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Joe Myers · Guest

Help,

I came accross a couple of shingle roof's and the shingles were not flexible. I have read on other posts that flexibility is a good indicator of age and condition. Meaning that the more flexible they are the better their condition.

These shingles were not flexible at all. On the corner I tried to bend them back and they were hard and broke off. If I understand they correctly this means the shingles are pretty much shot and will need replaced.

The shingles were starting to curl, cup and crack. My question is, in this kind of weather (cold) will the shingles still be flexible? What they said seemed to make sense, along with the other indicators this roof needed replacing. Can anyone give me some advise on whether this is correct?

Joe Myers

jremas · Guest

Red brick chimney, unable to see any flashing or if it even cut into the mortar joint due to the amount of tar build up around the chimney from a recent (5year ago) asphalt shingle replacement (12/4 pitch & 2 layers). Since we cannot see through the tar & are non-invasive, do we just document what we see? No visible signs of active or previous moisture problem from the inside of the attic. Thoughts?

Erby · Guest

I usually state:

What I see.

What I should see.

Ramifications of the issue.
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The roof is a 4/12 pitch with two layers of composite asphalt shingles. The top layer of shingles appear to be about ?? years old. Any future roof replacement will require a complete tear off of the existing shingles.

Due to the amount of tar build up around the chimney, I couldn't determine if there is any flashing around the chimney or if it's properly installed. This much tar buildup is not normal even with a second layer of shingles added.

A workmanlike installation would leave the flashing exposed for inspection.

I did not see any signs of previous or active moisture problems from the inside of the attic. You should ask the seller why it was installed this way seeking knowledge of past problems. You should also closely monitor this are for future leaks.
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Just a note, most roofers put the pitch first and the 12 last as in 4/12 or 7:12.

Erby

jremas · Guest

Posted: Jan 5, 2003 10:11 PM Post subject:

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Thanks for the reply. I had a little bout of dyslexia ( is that spelled right) anyway, i appreciate the information. With that, here is a question for everyone: Does anyone check the pitch of roofs and document it? Any asphalt shingle roofs with a 4/12 pitch down to 2/12 are ok with some special requirements. What are they? Anything less than 2/12 should not be asphalt.

Bob Willis · Guest

Jeff, Asphalt shingles rely on overlapping to prevent water from infiltrating the roof. As the roof pitch lessens from 4/12 down to 2/12 the overlap should be increased to promote better coverage. We used the term (back in my carpentry days) "to the weather!" meaning the exposed part of the tabs that still showed in each row. I don't recall the exact different measurements used for this, it started somewhere around 4" for normal installation then dropped maybe a 1/2" for low pitched roofs to 3 1/2" I think. I believe the individual manufacturers labels indicate the exposure for this. Hope it helps, Bob