This metal roof installation was more of an emergency job. In essence – during Hurricane Irene, a large (1500 lbs.) tree fell on the roof of this house in Cumberland, RI, breaking much of the framing and roof sheeting, and leaving a huge hole in the roof, as well as destroying a previous roof that was on the house – Interlock’s aluminum shingles roof, that was installed just a few years prior.
The homeowners – Mary and Rafael were looking a Metal Roofing Contractor to install (replace) the damaged roof with a new Metal Roof. For reasons unknown to me, they decided not to hire the original installer to redo their roof. At the same time they were working with a General Contractor (GC) that was doing other damage repairs (framing / insulation / electrical / plumbing and other interior work) in their house, and we were hired as an independent roofing contractor to do the metal roof.
About the same time, we had just finished our own metal roof in North Attleboro (full review coming soon), and Cumberland being only 5-10 minutes away , was very close for Mary and Rafael to look at our work.
Their General Contractor – Joe, took a drive to our No. Attleboro office, and spoke with us – we then went to see the job, and got the ball rolling.
Emergency roof replacement:
Old metal roof, damaged in hurricane Irene – roof framing repaired, and temporary underlayment installed:
It was essential to do the roof replacement as soon as possible, as the interior work in the house was progressing, but building inspectors would not sign off on the electrical work, and winter was looming (this was in late November), and cold temperature was settling in. At the same time, we dedicated the entire month of December, to last minute emergency roofs, and pushed less urgent roofs back slightly.
With this roof it was a race against time – while we had to take care of other badly leaking roofs – some with water leaking into bedrooms, or one with no roof at all (old Trocal PVC roof that completely shattered), we also needed to finish this roof before Christmas.
Another factor affecting installation timing was the fact that around holidays season, most manufacturers shut down plants, and take a long break. At the same time orders keep piling in, and it takes manufacturers some time to catch up after the holidays, which can easily create delays as long as 4-6 weeks in getting the materials.
In this case we needed to have materials on hand before the holiday season, but the contract was signed after Thanksgiving, which gave us and the manufacturer little time to get everything for the job ready. Fortunately, the materials arrived on Dec. 13, and we could start installing the roof that week.
Roof installation:
On this job, we had to install the roof, while GC was in charge of getting the roof deck ready for new roof to be installed. That included tearing off old metal shingles, and as was discovered later, another layer of asphalt roofing shingles, under the metal roof (while it is acceptable by building code to have two roof layers, it is always a best practice to remove old roofing first – especially when you are installing a lifetime metal roof, and we wonder why original contractor did not remove roof shingles).
We had to help GC with installation of roof underlayment to our standards (especially in valleys) and flashing the chimney. We coordinated a day, when GC’s guys removed old roof shingles, repaired / replaced damaged plywood roof sheeting, and helped the install GAF Deck Armor breathable roofing underlayment.
We began installing new roof the next day. Fortunately this was a walkable roof (relatively low slope), which made installation much simpler than if it was very steep. The most challenging part of this roof was the timing – we had to get everything done fast, and hoped weather would cooperate with us (which it did).
From a technical perspective, the most complicated part was the valleys, but in the bigger scheme of things, it was a straight forward roof installation.
We installed Tamko Steel Shingles Metal Roof in Vermont Blue Color. We also installed about 47 snow guards total – 33 in the front of the house where main entrance door and garage doors are located and another 14 in the back, above rear door.
We also installed ridge ventilation system along roof ridges, and a special order split pipe flashing to waterproof electric conduit, which was sticking out of the roof and electrical wires did not allow us to use regular pipe flashing. This pretty much completed this metal roof installation, and Mary and Rafael had their new roof for the Christmas!
If you are looking for an new metal roof installation in Massachusetts, Connecticut or Rhode Island, fill out our roofing estimate form.
Similar metal shingle roofs installed near Cumberland RI:
Metal Shingles Roof in North Attleboro, MA (installed in Oct. 2011 – coming soon)
Metal Shingles Roof in Johnston, RI (installed in Sep. 2007 – coming soon)
Roof Portfolio – check out other flat and metal roofing jobs that we installed in MA, CT and RI.
If you are interested in metal roofing but wonder how much a metal roof costs – try our roofing calculator to estimate the cost of your or see our metal roofing prices guide.
We performed this PVC roof repair in Needham, Mass. in October 2011. This was a second time we repaired this 25+ years old Sarnafil PVC flat roof in the last two years. First time we fixed this roof was exactly two years ago, in October of ’09 – check out our first PVC Flat Roof Repair overview, which covers this roof in particular, and nuances of repairing old PVC flat roofs in general.
Quick overview:
In Oct. 2009, we fixed this roof for the first time. A contractor was doing some fascia repair work the, and threw some tools onto the roof, creating a hole in the old PVC membrane. We repaired it using new IB PVC flat roofing material, by cleaning the old roof with warm water first (to remove dirt and small debris) and then rubbing it with acetone and rough brush, to clean the membrane thoroughly, so the new patch would weld nicely. Then we welded a PVC patch over the hole, which sealed this roof.
There has been a lot of discussion on our rubber roofing page (created a while ago), with many roofing contractors defending the EPDM rubber roof as “good and proven” system, that is widely installed. While I agree that it is widely installed, I contest the notion that it is good and proven, for many reasons, which I will outline below, with examples as proof. But first I will outline the basic premise on which I will base my statements.
Basic premise of this “Horrible Rubber Roofing” article:
Rubber roof (EPDM) is widely installed because of its relatively low cost. It is NOT as good as many roofing contractors say it is, and the reason why I call it “horrible” is a complex one, but there are two major parts of it.
1) Rubber Roofing is inferior flat roofing material, compared to other single ply roofs such as PVC flat roofing membrane, because ALL seams and flashing on a rubber roof is glued together (chemical bond), and glue WILL deteriorate and seams / flashing will come apart, creating roof leaks.
PVC roof seams and flashings are all hot-air welded which creates a “permanent” physical bond, and seams / flashing DO NOT come apart.
2) It is very easy for ANY roofing contractor, or any contractor for that matter to buy EPDM Rubber Roofing materials, and now even homeowners can buy it at Home Depot stores. EPDM Manufacturers DO NOT require contractors to be licensed / certified installers / applicators, before they can buy the materials. This creates the situation where any roofer can buy a roll of rubber, some glue, uncured flashing materials, a few brushes and other small tools to install the rubber roof (all totaling less then $100) and become a “flat roofing specialist” and install the rubber roof.
Without proper installation training and experience, these “specialists” install master-piece roofs (which we will show you below) that start leaking as soon as 6 months after installation and continue leaking. Some of these roofs require immediate replacement, while some can be repaired. However, the total cost of roof ownership (including roof repair)comes to the same price level or more, as the more expensive PVC flat roofs, only with much headache.
Additionally, in installation of rubber roof, it is VERY important that all proper steps are taken to seal the seams correctly, and there is a lot of room for installation error.
The combination for inferior quality of rubber roofs, and scores of “hack roofing contractors” make using the rubber roof a big financial risk for the roof owners – especially homeowners, because the trained / experienced rubber roofing contractors are usually commercial / union roofing companies who install big roofs and do not work with homeowners.
Note: I am not saying that if you get a rubber roof installed, it will 100% leak. Depending on your roof design, you can get the rubber roof to never leak and require very little maintenance. For example if your roof has a slope, or if you can cover entire roof with one sheet of membrane, and there are no seams / and very few penetrations and flashing detail, positive slope and adequate drainage, etc. However, most flat roofs are NOT like that, and you will need a professional flat roofing contractor to install the roof.
Horrible Rubber Roofs
With rubber roof there is a lot of risk of hiring a hack roofer, and really no way to know if your roof will come out good or not. Even commercial roof owners are not immune for getting a Horrible Rubber Roof. Lets look at examples (all these roofs were inspected during Aug./Sept. of 2011):
Roof 1 – condos / apartment building in Brockton, MA – 6 years old roof.
Apartment building roof in Revere, MA – approximately 15 years old.
Country Club Roof in Maynard, MA – Age unknown – possibly 25 years old.
Not shown in this video – the rubber membrane has contracted along roof edge, and is no longer wrapped over the edge. This creates constant roof leak along the front of the building, as well as leaks on country club’s president’s office.
The videos above demonstrate both aspects on the main premise of this article – material failure and bad installation. All these roofs are commercial installations, except for the Revere roof, which is a 6 unit home – semi-commercial building. Draw your conclusions from this, and we want to know what you think – please leave your comments below.
We’ve been using YouTube to host our roofing videos since 2008, and we’ve had a great success with it, considering that all videos are about roofing, which is not the most exciting topic for regular YouTube visitors. Let’s face it – roofing is boring, unless your roof leaks and you need to fix it or replace it. Once you’ve done that, roofing becomes boring again.
We post interesting, informative videos on our channel, such as roof repair how-to videos, roof installation videos, and highlight “hacked” roofs. We also show / explain to our viewers why we think some roofing materials are not worth the time and money, and draw a connection between certain roofing materials and HORRIBLE roofing contractors that install them, as well as demonstrate that one often means the other.
For example, we believe that installing rubber roofing will give you a very high chance of a dealing with / hiring a roofing contractor that will do bad job.*
Note: I will soon upload a series of new videos demonstrating poor rubber roof installations – in particular, one that we just inspected in Brockton, MA, and start a new series, called Horrible Roofing.
Why do we draw this connection? Rubber roofing requires a very small investment in the installation tools and equipment, whereas PVC requires a rather large investment in the tools and equipment (often in excess of 10,000 dollars) to be able to install it properly, and the majority of hack roofers will never invest that much money in equipment, because they are not in it for the long haul. Thus, if you choose rubber roofing there is a much greater chance that you will be working with an untrained, unprofessional roofing contractor who has little to no experience with flat roofs-a HACK roofer.
Here are some highlights of our roofing video channel:
1,379,964 video views!
Approximately 3000 daily video views.
128 video uploads
300+ subscribers!
Let’s look at the above statistics for a minute. I think that they are great for a ROOFING video channel. As mentioned before, roofing is only interesting when your roof leaks or if you want to replace it. So having 300+ subscribers is a great success. Of course we want more people to subscribe all the time, but it is an accomplishment for me personally.
Over 1,300,000 views of our videos is also huge – most roofing channels on YouTube are nowhere near that, and with about 3000 daily views of our roofing videos, we are looking to be at 2 million total views in about 233 day
Some of our most popular videos:
Thin film solar panels on flat roof – IB Solar Wise video demonstrating installation of Thin-Film solar pv panels on IB Flat Roof. (191,000+ views)
Flat Roof Installation – Hot-Air Welding – In this video we demonstrate the process of welding overlapping seams of IB PVC flat roof, using Leister Varimat robotic welder. This video was taken on a job in Wallingford, CT, where we installed an 80-mil grey IB Flat Roofing Membrane. (120,000+ views)
Standing Seam Metal Roof Installation – In this video you can see how standing seam roofing panels are fastened to the roof deck using Makita quick pan-head screw-gun, which greatly speeds up attaching clips to the snap-lock standing seam metal roofing panels. (44,000+ views)
Metal Roofing Shingles Installation – This video was taken during an aluminum shingles metal roof installation in Revere, MA, and in it I show how to install and nail down individual roofing shingles with aluminum ring-shank nails. Learn more about different metal roofing materials that we install in Massachusetts. (51,000+ views)
Roofing Calculator APP for iPhone – This is our “side project” that we’ve been developing for some time now. The Roofing Calculator app, which is now available for iPhone / iPad and Android phones & tablets, was originally developed for our in-house use, when we do roof inspections and estimates, and the idea was taken from our web-based roofing calculator tool that helps you estimate flat roof installation prices. ( Only 2,600+ views )
We then developed an Android version that worked exactly like the website-based roofing calculator, but after we ran into the issue with hard-coded prices and other settings, we began changing the App to make it more flexible. After a while, we made this app so flexible that it could estimate almost any roof that we priced, so we decided to let other roofers use this great Roofing Calculator App. It is now available for download from the iPhone App Store and the Android Market. See how it works for yourself ( oh yea, and I know that I have horrible accent ):
The videos above are just a few of over a hundred videos currently up and many more coming soon. In those videos you can view examples of our work – roof installation in Massachusetts, IB Roof installation videos, Metal Roofing installation videos for Tamko Steel Shingles and Decra Stone Coated Steel panels, rubber roofing installation and flat roof repair guides for tar, PVC and rubber roofing, In the near future we will add a number of Standing Seam metal roof installation videos that will cover every aspect of installing this rather complicated roofing material.
Once again – subscribe and you will get regular updates of when we post new videos.
This guide describes the procedures of complete flat roof demolition, done with the intent to either completely rebuild the framing of your flat roof, or to convert it to a steep slope roof. This may be done if your flat roof construction creates unsolvable roof leak problems, such as ponding water and other roof leaks, or if you want to convert your roof type to a sloped roof for aesthetic reasons – for example if you want to add skylights or a metal roof.
Removing a Flat Roof
Method is key in the removal of flat roofing, assuming you want to work as quickly and safely as possible. An old flat roofing, damp can quickly become a problem; it permeates through the surface layers and causes the wooden joists that hold up the roof to rot. If this has happened, then chances are high that your entire roof will need to be removed. Depending on the size of the roof that you have to take down, it is quite likely that a lot of debris will be generated in the course of the demolition. You should prepare yourself for this prospect in advance and order a skip before you begin work to save on clean-up times later on.
Safety should always be your first concern when approaching any demolition job, particularly when the demolition in question involves working at height. You have to make certain that you have a safe way on and off the roof, either by way of ladders or scaffold towers where admissible. The roof also needs to be checked for stability if you are going to need to do a lot of walking across it. If you find that stability is in question, you will need to use working boards to reinforce it, and to prevent yourself from putting your foot in it (and through it).
Begin the job by taking down the guttering. If you have more modern types of plastic guttering, it is quite likely to be a simple case of unclipping easily. Older or sturdier types of guttering (the types that the burglars are always climbing up in films) are likely to take a bit more effort to remove, but it should still be no more than a matter of loosening some screws. If you will need to reuse the guttering, then you should store it in good order and lay it out in a place where it won’t get crushed (the better care you take over this task, the easier it will be to reinstall). If you aren’t going to reuse it, chuck it in the skip as you go.
With the guttering gone, you need to remove the fascia boards. Roofs that are covered in chippings (gravel) will need to be swept clear before you remove the roof covering underneath (stone chippings and gravel are used as ballast for the roof covering and also serve to reflect the UV rays that can cause damage to asphalt roll roofing). Again, if you plan to reuse the gravel then you will need to bag it up in rubble sacks and remove it from the roof for safe storage. Avoid overfilling the sacks, as overly heavy sacks can make getting off of the roof with them a hazard. If not reusing them, skip them.
After the stones are gone, you will need to take up the roof felt. Begin by prising up the sides of the material, tearing it away in sections and disposing of it immediately in the skip. Be sure to use work gloves while undertaking this task, as well as safety goggles and any other relevant safety equipment. After the felt, you need to take off the supporting boards (roof substrate). A number of different materials may have been used to board the roof, but most will be removed in the same way. Prise them off of the joists with a wrecking bar and remove any hazardous nails as you go to prevent injury.
With the boards off, next you need to tackle the joists. You should be able to remove the joists using only a wrecking bar (flat bar), but you may also need to remove the furring strips if you are planning to reuse the timbers (assuming they are safe to reuse, i.e. they are free from rot and what not). Only people who are confident and competent should undertake this kind of demolition job, so if you are unsure about it then you should seek professional assistance. Houses with flat roofs are likely to be harder to insure than those with standard roofs (maybe this fact is why you want to remove it) but you can still get the flat roof house insurance you need with a non-standard insurance provider.
This flat roof removal guide is a guest blog post submitted by Zoe Restick.
This post is actually an email conversation with a customer, regarding Tapered Insulation and our flat roof installation in Cambridge, MA done in the summer of 2010. This email conversation is posted as is with the customer’s permission – the only editing on this post was done to remove any personal information, and spelling . I thought this would be interesting to our readers who are interested in tapered insulation and/or have ponding water problems with their flat roofs.
Here is the original roof video, so you have a better idea about this roof:
Original email question about tapered insulation
Peter Hello, We live in Wellesley. We were referred to you by a friend. I was reading your article on flat roof installation and was confused by the calculation of roof pitch/slope on the flat roof you had installed in Cambridge. The page I’m referring to is: http://www.coolflatroof.com/flat-roofing-blog/flat-roof-cambridge-ma/ In the second paragraph you mention that you sloped the roof at a rate of 1/4″ per foot and that the span was 24 feet.
You mention, and I quote:”we started with a new 1/4″ per foot slope tapered insulation system, spanning over 24 feet run, which gave us a 3 inch difference between the highest and lowest points of the roof, and eliminated ponding water.”
If I calculate the run of 24 feet and the slope of 1/4″ per foot, the highest point I come up with is 6 inches not 3 inches… For a 24′ run to rise 3 inches that would equate to 1/8″ per foot and not 1/4″ as you state in your documentation. I was told that 1/8″ per foot isn’t adequate to quickly shed water and snow off a flat roof. Is there something I’m missing?
I would like to get started on a flat roof installation possibly with your company but I would like to understand your calculation before I go ahead with the estimate. Would you please let me know what I’m missing here?
Thanks
Peter.
Leo:
Hello Peter,
You are correct – we did use 1/8″ tapered insulation on that job – I just checked my calculations. The highest point is in fact 3 inches – not 6. For some reason this did not cross my mind when I wrote the article, as we made the decision to use 1/8″ tapered ISO when we first saw the roof in June and this fact never crossed my mind again. Read the rest of this entry »
Senior project written by Riess Stanley Nov 4, 2010
With economic strife on the rise, it has now become necessary to seek out ways to save money, as well as to find ways to “stay green”, and to do what you can to help the environment. Unfortunately, accomplishing both at the same time seems to be very difficult. Believe it or not, there is a smart, fairly simple, and very efficient way to succeed in these two areas in a way not often looked upon as a money saver, but rather a necessary and costly project when it doesn’t need to be; the roof. When you really get down to it, the roof is either costing too much, or saving plenty.
First off, if a building with a flat or low-sloped pitch was to have a black tar roof, it would be taking more money than one would realize. In warm weather, the black roof will absorb so much heat that an abundance of energy and money would need to be invested into cooling down the building. Moreover, all that heat beating down on the roof will make it crack, which in turn will cause it to leak once the rainy weather begins. This defeats the entire purpose of a roof. So, what is a low cost alternative for a black tar roof, that can keep the roof cool during summer months and can keep out the rain? The answer; PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) single-ply membrane. Read the rest of this entry »
We installed this flat roof near Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the summer of 2010. The roof installation consisted of four separate roof sections on different levels of this house, which at the time was undergoing major renovations inside and out, including total new insulation in walls and between roof rafters, new heating system with radiant floor heat, new energy efficient windows, and a new IB PVC flat roof (which we installed of course).
The old rubber roof was leaking and we had to remove it, including the wet roof insulation, and we installed a new 50-mil white IB Flat Roof, with 4 inches of tapered insulation (4 inches at the highest point and 1 inch at the lowest level). The tapered insulation system was utilized to eliminate ponding water on the two bigger sections of the roof. At the deepest point, there was as much as 2 inches of ponding water, and the puddle with at least 12 feet diameter. This ponding water caused both the roof leaks and the roof rafters settlement.
If you are a homeowner and you are planning to replace your roof soon – whether because it leaks, or it is getting old and you want to replace it before its starts leaking – a metal roof is one of your best options as far as roof replacement. However, metal roofing costs might be a factor in your re-roofing decision. The asphalt shingles roof costs about 2-3 times less than a metal roof, depending on various factors. At the same time, a metal roof will last a lifetime, whereas most asphalt shingles roofs will need to be replaced within 15 years. Also, the cool roof coating on metal roofs will make them much more energy-efficient, which will substantially reduce your cooling costs, even in the mild climate of New England.
The good news is that the government offers a 30% cool roof tax credit, with a $1500 cap, for any qualifying metal roof installation, and all our metal roofs do qualify for this tax credit, as they come with a cool roof coating and are Energy Star certified. There is a catch however – the tax credit will expire on Dec. 31, 2010. So if you are considering installing a metal roof, doing so before the new year is the way to go.
Consider this – most residential metal roofs will cost about $15000, so the tax credit is about a 10% discount off the total roof cost, and most metal roof installations will qualify for the full amount of this tax credit. Basically, now is the best time to have a new metal roof installed, because we don’t know when or if the cool roof tax credit will ever be reinstated.
Benefits of installing a metal roof:
Metal roofs provide a much longer lifespan, compared to regular asphalt roofs, as well as supreme weather protection for your home. Most houses in the north east region, get Ice Dams along the roof eaves, and the way an asphalt shingles roof is designed, allows the ice dams to cause roof leaks, which in turn can cause substantial structural damages, and will require other repairs to the roof and the interior of your home.
Metal roofs offer inherent protection against ice dams. The interlocking design of metal roofs will prevent ice dams from penetrating your roof. Also, most of the snow will just slide off your roof, even before ice dams can form. Read the rest of this entry »
In July of 2010 we installed a new IB PVC flat roofing system with custom-made copper drip edge metal, on a new construction home in Newton, Massachusetts. This house is located around the corner from Newton Center.
In this job profile we will demonstrate all stages of this roof installation, and show the new Copper Drip edge, which IB roof systems has recently introduced and made available to its certified roofing contractors.
First, let’s go over the roof specs and details. The building on which the roof was installed is an new construction garage / guest house with two car bays on the first floor and guest rooms with a balcony / deck on the second floor. Because of heights limitations in Newton, MA, the top portion of the roof had to be flat, with a little slate roofing mansard around the roof perimeter, to resemble the slate roof on the main house. The home owner chose IB PVC Flat Roof, as the roofing material for their building project.
The roofing membrane we used, was an 80-mil white IB PVC roof, mechanically attached to a wooden substrate, over 3 inches of tapered ISO insulation. All seams were hot air welded using Liester welding equipment.
Around the roof perimeter, we installed IB’s new Copper Drip edge metal with PVC coated flange, which allows us to seamlessly integrate copper with an IB roof. The PVC cover tape is welded to both the roofing membrane and a drip edge metal, leaving exposed copper to give this roof a beautiful look of a classic slate roof with copper flashing.
On the second floor, we installed the same 80 mil roof with differently shaped copper metal, over a walk-out balcony deck, and additionally flashing the roof and the door opening, with IB’s pre-manufactured roof flashing accessories. After the roofing membrane was installed, a floating roof deck was installed on top. Read the rest of this entry »
Learn why TPO roofs fail prematurely, and discover the secrets that TPO roofing manufacturers don't want you to find out - PVC & TPO roofing
Find out why homeowners should avoid putting Rubber Roofing materials on their roofs, why you want to be cautious when dealing with residential roofing contractors who "install rubber" - Rubber Roofing
If you have a flat roof, chances a that you've been dealing with roof leaks for a while and no matter what you tried, the roofing membrane under your roof deck is leaking. Discover the flat roof deck solution that we offer - Roof Decks
Discover the new flat roof deck waterproofing material that eliminates the need to use Pressure Treated wood deck over the roofing membrane - IB DeckShield Roof Deck membrane is a slip resistant PVC roof, with beautiful design, long-lasting water-tightness, and lower bottom-line price!
Flat Roof Installation guide shows how we install our flat roofing systems, describing step-by-step procedures with actual installation videos.
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