If a tree falls in the woods…

and there is no one to hear it, does it make a sound? Who cares?

Our question of the day is, if you explain to a salesman that you expect the quality roofing job that he promised you and that you’re paying for, does he listen?

Maybe.

Our salesman and the construction company owner came by the house today to discuss the outstanding issues. Everybody had their game face on, and it didn’t take too long before things appeared to be heating up. I suggested we all calm down and not get defensive.

For about half an hour it was pretty much this:

Us: Look at this, and this, and that…..

Them: Well, you know, that’s not part of the job. Well, that would normally be an extra charge. Yada, yada, yada.

The tide turned when we ushered them onto the porch roof. The spongy porch roof. The porch roof that neighborhood children could use as a trampoline. Each in their own way, the owner & sales guy, acknowledged that the roof was, indeed, wrong. The sales guy walked the roofline and said “that doesn’t seem right”. The owner wouldn’t walk the roofline. He got down on his knee several inches away and gingerly moved his foot out and pressed the edge. Oh, yes. That’s confidence.

To make a long story short (I know, I know, it’s already a saga), the owner is sending his siding guy out tomorrow to flash and tidy up the areas around the dormers and other miscellaneous areas. Then the roofers (the same guy that initially did the job (darn it!)), will be back to remove three courses of shingles from the porch, remove “plywood” and replace it with 1x. Then reshingle.

The cost of the asphalt repair will be deducted from the balance. The cost of the flat tire from the poor clean-up job (oh, didn’t I blog that?) will be deducted from the balance. We backed off our airing deck railing being broken, although the owner did say he would send someone out here to replace it at cost.

I want to believe that since from here on in, the job will be cutting into their profit margin, things will be done quickly and correctly. I want to believe that. I do know that Dennis intends to be sitting in a lawn chair under an umbrella with a tall, cold beer while the porch roof is being repair to see just what was done and ensure it’s correct this time.

The one area we did not feel received a satisfactory answer was the way the shingle was laid in areas. According to both the manufacturer’s installation guide (yes, I downloaded and read them and highlighted sections and presented to the owner) and according to a friend who knows, the shingles are not laid properly which could void our warranty. The owner says, not true…it’s within the manufacturer’s tolerances. He said he would give us a written guarantee. We intend to take pictures with a tape measure to verify the manufacturer’s nail line and have the owner sign the back of each picture. If he doesn’t, we’ll soldier on.

Here are a couple of photos of the roof.

This photo shows the area in question. From what we know, the next course of shingle should meet the white line, which means there’s a 3/4″ overlap. The nail line is suppose to be above that white line. The next course of shingle should come down and lay right next to the dark rectangular section.

This is correctly installed section, isn’t it pretty?:

So, on we go….

By the way, it’s stinkin’ hot here.

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