Roof Redux : High-Level Sources in Profession Advise Southland Homeowners How to Cut Down on OverheadWith Inspection, Maintenance and Learning Exactly What’s Up

It never occurred to her that if the drainpipes of a house are clogged, the rain may collect in pools on the roof; and she suspected no danger until suddenly she discovered a crack in the wall. --From “Madame Bovary,” by Gustave Flaubert

In temperate Southern California, we largely ignore roof maintenance--until too late. But in much of the country, roofs are an important part of life.

As winter approaches in Chicago suburbs, people talk about roof upkeep, repair and replacement at cocktail parties--much like Orange County residents discuss the best places to take the Beemer for a tuneup.

And while locals are most likely to be found on the roof only if it supports a sun deck, New Englanders, Floridians, Oregonians and Texans religiously take to their ladders to perform the semiannual ritual of gutter, flashing and shingle inspection.

They know a roof is critical because they have to worry about keeping out the elements. All of the time.

They live in places where rain and snow and ice storms are more than multicolored splotches on the TV weatherman’s satellite map.

We ignore our roofs because, hey, it never rains around here and never gets cold enough to freeze, so what could go wrong?

Like Flaubert’s heroine, most of us don’t even suspect the importance of clean rain gutters.

We don’t think about our roofs, that is, until we wake up one morning gazing at a spreading stain on the ceiling--or sloshing around in what wasn’t supposed to be a water bed.

Then the prosaic becomes profound.

So, let us consider the roof: what we can do to keep it whole; what we should do to spot trouble signs early; what we must do once old age or abuse has done it in, and the costs and choices we face when, finally, it is time to do something about it.

In Southern California, residences generally are roofed with one of six types of material: built-up or rolled composition roofing; composition shingles; wood shingles; concrete or metal tiles; clay tiles; and the new lightweight cellulose-cement composite tile and shingle look-alikes.

A very few homes, usually of contemporary design, have all-metal roofs of galvanized or stainless steel, copper or terne metal (galvanized steel coated with a mixture of tin and lead). And an even smaller number, industry specialists say, are topped off with the creme de la creme of all roofing materials--genuine slate.

Metal and slate roofs, of course, rarely wear out if left in peace. That’s one reason they cost so much.

But of the six commonly used roofing materials, three can have relatively short life spans and all are subject to damage from the sun and wind, blowing debris, falling tree limbs and clogged gutters.

Natural wear and tear is aggravated each time the homeowner wanders across the roof, whether to install a TV antenna or search for a lost Frisbee.

The first rule of roofing is that “if you can see daylight through it from inside the attic, you probably need a new one,” says Sandy Johnson, a roofing and painting contractor.

That might sound silly, but Johnson, proprietor with his wife, Janet, of S&J; Specialty Services in Orange, says he is continually amazed by the number of people who don’t discover until the year’s first driving rain that their roofs leak.

The best way to avoid spending a day or two emptying overflowing pots and pans and watching the plaster or drywall crumble and fall, he says, is to do like those Easterners and inspect the roof at least twice a year.

But inspect it without walking on it.

“Walking on a roof can damage it badly, even if you know what you’re doing,” Johnson said. “But more important, a roof is a treacherous place and even experienced roofers fall. Someone who isn’t used to walking on a roof can easily go flying.”

Each time Johnson takes a crew up on a rooftop, he cautions them that they “are working in the yellow zone all of the time. One false step and you’re gone.”

Johnson himself has never fallen--all the way--but admits to the heart-stopping experience of sliding from the peak to the edge of his own roof early in his career.

“All the way down I was trying frantically to ditch my tool belt. All I could think of was landing on the hammer. Fortunately, there’s a slight lip on the very edge and it stopped me” from plunging two stories to the ground.

Instead of tromping the tiles (or shakes or shingles), use a ladder and a pair of binoculars to facilitate your inspection, the National Roofing Contractors Assn. suggests.

You’ll have to move the ladder around the perimeter of the house to do a thorough job, but it beats a month in traction--or worse.

What to look for during an inspection depends in part on the type of roof.

Most of the homes built in Orange County in the first post-Korean War expansion had built-up rock or rolled mineral roofing or asphalt shingles. Those types of roofs, with built-up and rolled roofing used largely on flat or barely sloped roofs, are prevalent throughout the older cities in North and Central County areas.

(Rolled or built-up roofs also are called hot-mop roofs because they are made of alternating layers of hot asphalt and felt roofing paper, topped off either with colored rocks poured directly onto the final layer of tar or with mineral-impregnated rolled roofing paper.)

From the early 1960s through the early ‘80s, wood shake was the preferred roofing style, until a combination of the now-ubiquitous Mediterranean-style architecture and fear of fire turned most everyone’s fancy to tile roofs--generally real clay on new construction and cement or, more recently, lightweight composite tiles use to replace wood or composition shingles on reroofing jobs.

Among the newest roofing materials are aluminum or steel shingle substitutes, which require special installation techniques. A major manufacturer of steel shingles, Gerard Roofing Technologies, is located in Brea.

If you’ve got a metal roof--and the odds right now are that you don’t--look for broken seams, bent tiles or places where the mastic has pulled away from chimneys or vent pipes.

On flat roofs, warning signs include “bald spots” where the mineral or rock coating has worn off; as well as cracks and loose seams.

Bald spots also are a trouble sign on composite shingle roofs, and homeowners also should check them for cracked missing shingles or shingles with curled ends or edges, said Tim Green, spokesman for the national contractors group.

“On a wood-shingle house, look for shingles that are broken or cracked, curling or moldy or mildewed,” said Green. He acknowledged that moldy wood shingles are not too common in Orange County’s Mediterranean climate, but said the sun here does much worse damage to wood than all the rain in Seattle.

As a matter of fact, it is not uncommon for a wood-shingle roof to live 40 or 50 years along the Pacific Northwest coast, an event that would qualify as a genuine miracle in Irvine, or even in San Clemente.

Next to man--as in man walking on roof--the sun is an Orange County roof’s worst enemy, Green said. “The ultraviolet rays and the heat in Southern California are very tough on a lot of roof materials.”

In hot climates, he said, the natural oils in shakes can be baked out in just a few years, as can the fire retardants that are applied these days as a matter of law.

So one of the most important maintenance items for a wood-shingle roof in Orange County is to have it professionally inspected every five years or so and, when necessary, to have it re-oiled and the fire retarding materials reapplied when necessary.

Even that won’t make a wood roof last like a tile one, said Brett Reichard, manager of Ford Wholesale Co. in Stanton, one of the county’s oldest and largest roofing supply firms.

“But for a lot of people, the natural look of wood, the aesthetics of it, is more important than the life span or the cost of replacement roofing,” he said. “So they keep buying it,” at least in those communities that haven’t outlawed wood shingle altogether because of the fire danger.

In Orange County, wood roofs are prohibited in a number of areas.

In all cases, a roofing permit is required and the building department should have a list of approved materials. Before replacing a shake roof with new wood shingles, or before roofing a new addition or new building with wood, be sure to check with the local building department.

Tile-roof owners laugh at blowing wildfire embers and falling Fourth of July bottle rockets, and scoff at the sun.

But tile roofs are quite susceptible to damage from wind-blown or falling debris or from thoughtlessly tossed tools and toys or carelessly placed feet.

When inspecting a tile roof, be it clay, cement, metal or composite, look for broken or cracked tiles and exposed underlayment--the black “tar paper” (actually asphalt impregnated and sometimes rubberized felt paper) that is installed between the wooden roof decking--usually plywood or chipboard--and the roofing material.

Finally, cautions Johnson, “remember that a lot of roof leaks aren’t caused by holes in the roof. They are actually leaks around the metal flashings where the roof meets the chimney or where vent pipes come up through the roof.”

Other points of leakage can be roof edges improperly sealed against wind-blown rain or overflowing gutters, and rotted metal valleys--the V-shaped troughs where portions of pitched roofs intersect.

Once done with the exterior inspection, it is into the attic, where the routine is the same no matter what kind of roof you have.

Use a flashlight and check the underside of the decking for water spots, look for water trails running down rafters and then turn off the light and look for daylight where there shouldn’t be any.

If you’ve done all that--or had a professional inspection service come in and do it--and have determined that the old roof is in trouble, there are three alternatives, Green said.

“The options are simple. You can repair, re-cover, or re-roof completely.”

Making spot repairs is generally the least expensive but often the chanciest course for most roof problems.

Many a roof will last years longer after a liberal application of patching compound, renewal of mastic around the flashings or replacement of a few broken tiles. But many others will just leak somewhere else--or keep leaking in the same place.

A good contractor can advise you on the best recourse for your particular situation.

The national trade association warns against door-to-door roofing sales and contractors who want materials payments in advance. The association maintains a hot line, (800) USA-ROOF, through which callers can get a roofing-information kit containing brochures on buying and repairing roofs, as well as a list of association members in their locale.

If you’ve got to re-roof, you are facing a hefty expense. Materials can run anywhere from 20 cents to $3 or more a square foot, and trim pieces are extra, as is underlayment, cement, new decking, flashing, nails and, of course, labor.

The family budgets, the fitness of the the old roof and how many old roofs there are (most building codes allow only three layers before all must be taken off) are the prime considerations in decisions to re-cover--install new roofing material over an existing roof--or re-roof, which involves ripping off all existing roofing material, often down to the bare rafters, and then building a new roof from the decking up.

When planning a new roof, Johnson said, always consider the long-range implications as well as immediate budgetary concerns. It may be a bit less expensive to buy $22-per-square composition shingles, but it may be a lot more economical--if the budget can stand the strain--to get $50-per-square shingles that not only look better, but last three times as long. With roofing, Johnson says, “that old saying that ‘you get what you pay for” really is true. To decide what is best, you’ve got to balance longevity, quality and the look or style that you want. Low bids often are low because the roofer is going to cut corners.”

As a general rule, Johnson said, the material for a re-covering job will run just under 50% of the total cost, with labor making up the rest. Labor will be 70% of most re-roofing jobs because of the work involved in ripping off the old material.

“And the steeper the roof, the more expensive the job will be,” he warns.

A steeply pitched roof--the pitch is the number of inches the roof slope rises each horizontal foot, as measured in from the edge--requires considerably more in the way of material handling and plain old time because the roofers can’t move around as rapidly as on a shallower roof.

Johnson said one of his most challenging jobs was a nearly 100-year-old home in Orange with an 11-in-12 pitch, meaning the roof rose nearly vertically: 11 inches each foot.

As with most any major renovation, the best course is to get three or four bids, contractors association spokesman Green suggests. “And make sure the contractors give you detailed information about the products they’ll use, the exact work they are going to do and what exactly is covered by their bid and by their guarantee and what is not.”

And remember that there are two kinds of guarantees--the manufacturer’s warranty on the roofing materials, and the roofer’s warranty against leaks or improper installation.

Contractors’ warranties will vary, but roofing materials have fairly well-established lifetimes, said Reichard. Most roofing material, unless badly abused, will outlast the manufacturers’ warranties.

Rolled and built-up roofs have the shortest life spans, generally three to 10 years, depending on the method of installation.

Composition shingles typically are warranted from 10 to 35 years--with the longer-lived shingles at the top end of the price list.

Cement and clay tiles and the new lightweight composite shingles often are guaranteed for as much as 50 years, and roofing specialists say there is no reason a properly installed and maintained clay tile roof won’t last indefinitely.

A final note:

With a lot of time, a bit of skill and an abundance of endurance, homeowners can save tons of money by doing their own re-roofing.

Even tearing off the old roofing material instead of having the contractor’s crew do it can save hundreds of dollars in labor charges.

But if you decided to try it yourself--or if you wonder why those guys who do it for a living charge so much for labor--consider this from roofer Sandy Johnson:

“In a typical day, I do 1,000 to 1,500 full squats. I work 10 to 20 feet off the ground on a surface that can be slick and is usually trying to pitch me off. Temperatures up there can be 20 to 30 degrees higher than the air temperature, especially when we’re putting down the black underlayment. If you eat much for lunch, chances are you’ll be throwing up an hour or so after you start back to work.”