u/Roofincold

Hey YYC!

Rain is coming and In big volumes again. Make sure that your house is protected or that the following things are done:

- Drop all your downspouts, drive water away
- Check your window sill, silicone around windows and doors.
- check your door sill/rubber (Home Depot sells them if you need new ones)
- Make sure all your spouts are clean of debris.
- PLEASE make sure you don’t flood your neighbors basement by redirecting water towards their foundation. Small crack can cause huge damages.
- Once rain has started, with high volumes, it might get into your basement if grading or drainage is not proper around the house, this is the right time to check where it is and fix it once weather turns good.

With all the rain Calgary has been getting the last 24 hours and what’s to come, I thought it might be a good reminder for everyone to have a look around their exterior envelope.

A few things worth checking during and after heavy rain:

• Gutters and downspouts – Make sure water is flowing properly and not overflowing at corners or spilling beside the foundation. Very important to move water away from your foundation, also do have a look at where downspouts splash water on the roof, sometimes they tend to push water behind flashing hence causing leaks.

• Roof leaks – Check your attic for damp insulation, water stains, or musty smells. If you look up in your attic with a flash light, you’ll be able to see the water right the way.

• Siding and exterior walls – Look for loose panels, gaps, cracked caulking, or areas where water could get behind the siding. Very important to look at your windows and if the flashing underneath them (called reverse drip cap) have caulking, we had a few calls today where water is leaking behind the windows and into the garage.

• Foundation and grading – Ensure water is draining away from your house and not pooling near the foundation.

• Window and door seals – Check for moisture, drafts, or signs of water intrusion around frames. Keep in mind that most of the seals are just a small rubber membrane that over time will erode and it will leak. With heavy rain this issues tend to come up.

• Soffit and fascia – Watch for staining, peeling paint, or areas where water may be getting trapped. Biggest clues are seeing straight lines on your siding where water comes down. Soffit and fascia that’s installed incorrectly will drive water directly to the wall.

• Basement moisture – Look for damp spots, water stains, or increased humidity, this goes hand in hand with your grading and downspouts driving water away from the home

Many exterior issues don't show up during dry weather but become obvious during extended rainy periods like we've been having/will have.

Also to note, with this weather you have to be careful who you hire to work on your roof, siding and so on as you will be liable in case they hurt themselves.

A must have/request that you need to ask for:
- City of Calgary License (do not give deposits if they don’t have license for deposits, a C of C license does not give a contractor the right to request for deposits.

- Liability insurance - An absolute must. A bare minimum of 1mill will suffice.

- WCB active account / I know it’s a pain, but there were cases where home owners got sued for liability. Do not be that home owner.

Generally speaking a leak call should cost you from 300 to 400$ including tarps and sealing things off until better weather comes. Anything past that is overpriced and you’ll be paying for no extras other than company profits.

Ask for pricing upfront for the visit, if tarp is needed, then do it and protect your home until further weather changes.

This post is not a self promotion post, more about educating people as we have plenty of calls, but if you have questions, feel free to reach out. Our area of expertise is anything building envelope.

Ps. One thing I noticed In our field recently (siding and roofing) is that there are a lots of hungry sells men that need their profits, so they will sell you things that make no sense.

Please educate me.

Recently I lost a larger job where the costumer chose a contractor that offered roof rejuvenation with a 10 year warranty.

I am that stupid ? Did I miss something this great in the industry?

Roof is about 25 years old, the other guy came in with a decent price for the whole rejuvenation thing and then said that at the end of the 10 year period if they chose to replace with him, he’ll over a discount of the cost of rejuvenation.

My question is this: Is it really such a great product ?

Also, have anyone here removed a roof that was rejuvenated, how was it ? How fun it is to rip off ? Does it matter at all?