Vancouver Roofing Blog » Uncategorized

Ventilation

Administrator — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 04:31:57 +0000

A critical component of any roof system, whether low slope or steep slope and whether torch on, metal, concrete or clay tiles, tar and gravel or asphalt shingles is ventilation. Ventilation is made up of two components – Intake and exhaust. Intake is commonly achieved through soffit vents and exhaust is commonly achieved through roof vents near or along the ridge.
Advancements in technology have now developed vents that are installed on properties that do not come equipped with soffit vent possibilities. These vents are sometimes called “smart vents” or “edge vents” and are installed along a row of shingles just upslope of the external wall(s)
Exhaust vents can come in various shapes and sizes. The standard choices are turbines/whirlybirds, static air vents or ridge vents. I choose a good quantity of static air vents and present a very good case for my position in discussion. Check out our Gallery page on this website for photos of my work.
The two roof systems that do not overtly benefit with specific attic space air vents are cedar roofs and concrete tile roofs. These two roof systems are very air-permeable by nature and allow air movement between each and every shingle and tile.
In a perfect world, venting is balanced. Equal intake to equal exhaust. However, without a slide rule and a trigonometry calculator this is difficult to absolutely achieve. Therefore, I defer to a substantial amount of exhaust vents with the strategy of at least allowing or encouraging the air to escape the enclosed area of the attic or ceiling space.
It is a proven fact that proper ventilation contributes to a longer life cycle for your roof system and a more comfortable interior living environment. For further information on ventilation please contact Greg at Crucial Roof Services Ltd. We are your roofing specialists in the Greater Vancouver Regional district.
The attached photo shows what a worse-case scenario looks like when you don’t have adequate exhaust. The air pressure inside the ceiling space of this house was so strong that it forced these blisters into the roof membrane. The moral to this story is find a roofing contractor who understands that proper and adequate ventilation is critical to a well performing roof system and your living environment below it. CRUCIAL DOES.

Green Roofs

Administrator — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 05:51:11 +0000

When discussing this pertinent issue now days, clarification is needed. With the development of the LEED program – Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – and the energy efficiency certification available to specific roof systems, a Green Roof is no longer just one specific detail.
It used to be if you had a flat or low slope roof and you wanted to put plants and/or grass on it, it could be called a green roof. I continue to caution people to ensure their roof membrane is in good enough condition to accept the effects of such a plan. The torch on roof system Crucial Roof Services installs is more than equipped to handle the challenges associated with putting a growing medium on top of your roof membrane. The first thing needed, after a quality torch-on membrane roof system, is a drain mat which allows the water to easily flow towards the drain(s). Next we need a root barrier. The goal would be to grow plants that have a shallow and non-intrusive root base, but none-the-less we want to put down an effective root block. Finally you have the growing medium (2-5” deep) and vegetation. This is a pretty simple, and an effective way to lower your heating/cooling costs and contribute to the betterment of the planet. If you choose to go with a deeper growth and larger plants, this is known as an intensive green roof and may require irrigation and a drainage system.
The photo, corresponding to this blog, shows what an unintentional green roof may look like 
Now with the development of reflective membranes there is a new and much more regulated and detailed category of Green Roofs. It seems my favourite torch on membrane company – Soprema – is leading the industry in this emerging field. Soprema’s website is an excellent source of information. To start your education off it must be known that there are 4 categories of LEED Certification – Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum…. and it just expands from there. I’ll just touch on one small aspect of the whole LEED program. Follow this: There are the various membranes which are given “credits” or “values” for certain characteristics. These qualities or characteristics are more than just the energy efficiency or reflectivity of the product. For example, the environmental “footprint” of the membrane is calculated from the production point to its final destination and such factors as, material make up (and if recycled contents exist), whether it was shipped by train or truck (which have different effects on our environment), and even the carbon credit of the factory is considered in effecting the value or credit the material achieves.
Contact Crucial Roof Services for further information about torch down roof systems.

TAR AND GRAVEL ROOF LEAKS

Administrator — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 17:23:53 +0000

A tar and gravel roof leak, in the general field area of a roof, can be a tricky thing to find. For starters, the crack or split in the roofing felts or roofing plies is concealed by a flood coat of asphalt and the ensuing gravel broadcast into that. In addition, there will be general and common debris such as dust and dirt, rain pollutants, tree droppings and anything else you might find on a roof. (You’d be surprised at what we have found!). These “additives” are commonly sunken into the spaces and gaps between the rocks in the built up roof system making it even more difficult to see a deficiency. Whether it is a 3 ply tar and gravel or 4 ply T&G roof system, the point of entry or stain on your ceiling is not necessarily exactly below where the leak in the roof is. Water travels. It takes the path of least resistance and escapes the attic or ceiling space through the easiest port. In bedrooms, it’s usually through the light fixture and in bathrooms it’s the skylight or the fixture again. It occasionally even runs in-between walls and skips a floor!
If the leak is in a commercial building where the roof deck is something other than wood, such as metal or concrete, the task of finding the leak just got more difficult as the water can travel substantially further on those decks before it drips out and gets the floor wet so you can notice it. I recently had a leak that travelled over 60 feet in the flue of the metal Q-deck. I deserved my star on that one 
There is no rhyme or reason where a split will occur. It can be in a seam or junction of the plywood, shiplap wood deck or roofboard (also known as donnyboard) used underneath the tarred roof system. The hole or leak can also be situated on the laps of the roof plies from when they are initially mopped down with hot tar.
For a proven track record of finding leaks contact Crucial Roof Services – Your Lower Mainland roofing service provider