Replacing a Chimney Crown
A chimney crown is the cement that forms the top of your chimney. It acts as an "umbrella" to prevent water from pooling on the brick. This is important in the warmer times of the year because bricks are semi porous and allow water to leech into them. The bigger issue is what would happen in the winter during freezing temperatures.
Water that is allowed to penetrate a small gap will expand when it freezes, splitting or cracking the brick or cement. If this process is allowed to continue each winter it will eventually destroy the chimney.
Landmark Solaris Shingles
Solar Reflective Shingles
I recently spoke with the area Rep from Certainteed and the Landmark Solaris solar reflective shingles are available in Columbus. We have been getting inquiries about this shingle from folks that were interested in both the energy savings and the tax credit of up to $1500. The only choice homeowners had in a solar reflective asphalt shingle was white. The benefit of the Solaris shingle is that it offers reflectivity while expanding your color choices.
Skylight Replacement in Upper Arlington
Written by Vince Burns Monday, 20 July 2009 00:00
We recently replaced a skylight on a one story ranch in upper Arlington. The skylight had been leaking for quite a while,but not enough to be detected inside the house. Although it looked OK, the wood decking on the right hand side of the skylight was soft and obviously rotted. This could be detected by stepping on this area. The homeowner was aware of this because he found it while doing a routine inspection of the roof.
Written by Vince Burns Saturday, 27 June 2009 23:51
Roof Replacement in Dublin
We recently completed a complete roof replacement for a family in Dublin. The roof was 14 years old. That seems to be just a little better than average for this area. The original roof was ventilated a little better than what we normally see. I suspect that contributed to the additional life.
It also helps that this roof is on the steep side, although this is prevalent with homes built since the 80's in Dublin. The roof would have lasted much longer had it been installed properly. The roofers that did the roof when the home was new used staples to fasten the shingles instead of nails. Since they weren't fastened properly, the homeowner was frequently having to replace them due to wind blow off.
They also made a lot of mistakes or didn't take the kind of care necessary to assure the roof would be sound. The felt underlayment was installed haphazardly and there was an area in the front of the house where there was a missing piece of flashing that was causing a leak. 
We also had to securely fasten all of the decking because the original builder didn't use enough nails. We found a few sheets of OSB with only four nails! One of the skylights had been leaking for quite a while as well. We had to replace some wood around the lower end of that skylight, along with some rotted wood decking in two other areas.
The homeowner opted to replace the old skylights with higher quality Velux skylights. We coordinated the installation of these with Darl Bowman of Handy Concepts, who handled the interior trim.
We can often complete a reroofing project of this size in one day, but due to the deficiencies we had to correct it took two.
The home had 3-tab shingles in Weathered Wood and we replaced those with CertainTeed Landmark 30 shingles, also in Weathered Wood.
Click here to schedule a Roof Replacement Estimate!
614-792-6797
Improper Shingle Installation
Written by Vince Burns Thursday, 14 May 2009 05:00
This article and accompanying pictures demonstrate the importance of properly nailing the shingles when they are being installed on your roof.
We are often called to replace shingles that have simply slid off of the roof. The first question we receive is, "Why did this happen?"
You can see the house on the left has four missing shingles. These were discovered by the homeowner to be laying in their landscaping. They were inside when it happened and they could hear them slide off the roof and fall onto the ground.
They wondered why it happened of course, so I showed them the way these shingles were incorrectly nailed onto the roof. The picture of the shingles that slid off is below.
I've highlighted in green the area where the nails should go. The yellow arrows indicate where the nails were actually placed in this installation.
You can see that the nails did not go through the top shingle and then into the shingle beneath it. Had they been nailed in the green "nail line" then each shingle would have had ten nails holding it on to the roof instead of the five it had because they were placed too high.
This is one of the many details that can't be overlooked in a proper roof installation.
These shingles had a white line that indicated where the nails should be placed, which is common now. The manufacturers say that improper nail placement is becoming the most common form of roof failure.
Click here to schedule a Roof Repair Estimate!
614-792-6797
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