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Archive for the ‘Roofing’ Category

Roof Leaks: What a Leaking Roof Might Be Trying To Tell You

February 3rd, 2012 by John Carter

Have a leak in your roof? Get an honest and professional answer as to what is causing your roof leak. Watch Daniel White as he describes to us the surprise he found when investigating a leak for a homeowner in Cornelius.

Script:

“Today we’re out in Cornelius looking at a valley on this roof. We thought initially it was the debris that was backing up inside this valley (causing a leak) but it is not. A couple of things are going on here. One the roof has two layers. Two when the homeowner bought the house it already had this roof and they didn’t realize whoever put the roof on completely installed this roof wrong. There’s an area called a nailing zone, you have to hit that nailing zone with your nails or the roof is just not going to function right.

I’m going to show you what we noticed right away. This part of the shingle started pulling out. These are called the dragon teeth. What’s happening is there are no nails holding this part on. There’s a nailing zone right here where this line is. This line is where the nail should be. If there had been a nail here this piece would have never slid out but they are. So now the water is feeding back in behind the shingle running back in behind this piece of metal and finding that second layer of roofing and leaking on the inside. We did find some nails on this roof though, way up at the top of the shingle, completely wrong. Every shingle has about 3 nails, here, there there’s one over there all those nails should have been right along that line, minimum of 4 nails. They didn’t (install them correctly) they put them up here and this entire roof is installed incorrectly so there is absolutely no warranty on this roof and unfortunately this homeowner really needs to replace this roof.”

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Posted by John Carter Posted in Debris, Roof Leaks, Roof Maintenance, Roofing | No Comments »

Radio Ad for August 2011 – Harry Potter

August 3rd, 2011 by John Carter

Have you heard our new radio ads for August yet? Listen to our Harry Potter inspired 15, 30 and 60 second spots below and let us know what you think!

Accio! 15 second August 2011 spot

Accio! 30 Second August 2011 spot

Accio! 60 Second August 2011 spot

Want to know what accio means? Click here for the answer and to find other information about the Harry Potter universe.

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Posted by John Carter Posted in Radio Ads, Roof Life News, Roofing | No Comments »

Copper / Zinc Strip Failure – Moss in the Portland Area

June 15th, 2011 by John Carter

We’re on a 7 year old asphalt shingle roof. This is actually the best I have ever seen a copper or zinc strip work. This is actually copper so it matches the color of the house so you can see that it kept the moss off for about 5 rows and then it starts growing on there and you can see how heavy it (the moss) gets as the farther away from the zinc or copper strip.

This copper strip seems to be working a lot better than the zinc strips that I’ve seen. Of course underneath the trees it gets pretty bad, and this moss will actually destroy this roof. It will eat it and lift it and cause it to leak in half the time if it was maintained or was in an area where there wasn’t moss problems.

Also, in an area of debris, you can’t let this happen. This will rot out the shingles and this intersection here would be compromised if this was not maintained. Of course we are looking at the north side and you can see all the way across the roof that for the first two or three feet that copper is working really well. Then as the copper oxide runs out of energy the moss starts growing.

Roof Life of Oregon does roof maintenance on all types of roofing. This is an example of a 40 year architectural laminated shingle 5-7 years old growing quite a bit of a moss so we are going to help this client.

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Posted by John Carter Posted in Debris, Moss, Roof Cleaning, Roof Maintenance, Roofing | No Comments »

Moss Prevention Done Right – Properly Maintained Roofs in Portland

June 10th, 2011 by Patrick Morin

I’m up here in Forest Heights in Portland Oregon and we are looking at a 15 year old shake roof.

This client has used our service when the roof was 5 and when the roof was 10 and next year will be its renewal year on its 15th year actually it will be 16 next year because we waited a year after it was on. But what you will note on this roof is how heat and light reflective it is, that is the natural color of cedar when it does not have any growth on it. When the rains hit it, the resiliency of cedar and if it’s not punky and a lot growth and moss on it making it punky and soft, It’s got a hard shell on it and water runs off it quite quickly and ends up down and off and in the gutter system.

You will always see the definition of lines because the roof of course is staying rock hard. and as we scan this roof here you will note that it is also heat and light reflective. So it is not black with black fungus and moss absorbing a ton of heat which then rots and dry rots the shake. It is actually staying pretty cool, you could go put your hand on that on an 80 degree day and hold it there but a traditional black roof you couldn’t a black fungus roof that is kind of like a charcoal gray. That’s unique I’m up on a roof here looking down one of our clients. This is a tile roof that is also 14 years old. You can see they have done a solar panel system it looks like maybe a 4-6 kilowatt system, there’s also one panel over here. And this tile roof we have treated twice. This is what it looks like. This is a north side after 3 years and this is a pretty bad spring and there’s not any growth on it at all it is beautiful.

So this roof you could simply retreat and gutters are dirty, we’ll do a gutter clean on it. This is how you maintain a roof in Portland, the cleaning of the roofs are done by the products we use unless of course there is tree debris and you want your roof to look good, and to work right and to last longer and those three things we feel bring you peace of mind concerning your roof.

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Posted by Patrick Morin Posted in Moss, Roof Maintenance, Roofing | 2 Comments »

Roof Cleaning – Portland’s “Must Do” Home Maintenance Task

May 18th, 2011 by Patrick Morin

In the greater Portland, Oregon area we get a lot of crud on our rooftops. About half of our cleaning jobs are to remove tree debris from the evergreens towering over or nearby a home, or your neighbor’s flowering broadleaf tree that seems to reach over and upward. The other half of our cleaning efforts are spent on the roofs that get that amazing growth combo called black fungus and moss.

Portland’s combination of growth and debris eats roofs. It causes them to leak prematurely.

On composition roofs (asphalt shingles) the moss is invasive enough to get under the shingles and break the seal allowing the water to get to the nails where it can find its way into your home or rust away the fasteners, eventually leading to a bigger roof failure. In addition there are some types of moss that will eat the roofing material requiring premature re-roofing.

On Tile roofs the moss actually dissolves the concrete! When this very unsightly moss action is combined with tree debris build-up you have the perfect recipe for roof-top trouble. As it matures and decays, it feeds into the closed valleys on your roof. This has caused some major leaks in a lot of high end homes as the water is diverted out of the valley metal by a cement-like sand bar.

If black fungus is allowed to grow on a cedar shake roof it will create an environment that is perfect for the moss. Moss retains a ton of moisture and eats the wood. Wet rot is caused by retained moisture. Debris, fungus and moss are the reasons.

Cleaning the roof of these 3 culprits will add years to your roof’s life. Whenever possible keep roofs of all types free of these trouble makers by doing annual cleaning using compressed air and 3-5 yr. treatments that will cleanse current fungus and moss growth and keep potential growth at bay. Of course we use only environmentally safe, long lasting products by Dennco Chem.

Got any of these yuckies and nasties on YOUR roof? We can help. We do FREE roof maintenance inspections that will tell you exactly what is going on and how much it will cost to make it great. Click here to get started.

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Posted by Patrick Morin Posted in Moss, Roof Cleaning, Roof Maintenance, Roofing | 1 Comment »

Roof Life of Oregon’s Curb Appeal Assessment

March 28th, 2011 by Jesse Liebman

Spring has officially started, March 20th, and Roof Life of Oregon has teamed up with our sister company 1st Oregon Exteriors to ensure your home has the maximum curb appeal possible. From the top of your home (the roof) to the landscaping that surrounds it, we’ve got our suggestions to make your home pop.

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Posted by Jesse Liebman Posted in Roof Maintenance, Roof Replacement, Roofing | 2 Comments »

Did Your Roof Survive The Winter Storm?

March 25th, 2011 by Jesse Liebman

Oregon averages over 40 inches of rain per year, but we receive over 50% of that volume during the three main winter months. Combine the Greater Portland area’s blustery weather with holidays, resolutions and everyday life, and you’ll start to see there’s no time to go outside and examine the condition of your roof until spring is here.

That time has finally come. Your roof has endured countless days of precipitation and even a few snow storms. Now that the major storm season is over, and Mother Nature has started working her magic on our flowers, what kind of damage did your roof endure?

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Posted by Jesse Liebman Posted in Roof Replacement | 2 Comments »