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So we've been noticing some wood rot on the overhang over the garage, so I asked the contractor who fixes everything else in and on our house to look at it. He got on the roof and said the shingles were improperly installed and water was getting underneath because there wasn't enough overlap where two sheets met.

The roof is 3 years old, installed by the previous owner, so I called the roofer who installed it and put a 10 yr warranty on their labor.

He acknowledged that the overlap could have been better and said the solution was to shove another shingle underneath. He didn't think there was any damage to the plywood underneath. He thought the damage we were seeing was from an improper install of the gutter which is 40 ft long with only one downspout. The gutter was overflowing and water over the top was rotting the wood.

Well, he installed the gutter too. When I pulled the contract, I saw that the contract said they'd install 2 downspouts and they only installed 1. He said the only reason they would have installed only 1 was that the customer refused to let them install the second and that he vaguely remembers the previous owner being fussy about his flower beds. And because it was the customer who decided not to put in the downspout he wouldn't cover the damage from that.

I told contractor what the roofer wanted to do--shove new shingles under the overlaps and add a downspout--and he didn't like that solution. Thought it was a short term solution that didn't actually fix the original & subsequent problem.

So I don't really know what to do. I am worried about a couple things 1) that the roofer won't do a good job at the repair if I let him do things his way. 2) that even if I get him to agree with my contractor about what needs to be done he'll be so upset about it he won't do it well and he won't eat the costs himself.

We are n00b homeowners, so any advice would be really helpful.

You have a 10 year warranty on the labor, no matter who owns the house. The roofer needs to fix the roof. It won't take him very long. He needs to peel off the shingles where the roof rot is, replace the damaged plyboard and re-shingle. Also, get him to install the second downspout. You may have to pay for that, but that's small potatoes.

If he won't honor his warranty, get a new roofer to fix the damage, and take the old roofer to court.

Well, you have a contract that says that two downspouts were supposed to be installed, yet you only have one. I don't suppose the contractor/roofer who put them in has a written change order requesting only one be installed, does he? I didn't think so. It this goes to small claims court, you've got the paper work on your side. I'd keep this strategy in the back of my mind, mentioning going to court only after trying to work things out, under warranty and no cost to you, first. You might have the contractor and the roofer discuss the matter, if your contractor has the balls to stick up for you and "quality work(manship)".

I see Cathy has already posted a course of action, although I think you could pull my little tidbit out and get him to put in the second downspout for nothing, or maybe just a token price. Cathy's right, it shouldn't cost much to add it, but you shouldn't have to pay for it.

First thing I'd do is call another reputable roofer for an opinion on what should be done so you know you are on solid ground with whatever you decide to ask for. I do know that poor gutter conditions will cause that kind of damage. Been there, done that. Is he thinking of "in between" shingles all over the roof or just at these edges? Hmmm.

Sounds like another WWWD question.

We're at this same stage with a poor paint job on our pool. The guy says he'll do it over again but do we even WANT him to? Seems to me the first thing to do is find out WHY the first job went awry. A new guy is coming tomorrow. We'll pick his brain.
Love, Ima

I agree with Ima. Get a second opinion/estimate from another roofer.

And the show goes on.

Wrapping up the last episode, we had a family friend who's a contractor look at the roof with the original roofer and our friend was satisfied with the roofer's solution. So we wanted to ahead with that, but the guy has never sent us an estimate and never returned our calls. Awesome.

Last night we got nearly 5 inches of rain in about 2 hrs. And we noticed a leak. Going around today to look at the roofline, the shingles are bulging all the way up the seam and buckled where the leak occurred.

While we have a warranty with the original roofer, I'm now hesitant to let the guy touch the roof. Quality control doesn't seem to be there. We have a couple recommended roofers from friends we could go with, but we'd be paying out of pocket. I, for one, might just pay out of pocket for peace of mind, but I'm open to suggestions on how to get our roof repaired by this original guy.

Help the noobie home owners please.

bluebutton wrote:And the show goes on.

Wrapping up the last episode, we had a family friend who's a contractor look at the roof with the original roofer and our friend was satisfied with the roofer's solution. So we wanted to ahead with that, but the guy has never sent us an estimate and never returned our calls. Awesome.

Last night we got nearly 5 inches of rain in about 2 hrs. And we noticed a leak. Going around today to look at the roofline, the shingles are bulging all the way up the seam and buckled where the leak occurred.

While we have a warranty with the original roofer, I'm now hesitant to let the guy touch the roof. Quality control doesn't seem to be there. We have a couple recommended roofers from friends we could go with, but we'd be paying out of pocket. I, for one, might just pay out of pocket for peace of mind, but I'm open to suggestions on how to get our roof repaired by this original guy.

Help the noobie home owners please.

Re-posting my advice from April: If he won't honor his warranty, get a new roofer to fix the damage, and take the old roofer to court.

CathyCA wrote:
Re-posting my advice from April: If he won't honor his warranty, get a new roofer to fix the damage, and take the old roofer to court.

What does taking a roofer to court entail?

--we're legal noobs too

bluebutton wrote:

CathyCA wrote:
Re-posting my advice from April: If he won't honor his warranty, get a new roofer to fix the damage, and take the old roofer to court.

What does taking a roofer to court entail?

--we're legal noobs too

Get a lawyer!

OZZIE4DUKE wrote:

bluebutton wrote:

CathyCA wrote:
Re-posting my advice from April: If he won't honor his warranty, get a new roofer to fix the damage, and take the old roofer to court.

What does taking a roofer to court entail?

--we're legal noobs too

Get a lawyer!

I'm only licensed in North Carolina, so I can only tell you to call a local attorney and ask for his or her help.