# Questions on proper roofing installation



## bikepilot (Apr 5, 2011)

I just had an asphalt shingle tear-off roof installed by a local contractor, and I think it has some serious issues but need documentation. Some of the issues I may just be wrong about and may be no problem. The roof was done with Certainteed Landmark products. I am in upstate/western NY. The house was built in 1994 and the roof being replaced was the original 3-tab system.

The issues I'm concerned about are:
1) he nailed through the shingles at the top of the porch roof at the headwall. There are probably 50 or more nails in a line across the porch about 6' down from the head wall. The Certainteed SAM has contradictory information on this. The illustration shows the top course being cemented on without nails, but the text says to nail it through and then seal with mastic.
2) There is no visible flashing at this location, so I cannot readily tell if it is flashed at all. I guess I need to climb up there (I'm chicken when it comes to climbing on roofs)
3) He nailed through (visible, unsealed nailheads) the chimney step flashings. Are these supposed to be unnailed and floating?
4) The old roof was 3-tab, and the new roof is laminated. so the old chimney step flashings went down too close to the deck for the thicker new shingles. When he used them as-is, they are now bowed or buckled at the chimney bricks, with a fish-mouth type gap of nearly an inch in the middle. snow and driving rain can easily get in there. Seems like a problem?
5) There are large skylights in my cathedral ceilinged family room, and he nailed down the apron flashing over the shingles. I think he did this because it was not laying flat against the thicker new shingles.
6) He spaced out a few of the cap shingles on a small section of roof (1-2ft of ridge length) to make them fit, but the exposure between cap shingles is probably 3" linger than "normal". Is this OK?
7) In one valley, he continued the shingles down probably 3" of overhang of the drip edge so that the shingles are not supported there. i asked him hand he said "it would be fine", but I'm worried about long term cracking and sagging that could damage things. He said "just don't step on it!".
8)There is no sealant on any of the exposed nail heads anywhere
9)Can I get a pdf copy of the Certainteed SAM somewhere? I have not found it on the web.

I feel like he installed a great product, and then made a bunch of holes all over for leaks to start, essentially defeating the purpose of the project. But I cannot find meaningful, AUTHORITATIVE (meaning from certainteed or in code) documentation to support my feeling.

I welcome opinions, but what I really need is documentation. I have the final inspection by the town next week, but the inspector said these are workmanship issues and not code compliance issues, and therefore he cannot do anything. We are covered by the NYS uniiform code, which shockingly does not seem to address any of this (if it does, please help by pointing out the sections!). It DOES say that it should be installed per the manufacturers written instructions, but thus far it does not seem like certainteed explicitly addresses any of this (other than the actual need for a head wall flashing). Again please point out if any of this is addressed in the installation instructions or SAM.

Unfortunately, I think the roofer is ignorant and not sloppy. I'm pretty sure he will insist he did it right, and I will need to go to small claims court and get someone else to fix it, to the extent possible and reasonable.


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## seeyou (Dec 12, 2008)

bikepilot said:


> I just had an asphalt shingle tear-off roof installed by a local contractor, and I think it has some serious issues but need documentation. Some of the issues I may just be wrong about and may be no problem. The roof was done with Certainteed Landmark products. I am in upstate/western NY. The house was built in 1994 and the roof being replaced was the original 3-tab system.
> 
> The issues I'm concerned about are:
> 1) he nailed through the shingles at the top of the porch roof at the headwall. There are probably 50 or more nails in a line across the porch about 6' down from the head wall. The Certainteed SAM has contradictory information on this. The illustration shows the top course being cemented on without nails, but the text says to nail it through and then seal with mastic.
> ...



Here's the Landmark installation manual:
http://www.certainteed.com/resources/LandmarkInstall.pdf

1&2)He may have covered the flashing. I don't like this practice and prefer to see the apron flashing extending over the shingles. It's my SOP to nail down strips of the same metal as the apron so the nails are covered by the apron and bend the strips back up over the front edge of the apron and pop rivet them to the bottom edge of the apron. The only place I face nail is the last ridge cap.

3) I think you may be referring to the counter flashing. The step flashing is the individual ell shaped pieces installed against the roof and the side of the chimney/wall. The counter flashing is let into the masonry and over laps the step flashing. He probably nailed thru the counter flashing because he bent it out of his way to re-shingle. Not ideal, but not against the law. 

4)He should have re-cut the counter flashing or replaced it. 

5) see #1

6) sounds like he needs to buy one more bundle of ridge.

7) too much overhang.

8) see #1


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## tcleve4911 (Nov 6, 2010)

Hi Pilot
Sounds like a bunch of legitimate concerns.
First one that popped out was nailing the skylight flashing over the shingle.
That is supposed to be "stepped" - not surface nailed.










The last course of shingles up against to house should go under the sidewall flashing with a "decorative " tab to cover the flashing.










One trick I use to cover the surface nail heads on dark shingles. Put a coating of black silicone on the nail head. While it is still wet, take a couple of scraps of your shingle, hover them over the wet dollop and rub them together face to face. The 'pebbles' will fall into the wet silicone and become the color of the rest of the roof.


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## Roofmaster417 (Jun 9, 2010)

Is it possible to post some pictures?


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## bikepilot (Apr 5, 2011)

tcleve4911 said:


> Hi Pilot
> Sounds like a bunch of legitimate concerns.
> First one that popped out was nailing the skylight flashing over the shingle.
> That is supposed to be "stepped" - not surface nailed.


The skylight flashing he nailed through is #2 in the picture you provided. There are multiple nails through the flashing, shingles, and decking along the line from the red #2 to and past his knee.


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## bikepilot (Apr 5, 2011)

seeyou said:


> Here's the Landmark installation manual:
> http://www.certainteed.com/resources/LandmarkInstall.pdf


I have reviewed this manual but it is not too much help. I was actually looking for the full SAM that Certainteed usually supplies on DVD. I found the chapter on flashings online, but it was no help on the nailing issues, even those related to the flashings.

I'm looking for something in writing from certainteed or in code that says where face nailing is and is not acceptable. I see lots of roofers saying that they strive for only 2 nails showing on the whole roof project, whereas I have dozens and dozens and dozens. But I cannot find anything authoritative saying this is incorrect, which is what I will need to get my roofer to agree to come back and do significant rework. If I can show the building inspector something in Certainteed's written instructions that the roofer has not followed, that will be the best case (short of finding it in the NYS uniform building code).

Thanks!


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## Roofmaster417 (Jun 9, 2010)

bikepilot said:


> i have reviewed this manual but it is not too much help. I was actually looking for the full sam that certainteed usually supplies on dvd. I found the chapter on flashings online, but it was no help on the nailing issues, even those related to the flashings.
> 
> I'm looking for something in writing from certainteed or in code that says where face nailing is and is not acceptable. I see lots of roofers saying that they strive for only 2 nails showing on the whole roof project, whereas i have dozens and dozens and dozens. But i cannot find anything authoritative saying this is incorrect, which is what i will need to get my roofer to agree to come back and do significant rework. If i can show the building inspector something in certainteed's written instructions that the roofer has not followed, that will be the best case (short of finding it in the nys uniform building code).
> 
> Thanks!


 
could you post a couple pix?


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## bikepilot (Apr 5, 2011)

Roofmaster417 said:


> could you post a couple pix?


I will post some pics Saturday AM.

Thanks everyone for helping. I'm not sleeping nights worrying about this.


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## tcleve4911 (Nov 6, 2010)

http://www.asphaltroofing.org/pdf/tb_221.pdf

http://www.finehomebuilding.com/PDF/Free/021172084.pdf


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## bikepilot (Apr 5, 2011)

*Some pics...*

A little coverup with no cement, and adding an extra layer of thickness:



More fine workmanship:



The nailing at the head wall. There is flashing under the top course of shingles:



Check out the ridge cap spacing:



Skylight Flashing issues:
Face nailing and bulging of flashing

(Flashing chopped off)


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## bikepilot (Apr 5, 2011)

Chimney Flashing Issues:


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## OldNBroken (Jun 11, 2008)

Well, based on those pictures I would say your roofer did know what he was doing. One example is the weave of the bottom courses on your valley. Not many roofers take the time to do it and it is the most watertight way to start a cut valley. As far as his valley cut goes and other cut details, could have been better but it is upside the valley 1-2" and looks to be straight. Can't tell if he clipped the tops or not. 

Unfortunately the majority of roofers face-nail their walls like that. It's not wrong, I just don't like the look so I don't allow it. 

The skylight apron it looks like he was going to trim it in an attempt to make it look better then stopped. At least it looks installed correctly and shouldn't cause any issues. 

Can't see clearly but it looks like the ridge is properly spaced. 

In my opinion I would say by those pictures you got an acceptable installation from someone who does know what they are doing. Much better than a lot of them we see from posters on here.

Edit: okay, didn't see you post the chimney pictures before I posted this. That flashing looks like ass. Can you take a picture farther away showing the whole thing?


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## seeyou (Dec 12, 2008)

*That flashing looks like ass.

*I was gonna say something worse. I see a lot of this locally. Good shingler - bad flasher.


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## bikepilot (Apr 5, 2011)

Here are a couple more chimney pics:




*I guess what I don't get is this*: Can I go up on my new roof, drive nails anywhere I like without sealing them (through flashing, all shingle layers, and decking), and leave the roof unaffected? It seems like that COMPLETELY defeats the whole layering and "gravity" principle that I thought underpinned roofing for centuries? How does that differ from what he has done?

BikePilot


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## bikepilot (Apr 5, 2011)

seeyou said:


> *That flashing looks like ass.
> 
> *I was gonna say something worse. I see a lot of this locally. Good shingler - bad flasher.


Note that as far as I can tell, he did not create or add or even adapt a single flashing - he just re-used what was there (with the exception of the lower left of 1 of the 3 skylights). The problem is that in going from a inches-sized 3 tab to a metric sized laminated shingle, the old flashings don't seem to be ideally bent or sized - and he did not do anything about it.

BikePilot


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## MJW (Feb 7, 2006)

seeyou said:


> *That flashing looks like ass.*
> 
> I was gonna say something worse. I see a lot of this locally. Good shingler - bad flasher.


I agree. Although I don't see anything that would really be considered _absolutely wrong_. My opinion or someone else's may differ, but it would still pass code.

I'm not sure on this situation, but usually this is where the cheaper bid maybe got the job. :whistling2:


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## bikepilot (Apr 5, 2011)

Called roofer last night and he offered to silicone the nailheads and the 3/4" gap in the step flashings

Manufacturer docs say to use ASTM.... Roofing cement on railheads. But since roof and flashings are brown he says brown silicone is the way to go.

I'm thinking the asphalt based cement will bond better.

Thoughts? 

I also read somewhere about pressing some excess roof granules into the cement. To match the roof color. Thoughts on that?


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## OldNBroken (Jun 11, 2008)

At this point it's all about aesthetics and with your low pitch no one except you is going to know it's there. Silicone and asphalt don't mix well yet I see a lot of roofers use GeoCel and the like on asphalt roofs which they shouldn't do. It is best to use an asphalt or urethane based mastic to cover the nailheads.


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## bikepilot (Apr 5, 2011)

I guess I'll have them use asphalt on the shingles and silicone on the flashings?


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## seeyou (Dec 12, 2008)

OldNBroken said:


> At this point it's all about aesthetics and with your low pitch no one except you is going to know it's there. Silicone and asphalt don't mix well yet* I see a lot of roofers use GeoCel and the like on asphalt roofs which they shouldn't do.* It is best to use an asphalt or urethane based mastic to cover the nailheads.


Geocell 2300 (Purple tube) is not silicone based (it's a tripolymer - whatever that is) and is very compatible with asphalt based roofing products. The only roofing limitations listed are polystyrene and acrylic glazing. But I agree that silicone caulks have no place on roofs.


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## OldNBroken (Jun 11, 2008)

Personally I prefer NP1 for our caulking needs but there are many good products out there.


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## seeyou (Dec 12, 2008)

OldNBroken said:


> Personally I prefer NP1 for our caulking needs but there are many good products out there.


I'd never use NP1. A snow load will cause it to collapse.........:whistling2:

Just kidding for anyone else reading.........


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## OldNBroken (Jun 11, 2008)

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:


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