Teresa: Across the country, millions of American homes are covered with composition roofs and every year, homeowners have to replace these roofs due to age or weather damage. But today we’re going to replace this roof with stone coated steel. Now these steel roofing materials will withstand ice, snow, high winds, severe thunderstorms, and even golf ball sized hail. Let’s go see how it’s installed. Joining us on this project is Ed Horn of Horn Brother Roofing. Hi Ed!
Ed: Hi Teresa, how are you doing?
Teresa: I’m fine thank you. Ed, this stone coated roofing is made by Gerard and I hear it’s pretty tough stuff. Tell me about it.
Ed: Well Teresa, this is the granite ridge. It was designed by Gerard last year to compete in the architectural shingle market. But this is a superior product because it’s got the zinc, steel and then it’s got the stone coating on the top. So it’s got longevity, 50-year guarantee. Hail up to golf ball size, wind 120 mph. It’s about the strongest shingle you can get.
Teresa: Well it sounds to me like this homeowner is never going to need another roof.
Ed: This is it.
Teresa: So I know that this is installed a little different than composition roof.
Ed: This starts with a starter strip at the patia. And then each panel interlocks as you go up the roof. Now this panel will go right here, lock in together to the next shingle.
Teresa: Ed, does this nail differently than the composition roof?
Ed: It does Teresa. The nails go here into this top lift of the shingle. Let me show you. And the great part is the next shingle will hook on to this bottom area, cover these nails so we have no exposed fasteners which is great because you don’t have any leak problems.
Teresa: Ed, this roof actually goes over the composition roof so there’s no tear out or re-decking involved right?
Ed: That’s right Teresa, we’re gonna leave this shingle on right over with stone coated steel so we’re gonna add insulation value and more protection to the roof by leaving it on.
Teresa: Well that’s also gonna be good for the environment because we’re not filling in the landfill with all of the old roofing materials.
Ed: That’s right. Also it saves you money as a homeowner because you don’t have to cost other tear off and re-decking. You just go right over and so with the dollar saver.
Teresa: Well speaking of saving money, are there any insurance benefits because you are adding extra protection to the home?
Ed: There are depending on where you live in the country. You can save up to 27% of your homeowners insurance.
Teresa: And another question that I have about the new roof, because of the overlay, how does it handle a lot water like if there’s a severe thunderstorm?
Ed: Well Teresa, the concern here is you got a lot of water coming off this two fields so what we’ve done is design this 18-inch galvanized valley metal. It goes right over the old shingle in the valley area and then the shingles are gonna come, cut close to the middle so that most of the water is gonna stand this through and just drain around the back of the roof.
Teresa: Okay well it handles the rain but what about other climates? I guess the concern would be ice standing. How does it handle that?
Ed: In the ice areas we use an ice and water shield membrane that goes in the valley area first and then our valley metal goes on top of that and then the shingles so with that triple coverage you got no problem with freeze or thaw.
Teresa: Great. What about here where the shingles are almost covering the trough but not completely. How do you fix that?
Ed: What we’ve done here is cut the shingles close to the can to keep the water in this general area and then we’ll finish it off with this valley cap. It goes right into the valley area with a stitch, screw that together and then it makes a nice clean line and as clean valley.
Teresa: And I’ve been watching the workers move along and I’ve noticed that they have a particular method when dealing with plumbing vents or furnace vents whereas a normal composition roof installation would mean they shingle right up next to the vent and then properly seal around it but you guys actually take it a step further.
Ed: We do Teresa. This can be a little bit tricky. So what we do is as we shingle up the roof, we’ll cut our first tile around pipe jack. Next we’ll put this nice pipe jack tray down which ensures the water isn’t gonna get off this shingle and on the shingle properly. Next, we’ll cap it off with a vent cap, goes right over the old pipe and then we’ll cut another tile around that so you kind of got sandwiched in between two. And then we seal around that with a nice sealant. Throw out some extra granules to make it look like it grew there. And then we’ll of course cut this down nice and paint it and make a nice finish.
Teresa: All of that extra work I guess it guarantees the homeowner that these vent pipes are never going to leak.
Ed: That’s right.
Teresa: And let’s talk about another venting system. Composition roofs typically have the turbines to help release the hot air from the attic. But this roofing system has something even better called the ridge vent. Tell me about it.
Ed: That’s right Teresa. The turbines are kind of an eyesore and they also not do the job very well. They only ventilate only half of the attic. Some of the hot air gets stuck here at the peak. So what we do is we’ll come in, well cut out the shingles, we’ll cut out the plywood and open up the peak area to let the hot air come right at the top. And then we have this great ridge vent system that we use. It will cover up the hole. And then our ridge cap come over across that, and so you have everything covered up but the air will flow and the water will stay out.
Teresa: Well since this is a more efficient way of venting the air out of the attic I’m assuming that the homeowner should see some savings in their energy bills.
Ed: We’ve got homeowners tell us 20 to 30 % savings on their heating and cooling bills.
Teresa: Wow, that’s a lot. Well Ed Horn with Horn Brother Roofing, thank you so much for your information and why don’t we get out of the way so the roofers could finish the job. This stone coated steel roof by Gerard cost around $2.50 a square foot. And that’s about a third more than the highest quality asphalt shingle. But you’re going to save money on your energy bills. This has the highest wind rating in the industry. It’s resistant to large hailstones and it’s guaranteed for 50 years, which means more than likely you’re going to replace your house before you replace your roof. If you would like more information on Gerard’s excellent roofing system, contact them at 1-800-23-ROOFS or visit them online at gerardusa.com.
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