Do you know what the pole is sticking out of your roof? It’s called an electrical power pole. It doesn’t have to affect your roof that much, but, unfortunately, because many roofing contractors don’t know how to deal with it, it can become a nuisance and cause some problems.
In modern homes, you don’t normally deal with a power pole because the power is run under the ground. You’ll never see it. But on older homes, like many in Portland, your power is running from power poles from your roof. It’s the big pole that sticks up, sometimes right over the top of your driveway.
Many roofing contractors are afraid of them and don’t want to work with them at all. So during a roof installation, they get to that section and rather than dealing with it like they should by taking the old flashing off, they leave it on there and work around it. Sometimes that thing is thirty years old. It’s just an old piece of rubber or metal that’s cracked and allowing water to get inside.
You’ve got this beautiful roof that’s supposed to last thirty to fifty years, but there’s a part of your roof that won’t last more than two years. The right thing to do is to replace that. This can be done during re-roofing or just as a part of regular maintenance.
If you call Roof Life of Oregon to take care of it, we’re probably going to use something called a one-piece split led. This piece of led wraps around and completely encapsulates it. We add caulking, put what’s called a pipe ring around it, and then put a storm collar over that. That kind of maintenance is going to last longer than the roof itself.
That’s the right way to do it. We’re a fan of the led style because we know it’s going to outlast your roof and it’s going to keep you from getting water down the inside of your wall.
When Roof Life of Oregon is on your roof for your well-care maintenance, we’re going to check your power pole and make sure it’s going to last for the life of your roof. If not, we’ll let you know it’s time to replace it.