editor ,
Thank you so much for looking into this for me, I have been searching high and low for any information on these shingles for the past 6 months to no avail and when the manufacture even say's they aren't theirs,

I kind of don't know where else to seek some advice, so I really do appreciate the input.

They do resemble IKO with the straight cut, but as IKO mentioned the tooth size doesn't match theirs, I'll add a side by side picture.

Sadly I don't have any pictures of the beginning stages of the roof install as at the time we trusted the professionals we had contracted with, it wasn't until the siding was started that we started noticing that something just don't seem right and started documenting a lot more.

IKO had mentioned that they have batch numbers on the back of their shingles, so I think I will have to remove and replace to get that number. The issue I'm coming down to is matching them as

IKO's look so different. Thank you again for the assistance.

wrong shingles installed and roof damage (C) InspectApedia.com MelanieOn 2023-04-07 by InspectApedia Editor - wrong shingles installed - separate issue from that one bad shingle

@Melanie

Those are two completely-different shingle products.

Your Iko photo is of a laminated asphalt shingle that's intended to resemble cedar shakes or shingles in pattern on a roof.

Your photo of the shingles on your roof are a very different pattern, a combination of strip shingles - long tabs - with shorter tabs, and without that more-regular recessed, shaded shingle segment shown on the Iko shingle photo.

On 2023-04-08 by Melanie

@InspectApedia Editor ,

I agree, I have no clue how to repair something that doesn't match anything I've looked at (sadly a repair is all I can do at the moment), hence my reason for asking as many places I can if anyone can identify them, do you think they are a mix of brands?

I am unable to find long tab shingles, just the flat 3 tab kind.

What is written on my contract is, Shingle Brand - IKO Cambridge, Type - Arch, Color - Dual Black, sadly that's all I have to go on.

About 6 months after install I noticed the garage shingles starting to curl upwards and looking like cardboard with a slight dip in the corner of the roof, with in the next 6 months the roof was caving in with the siding buckling and bowing along with it,

the response from the contractor was it's an old house (was built 1950's). The shingles were installed in the middle of winter with a high of 21 F on that day, I remember asking the contractor if it was too cold to do and was told no it's fine, silly me was gullible and trusted them.

I don't know what they did to my roofs, but they look older now after 16 months old then the 20 year old shingles that were replaced.

I do have a structural engineer coming out on the 17th of this month so fingers crossed they may have some answers, they are already informed with lots of pictures to hopefully get a heads up on the situation.

I'm very concerned and confused as so far no one has been able to put a name to them.

I've added a recent picture of my garage with the now caving in roof. (It will be tarped after the Engineer has been out). The edges just look like cardboard to me.

My old shingles were a 3 tab and I broke a piece off an old spare one I had and I could clearly see fiberglass hair like strands sticking out, these new ones have no fiberglass, just the natural looking jute/burlap fabric, they are also a lot thicker then my old ones.

On 2023-04-08 by InspectApedia Publisher - Don't confuse structural problems on a building with a shingle type or brand.

@Melanie,

Let me know what your engineer has to say, and let me know what happens when you obtain a copy from your roofer of the receipt indicating what shingles he bought. And where he bought them and in what quantity on what dates -- that you can match to the work done on your home.

1. That canvas-like material is uncommon., even if it's a splice single.

IKO must be able to say whether or not they use it.

2. Post a photo or several, one per comment, showing roof condition. Splice shingles are few in number and ought not be all over a roof.

3. What's needed is the identity of the installing roofer and a copy of their receipt as showing where the shingles were bought and the product brand and model.

Finally, don't confuse structural problems on a building with a shingle type or brand.

On 2023-07-03 by Melanie

@InspectApedia DF, Oh gosh, my apologies for not replying sooner, with everything going on I'm a tad overwhelmed. You could be right with it being a splice. I would hope that IKO knows the material they use to splice together their shingles and could identify it if it popped up like this.

The engineer came over and did a full inspection and sadly it's not good news there either, but to put it short and to the point of this post, they took measurements of the shingles and his words when measuring them "I've never seen anything like them, they are odd".

In the final report, it states that the shingles could not be verified as IKO, they are also crumbling, tearing and are splitting as well as pitting (per the report photo's), we also have these areas where they are creating a peak of sorts, a funny looking upside down V, we were informed it's because the sheathing is not proper for the type of shingle that was installed so the shingles are moving.

I have sent IKO another email asking for their measurements including tooth size measurement. I wish I was able to purchase a bundle of IKO shingles so I can lay them side by side and take measurements myself, but for some reason you have to be a contractor to purchase them and we never had any left here incase of these issues.

I don't know if I should keep trying to find out what they are, as per the engineer report, both our siding and roofs need to be redone or it will continue to decline quickly. Our siding and roof is not even 2 years old and it's all falling apart.

Thank you for any and all your insight to this. Very helpful.

 

On 2023-03-16 by Jason - Roofer Dispute over what color was installed

Selling home. New roof to be installed 2 days before closing. Roofer was informed that he needed to contact me do to hoa guidelines on shingle colors option of 2.

He ignored request to properly contact me so i could contact hoa and initiate process . He did roof his way, wrong color, and now hoa has problem and going to start to fine us. Roof is less than 2 weeks old.

Now buyers are hold 20k price i paid for roof, in case hoa does not approve, which will result in them keeping escrow to pay for a new roof that’s less than 2 weeks old. What can i do? This is on roofer!

On 2023-03-18 by InspectApedia Editor - wrong color shingles don't match HOA regulations

@Jason,

The good news is that since you are selling your home, and since you certainly would not enter into such an important contract without help from a real estate attorney, this is a legal question that you should bring to her as soon as possible.

Bring along complete documentation including the copy of your roofing contract, your home owners' association requirements, and photo-documentation of the shingles installed.

If you can do so, photograph the packaging from the shingles too - look in local trash if they're not still on the ground at your house - so that you know the shingle manufacturer and product identification in complete detail.

Keep us posted. And use the "add image" button to post a photo of your new roof along with a note telling us the country and city of location.


On 2022-07-26 by InspectApedia-911 (mod) - recycled use of roof shingles to make walkway

newpost

Thank you for the photo and shingle recycling idea - using stripped roof shingles as a walkway.

If stripped roof shingles are in good condition, indeed they may retain enough flexibility to be placed on the ground as a walking surface. Too often, in our own experience, by the time roof shingles need to be stripped from a roof there are multiple layers and shingle materials are fragile and brittle; the stripped material is also full of roofing nails.

We like the idea of re-using materials however. Nice photo.

For our readers: newpostroofing is in Fredricksburg, Virginia
Email: sales@newpostroofers [dot] com
Phone: 540-701-4173
Web: newpostroofers [dot] com

On 2022-07-26 by InspectApedia-911 (mod)

Re-posting without dis-allowed link (protect readers & website)

New Post Roofers · 11 hours ago
This is an amazing repository of roofing information. We have added a reference link to our website, thanks! We would like to share our newest blog article on alternative uses for roof tiles and shingles. Roof tiles can be reused or recycled, which is typically better than ending up in a landfill.

newpostroofers [dot]com /can-roof-tiles-be-reused-or-recycled/

Thank you again for putting this trusted roofing site together.

recycled roof shingles walkway (C) InspectApedia.com NewPostRoofers

On 2022-10-04 by InspectApedia-911 (mod) - box vent installation on hip roof

@Chris Moody,

I can't see enough of all of the important details for those spot vents to say whether or not they are properly installed.

For example the flashing may be or may not be incorrect.

It looks to me as if someone's trying to vent a hip roof, which admittedly is difficult as there is no Ridge line on that roof area , but there are some special products for that purpose if you need better ventilation.

You can find those by searching this website for

hip roof ventilation.

On 2022-10-04 by Chris Moody

do these box vents look properly installed? The shingle at the back slope of the vents is actually creeping up the vents, and the shingle isnt stuck down across the 3 vents. They didnt trim around the vents at all.

box vent hip ridge ventilation (C) InspectApedia.com Chris M

On 2022-07-07 by Chris Moody

@InspectApedia-911, I believe California cut valley is not the same as closed cut because closed cut doesn't use the vertical shingle show here which goes opposite the pattern of the other shingles? closed cut would be overlapped from either side?

On 2022-07-06 by InspectApedia-911 (mod) - proper installation of asphalt roof shingles at ridge and valley

@Chris Moody,

Thank you for the helpful comment. I think perhaps you're using California Valley as a synonym for closed valley?

On 2022-07-06 by Chris Moody

@Chris Moody,

Asphalt roof shingles installation (C) InspectApedia.com Chris M

On 2022-07-06 by Chris Moody

@InspectApedia-911, it looks like a California cut valley based on the vertical shingle. This type of valley is not recommended by GAF.

 

Thank you to our readers for their generous comments

On 2023-10-19 by Jane

@InspectApedia DF, Thank you so much. The help you so generously provide to people (through the volume of information you've amassed and your willingness to answer people's questions) is an exceptional public service!

...

Continue reading at ALGAE, FUNGUS, LICHENS, MOSS on ROOFS or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

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