Shaking my head

It is unfortunately too often that I see things on a roof that puzzle me. I shake my head and think, “Didn’t he know this would happen?”. Of course I’m talking about a roof leak and the bad workmanship that leads to it. In the case I found in South Vancouver today it was clear what was happening. A shingle roofer (and maybe he doesn’t deserve the title of “roofer”) had installed a zinc strip up the backside of an attic space roof vent and created a negative slope in the process.  Any water on the zinc strip would thus roll back “up-slope” and get into the vent at the top of the flange. DUH! Now I’ve figured it out a while ago that there is good and bad in all professions. I have VERY few customers and co-workers, over decades of roofing, who would put me in the latter category. Granted a roof is a very important aspect of a house. Everything below it depends on the integrity of it. But let’s think about more important occupations than a roofer where you want to ensure you get the best-at-his-job out there. For the Sickly? – Surgeon. I want to make sure there are no mistakes happening when they have my body exposed on an operating table. For the troubled? – Lawyer. For the bad driver? – Paramedic. But how do you know? How do you tell? You solicit friends. That’s a good place to start. And here’s a friend telling you – Crucial is the roofer you want.