During the recent extended stretch of bad weather we’ve had in the DFW area, we’re seeing a problem we normally don’t see here, and that’s Ice Damming.

Usually, we have snow or ice and it melts the next day or so and it’s gone. However, during extended periods of sub freezing weather, ice accumulates at the edge of the roof.

This happens because the eve beneath this section of the roof is not warmed by the heat inside of the house like the attic is.

The fact that the attic is warmer than the outside temperature, plus the radiant heat from the sun if there is any, combine to melt the snow and ice and the water travels down the slope of the roof until it hits the “ice dam”.

Over the course of several days, the ice dam is two or three inches tall, or more, and when the final thaw comes, the water backs up behind the ice dam to a point where it spills over into the interior of the house.

It usually becomes evident on an exterior wall in the vicinity of a valley, or where a vertical wall comes up out of the roof.
Acceptable building practices and codes in this area of the country don’t address this phenomenon since it’s occurrence is so rare.
In the northern climes, an “ice and water shield” is applied around the perimeter of the house to a point two feet inside the exterior walls. An “ice and water shield” is a roofing membrane made of modified bitumen, a rubber like material, that swells up around the roofing nails nailed through it to attach the shingles on top of it.

This repels the water until the ice melts and the water can drain off of the roof, unlike standard roofing felt where the water finds a nail hole and makes its way inside.

If you are experiencing ice damming, it may never happen again. After all, 100 hours of below-freezing weather in Dallas is rare.
If you want do some preventative maintenance, we would recommend installation of an ice and water shield in the affected valley and horizontally along the roofs edge for several feet on each side of the valley.

Texas Star Roofing encourages the use of impact resistant shingles.  The insurance industry’s acceptance of UL 2218 rated shingles has resulted in significant discounts on homeowners insurance premiums. Some carriers advertise 27% discounts and even higher discounts have been offered.

The UL 2218 designation is broken into four classes. Class 1 carries the least weight and higher discounts are offered as the class designation increases, with Class 4 being the highest. The test involves a 2 inch steel ball weighing 1.2 pounds being dropped from 20 feet on to the roofing material. The test is repeated and second strike must be within ¼ inch of the first.

The class 4 designation does not mean that the shingle is “hail proof”.  The benefit comes from the insurance discount that remains in effect for as long the roof in place. This results in not only significant savings on insurance premiums, but also consider the fact that the impact resistant products will survive hail stones that non class 4 products won’t. This can result in avoiding any out of pocket expense relating to deductibles by not having your roof replaced when the rest of your neighbors without an IR product are. Not to mention the inconvenience of having to have your roof replaced to begin with. If the class 4 roof is damaged and has to be replaced, your insurance company is obligated to replace it with a class 4 roof of like kind and quality. That removes any upgrade expense from the equation and you continue to receive the discounts on your premiums just like before.

Class 4 roofs come in a wide range of products. There are many offerings from the composition family.  Some products achieve their rating from the mat or backing the shingle is made from and some are made of SBS, a more rubbery, flexible material that’s better suited to absorb the impact.

The style of composition class 4 shingles varies as well. There are 3-tabs, laminate or architectural style, and even tri-laminates (3 thicknesses laminated together).

Other class 4 offerings include composites, often referred to as faux slate or shakes. Some composites are made of polymers and are injection molded, and some are compression molded.

Another popular class 4 is steel. There are steel shingles, stone coated steel panels, and standing seam.  Steel shingles can be molded to look like slate or shake, or can be stone coated steel.  The stone coated steel panels come in a variety of styles as well.  Mediterranean tile, wood shakes, and barrel tiles are the most popular. Standing seam roofs are continuous panels formed on the job-site from a coil of steel run thru a machine available in different panel widths and seam heights.

Texas Star Roofing is experienced in installation of all UL 2218, Class 4 products. All class 4 roofs are more expensive, and the class 4 prices can vary greatly from the least expensive composition offering to the composites and steel products.

To determine if a class 4 up grade is a good business decision for you, we suggest you get a price from your insurance agent for your premiums with the class 4 roof versus what you’re paying now.  We’ll give you a price for the roof you select. Then take the difference between your current roof and the class 4 product you like and divide it by one year’s savings on your insurance premiums. That will tell you how long you will have to stay in the house to get your money back. Every year thereafter you’re putting that money in your pocket. If it’s a 4 or 5 year payback, and that’s average, and you’re planning to be in the house longer than that, then it’s a good idea. Some people argue that the roof makes your home more valuable. That may or may not be the case, but it is definitely a valuable sales tool to make your home more attractive to a buyer when you do decide to sell.

Texas Star Roofing, Inc. is a proponent of energy efficient roofing products, and highly recommends the use of Radiant barrier decking when possible.  Radiant barrier roof sheathing is the most efficient, cost effective form of radiant barrier available.  Radiant barrier plywood or OSB is laminated with a thin sheet of aluminum foil.  The result is an e-value (emissivity) of .97. That means 97% of the radiant heat generated by the sun is reflected and therefore does not enter the attic.

This is important because the lower the attic temperature, the less heat surrounding the AC unit and duct work, resulting in more efficient cooling and lower utility bills, possibly increasing the life span of the unit itself. The lower the attic temperature, the less heat is transferred into the interior of the home.

Radiant barrier decking is only economically feasible when installed either when the home is built, or when a wood shingle or fiber-cement roof installed on lathe is replaced and deck installation is required in order to provide a solid nailing surface for the new roof installation.

It is very important to note that the radiant barrier requires a ¾” air space beneath it in order to work.  Therefore, Texas Star Roofing removes every other lathe board in order to maximize the benefit from the radiant barrier decking. A lathe system consists of 1×4 planks installed horizontally with a 4” gap between each board. This results in one half of the surface area of the new roof deck being in contact with the 1×4 planks and thus eliminating the air space beneath the radiant barrier.  By removing every other plank, we in effect, reduce that amount to one fourth of the surface area and doubling the benefit of the radiant barrier.  We do not recommend removal of every lathe board because this can result in structural issues, as the lathe lends support to the rafter system. Also, when the home was built, the framers knew it was going to be a wood shingle roof and therefore, it was not as critical that the rafters be on exactly 2 foot centers.  This results in far more waste compared to a home designed for a plywood deck originally and increases the cost of the re-deck.

The plywood comes in 4’x 8’ sheets, and is placed with the 8’ side lying horizontally. Proper installation requires that the lathe boards be moved when necessary to line up with the horizontal seams. This allows for the fastener pattern to go around the entire perimeter and reduce the chance of curling at the seams.

In reroofing applications where the roof deck is already in place, an alternative to the radiant barrier plywood or OSB deck installation would be the installation of Polarium Thermal Barrier underlayment.  This is a thermal barrier, rather than a radiant barrier. The test data contained on the manufacturers website, www.heatbarriersystemsinc.com, states that their product has an e-value of .97. It works in a different way. Rather than reflecting the heat, due to the fact there is no ¾” airspace beneath it, it transfers the heat thru the product to the edges of the roof, thus preventing the heat from entering the attic.  This product is an aluminum coated underlayment placed face down over the old felt, directly onto the existing roof deck in lieu of new felt.
The only other radiant barrier applications available for retrofit applications are Aluminum Foil Laminates (foil laminated to kraft paper or plastic film) or Reflective Coatings. Both of these methods are installed on the underneath side of the roof deck in the attic.

Ten Most Common Leak Locations – A leaking roof can be a homeowner’s headache and cause water damage to ceilings and walls if the leak is not located and repaired quickly. Finding the source of a roof leak may be simple, but sometimes it can be difficult to determine where it originates because of weather conditions and the location of the leak. These tips for locating a roof leak and repairing it may help if you encounter that frustrating problem.

  Diagnosing a roof leak to discover its source can be difficult because of several factors. Various weather conditions will cause a roof to leak in different areas.  Most roof coverings follow the gravitational principal, which can be helpful in finding the source of a leak.  All leaks are not that easy to find though. Horizontal roof boards can direct water up to 10 feet away and cause the wet spot on your ceiling to appear far from the actual leak source.  When it is hard to locate the source of a leak, you may need the assistance of someone watching from the inside while you spray the roof with a garden hose.  If you would rather not climb up on your roof, you should get a trustworthy roofer to help you find the source of the problem.  This can sometimes be as difficult as finding a tiny leak.  Following are some tips to assist you in locating an annoying roof leak:

The Field of Shingles

An older roof may develop a leak in the expanse of shingles, shakes or slate. This area is called the roof field. Walking on an asphalt roof should not cause a problem, but you must be more careful when you walk on slate, clay tile or concrete tile because the roofing may crack if you walk on it. Check the tops of the vertical knockouts looking for a spot with missing colored granules or cracks. A nail that has backed out of the roof sheathing can possibly be the source of the problem. Just be patient and thorough and you may locate your leak in this way.

Valleys

A valley is the line formed when two roof planes come together, or intersect. The valley system we use here in Dallas is the closed valley. Shingles overlap where the 2 slopes come together at the valley with a valley underlayment beneath for an extra layer of protection. Metal valleys are used in some places, rolled roofing is used in some areas, and the shingles are just laced together in other places. If the shingles are not properly trimmed when they are installed, valleys can eventually produce leaks. The end of a shingle trimmed for a valley has a chisel point, and if a second cut to make this point resemble an arrow point is not made, water can leak into the house by traveling along the top of the shingles. The wrapper on the shingles explains how to make the second cut properly.

Head Wall Flashings

When a roof stops at a horizontal wall, a metal flashing should be directing water coming down the wall away from the shingles’ ending point. The flashing could be in front of a brick wall or behind wood siding and should extend at least three inches over the shingles. Flashing should bend and extend into a mortar joint one inch when the wall is masonry or brick. If you see tar, roofing cement or caulk used with these materials, it means there has been a leak that somebody attempted to fix with them.

Wall Step Flashing

At the point where a roof meets a vertical wall, you will see step flashings. When each row of shingles was installed, a step flashing was put next to the wall over the shingle and then covered by the next shingle row. You should only be able to see a tiny bit of the flashings if they were installed correctly. Check these flashings for holes or rust that might indicate the source of a leak.

Chimneys

Chimneys are a common source of leaks because they have four different types of flashing, and if those flashings or the counterflashing into the brick mortar were not correctly installed, a leak may occur in that area. Water can run behind the flashings if it finds even a tiny crack above them. Check the flashing for soldered corners that are broken or that have holes.

Plumbing Vent Flashings

Many of the newer vent flashings use a rubber seal with aluminum flashing, but the rubber may crack after 10 or 15 years. Check around plumbing pipes for cracked rubber. Flashing should go up under the shingles going up the roof from the plumbing vent, and the bottom of the flashing should cover the shingles and remain exposed.

Furnace or B-Vent Flashing

These flashings are like the plumbing vent flashings but frequently have a metal storm collar. The storm collars should be tight around the pipe coming out of the roof, and if they are loose, they may cause leaks.

Wind Blown Rain Leaks

Wind can drive rain up under your roofing even when your roof is in good condition. Tarpaper can help to prevent this problem. You can hem the hidden edges of metal valleys by bending them 180 degrees to create a channel for directing the wind blown rain to the bottom of the valley. You can also put roofing cement under the shingles along the roof edge on the windy side of your house. Rain driven by wind can be very powerful and cause leaks in even the best roofs.

Non-Roof Leaks

What appears to be a roof leak can actually have another cause such as attic condensation. High humidity can be the cause of condensation and make it appear that rain is falling in your attic. It may also cause the underside of roof sheathing to seem wet. If a chimney crown acquires a crack, it may discolor the inside surface of the chimney or cause the plaster to bubble. If siding above a roof is missing, water may come in behind head flashings. These conditions may cause leaks from sources other than your roof, so you may have to do some real detective work to find the reason for your problem.

Looking for Leaks on Flat Roofs, Roofs With a Low Slope and Steep Roofs

The causes of roof leaks are numerous and can occur because of inferior installation of the roof system, items dropped on the roof causing mechanical damage, failure of roofing material, problems with the HVAC, plugged up roof drains and various other situations. Leaks are more difficult to find when the source is a few feet away from the inside area showing water damage.
For instance, if water enters a hole in your asphalt shingles, it runs along the underlayment to another hole that could be several feet away. The water then runs on the decking top to a seam or a hole in the decking. Dropping down into the attic, it runs along the ceiling top to a seam or a hole in the plaster or drywall. When you have several layers of roofing on your building or a vapor retarder at the ceiling level, the distance that the water travels before you see it inside can be even greater.

Locating a leak is sometimes more difficult than you think it should be. The following guidelines can help you. When the guidelines use the words “leak area,” they are referring to an area located within 10 feet of the leak.

Flat or Low-Slope Roofs

• Check the drains located close to the leak area. They may cause a leak if they are draining slowly or if they are plugged up. If they are plugged up, they are not waterproof because their purpose is for the water to flow through them downward only.
• Check material seams in the leak area to determine if adhesive or tar is properly adhered. Gently run a pocketknife blade, or something similar, under any lap where you see adhesive sticking out. If it slides more than 1 inch under the lap, you should reseal the seam. If it slides in more than 2 inches, it is likely to be the cause of a leak.
• Check the roof carefully for problems like shrunken pitch pan filler, holes in metal flashings, deteriorated caulking or curling flashing flanges poking up through the membrane of the roof. Check all penetrations for possible problems.
• Check for punctured blisters on the roof.
• Check the expansion joint seams because they are frequently faulty.
• Walk along the leak area taking small steps with your feet close together, and turn in all directions to see if there are any splits. The roof will separate between your feet if there are any splits.
• When a leak is located close to the edge of a building, look for edge metal that has separated at the seams and torn the roof membrane.
• When debris sits on a roof for a while, it may hold water that encourages deterioration of the roof. Bird or rodent nests may be under debris piles on roofs, so check for problems in any areas where debris has been sitting.
• Do not be concerned about several leaks that may appear after an unusually heavy rainstorm. That is normal for most roofs when they have to handle a huge quantity of water in a short period.
• When you have carefully checked your roof without finding anything wrong, inspect the ceiling space or attic because you may have a plumbing problem instead. If you have a commercial building with fire sprinkler lines running along the attic space, a leak in those lines could mimic a roof leak. If that is the problem, there may be leaks when it has not been raining.
• A poorly designed HVAC unit may have a faulty pan in it and allow water to get into a building when it rains.

Steep Roofs

• Check all the leak area penetrations for damage or holes.
• Check for nails that did not get covered by the next row of roofing material. When they are exposed for a while, they may rust and make a hole that could cause leaks. These nails are easy to spot because they shine, and roofers call them shiners.
• Damaged mortar can be the cause of leaks even though it is rare, so check the mortar on parapet walls and chimneys.
• Cracks along the tops of a stucco facade wall can be another source of leaks.
• When gutter details or edge details are improperly installed, they can cause water to back up over the fascia and run along the soffit. It can then run down along the inside of the wall and enter the building. Clear out any debris from the gutters and ensure that all drain details are working properly.
• When you have carefully checked your roof without finding anything wrong, inspect the ceiling space or attic because you may have a plumbing problem instead. If you have a commercial building with fire sprinkler lines running along the attic space, a leak in those lines could mimic a roof leak. If that is the problem, there may be leaks when it has not been raining.
• A poorly designed HVAC unit may have a faulty pan in it and allow water to get into a building when it rains.
• Check for areas where leaves and branches gather or other debris accumulates because water flow may be blocked and back up under roofing material. This frequently occurs in valleys or behind chimneys.

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Felt Removal – Should the old felt be removed (felt removal) when the new roof is installed or not? That’s a question I get quite a bit, and the answer is no. The old felt can’t be relied upon to shed water since it has nail holes and tears in it from the shingle removal, so without question you need new felt.

To tear off the old felt serves no purpose other than to make the jobsite and the neighborhood harder to keep clean. Some people ask about our ability to inspect the deck or roof sheathing for rotten wood. That’s a very important step in the reroofing process. When the old shingles are torn off, the nails pull thru most of the time and stick up the thickness of the shingle they were nailed through. In order to prevent the new felt from being torn by these nails, we go over the entire roof and hammer in the nails so that they are flush with the decking. If you’ve ever struck a rotten piece of plywood with a hammer, you know it reacts totally different than good solid wood. Therefore, since the nails are approximately six inches apart and staggered going up the roof, we cover the entire roof with our inspection.

If we discover rotten decking, we tear off the felt in that area to determine exactly what needs to be replaced. It is very important to inspect the decking and replace anything that will not properly hold a nail. If the wood will not hold a nail, the result is blown off shingles. If you look at the roof deck from the attic side, you will sometimes see water stains where your roof has leaked in the past. Those stains pose no problem, as the integrity of the wood has not been compromised.

Our crews are trained to look for bad wood, and they have an incentive to find it. We hold our crews responsible for their labor in our warranty, and they have to do any repairs at no charge when there is a problem. We also compensate them for the labor involved in replacing bad plywood.

Our Roofing Contractor Service Area Includes

Texas Star Roofing is well versed in all types of ventilation and understands the importance of a properly installed ventilation system.  Roof ventilation, or more accurately, attic ventilation, is an important component of your roof that often times is overlooked.  Ventilation can be addressed cost effectively whether the roof is being replaced or not.

Shingle, paint, and insulation warranties are based on FHA Minimum Property Standards, and the Universal Building Code among others. They call for a minimum of one square foot of ventilation for every 300 square feet of attic space. One half of the vent area should be intake, and the other half should be exhaust. For example, a 3000 square foot home would require 10 square feet of ventilation, five square feet of intake and five square feet of exhaust.

There are three important reasons to ventilate. As mentioned above, Shingle manufacturers void their warranties when installed over improperly ventilated attics. When ventilation is not adequate, shingles deteriorate twice as fast as shingles over well ventilated air spaces. Heat causes them to dry out, become brittle, and blister causing a loss of granules.  The second reason to ventilate is to reduce the attic temperature, so as to relieve pressure from the air conditioner and duct work located in the attic. A cooler attic also reduces the amount of heat transfer into the house.  Lastly, proper ventilation helps prevent moisture from condensing in cold weather causing damage to the insulation, rafters, and roof deck. Trapped moisture can rot wood, rob insulation of its R-value, and even contribute to the growth of mold in the attic.

The intake side of the ventilation equation is addressed by installing vents in the soffit on the underneath side of the eaves of your home. It is vital to have adequate intake. This facilitates the intake of the cooler outside air into the attic, forcing the hotter air contained in the attic up and out the exhaust vents. Even though it may be 100 degrees or more outside, that’s still much cooler than the 150 to 160 degrees attic temperatures rise to.

There are a number of exhaust systems available, and Texas Star Roofing is experienced in installing all of them. Different roof configurations will determine which type is the best fit.

Let’s go over the pros and cons of each type in order for you to better identify which type is best for you.  First, we’ll start with wind turbines. Turbines are the most forgiving if the intake and exhaust is not perfectly balanced. It is still very important to have adequate intake, but the turbines are less likely to create the negative pressure some other forms of exhaust can create under the right circumstances, thus pulling moisture (rain water) into the attic. Remember though, you must have intake in order to have exhaust! The turbines require no power to operate, thus no expense. The quality of the bearings has been improved over the years, to the point that the brand we recommend has a lifetime manufacturer’s warranty. Many of you probably have memories of noisy turbines, or ones that stop turning altogether. This is no longer a concern.  The only thing negative to be said about the turbines is that some people don’t like the appearance. They look like a large mushroom on your roof and some people prefer a less obvious form of ventilation.

Next is the power vent, or exhaust fan. The pro to this form of ventilation is that it expels the most hot air of all of the exhaust options. This is due to the fact that it employs the use of an electric exhaust fan. These units are a good choice for hip roofs that come to a point at the top (not much horizontal ridge line). The draw backs are as follows. First off, they are more expensive to begin with, and they require an electrician to wire them in electrically. They use electricity, thus cost money to operate. We’re told, about the same amount as a 100 watt light bulb, about $5.00 a month for each. If the intake is not adequate, it can cause the fans to work harder to expel the exhaust and thus shorten the lifespan of the motor. Solar powered power vents are available. The cost is significantly more than the electrical version; however the need for an electrician is eliminated. Also, the motors are less powerful, expelling fewer cubic feet per minute of exhaust, but still more than the wind driven turbines.

Roof louvers, or low profile vents, are a passive form of ventilation (not mechanical, hot air rises and escapes through the hole in the roof) utilized by many homebuilders during new construction. They are the least efficient form of ventilation and usually, if they are the choice of ventilation, too few have been installed in order to adequately do the job. The pros attached to this form of ventilation are that they are the least expensive, and in some cases, such as shed roofs or small compartments that are not attached to the rest of the house, all that’s needed is a small passive vent.

Ridge vent is being talked about more and more these days on the home improvement shows, and Texas Star Roofing installs a lot of it. The main problem with ridge vent comes into play on steep hip roofs with not much horizontal ridge.  Remember, you have to have balanced ventilation and if there is not enough linear footage of horizontal ridge line, you can’t get enough exhaust in place to do the job. Another drawback to ridge vent is the negative pressure we touched on briefly before. If you have more exhaust than intake, it can create a situation where rain is pulled into the attic through the ridge vent. If you’re ever going to have unbalanced ventilation when using ridge vent, it would be best to have more intake than exhaust. The advantages of ridge vent are that the exhaust is spread more uniformly across the roof. Instead of the intake having to travel a greater distance to a turbine, low pro, or power vent centrally located on the roof, the ridge vent is positioned over more area of the roof and thus closer to the intake vents. There is nothing mechanical about ridge vent, therefore nothing to break or wear out, and it costs nothing to operate.

One thing to remember, no matter what form of ventilation you decide on, never mix different types on the same roof. For example, if you install ridge vents, turbines, low pros, or power vents too close to one another, the dominant vent will draw air in through the other exhaust vent instead of the soffit vents located on the eaves of the house. There have been cases reported where electric power vents have actually come on during a rain storm and sucked water into the house through other types of exhaust vents located too close to it.

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