The Reason Things Are Done This Way. VI

Excellent blog, Jack and Izzy!  It reminds me of years ago, when a house I had listed went into escrow.  It was determined that the roof wasn't water tight.  So the Seller hired a roofer to put on a 3rd roof (Izzy - That's "roof" not "woof").  All layers would be asphalt.  The Buyer was agreeable to the third roof. 

The Seller gets on a cruise ship to Mexico, and leaves the roofer behind to put on the roof.  After completion, the lender wants certification of the roof.  We can't find the roofer who put it on to get the certification in a timely manner, so another roofer is called to certify.  Imagine my horror when he calls me and tells me the new roof had been applied with 1/2" staples - not the necessary 3/4" staples, which are code. . . .AAAAAArrrgh!  Anyway, the Buyer didn't care, because they wanted to put on a second story over the garage.  I wasn't really comfortable with that, but the Buyer signed a disclaimer that they were aware of the problem, and we closed the deal!  Sure enough 6 months later, I drove by the house, the new addition was built over the garage, and an entirely new roof (after all other roofs had been romoved, and resheeted.  I call that interim roof, the roof that lasted only 6 months.

Sometimes you can be a real deal killer Jack. Really, I like this little series you've put together. Keep up the good work.

I've run into this a few times on some of our property flips.  Naturally we're always trying to stick to a budget but I always say if the roof already has 3 layers when we buy it we should count on putting a new roof on. 

Every time I come over here to your blog it seems all I read about are problems caused by storms and snow. You need to get out of there! Plus I come over here all nice and warm and start shivering just a few sentences into my reading. LOL

I once had a Seller call me every epithet he could think of because I told my Clients that there were multiple layers on the roof. Mr Seller "guaranteed" me that there wasn't. Of course, he was not a roofing contractor and could not make such a guarantee under State of California laws. My Buyer had two separate roofing contractors come out who said the same thing I did. Ultimately, my Client passed on the house, which warranted a follow-up call to me from Mr Seller. I just let him rant and rave so that he would feel better about himself, then I went to On The Border for some jalapenos and margaritas.

I've only found three layers a couple of times, but many of the multiple layers are screaming for a new roof after just a year because of our 11 months of sunshine and hot, dry Santa Ana winds.

I saw Mryl's comment. She must have had some of our San Diego roofers from South of the Border visiting her neighborhood -- LOL.

Jack.. Three layers of shingles??  Oh my.  I can't imagine the weight on the roof.  Here in Connecticut you can only have 2 layers.  Is three legal in Ohio?

ADDED LAYERS    =   ADDED PROTECTION

C'mon, man, get real!

_________________

Three layers make a dry roof.

Dry roofs are good.

Three layers are good.

Good logic is, well, good logic!

Love, Aristotle

Jack,

 Great post and series. Thanks for all of the information and time put into this.

Jack - you know I was being faseeeshuuus...  I think I have seen three layers about twice over the years.  I see second layers quite often, even the ones the seller tries to hide pretending you are looking at only one layer of spanking new roof...

I've had buyers ask me if three layers are "illegal."  I truly don't know about the "law" of man as regards three layers, but the "law" of nature will get you every time!

Jack, I'm with Jay on this one. The more layers the better. The added benefit is you can have a spontaneous skylight after the first heavy snow.

Caulk is your best friend Jack. That is after Izzy.