What is a guaranteed roof repair?

The most common reason a homeowner wants a roof repair is when there is a leak happening.

Sometimes, homeowners are more pro-active and want their roof repaired just in case there is a future problem brewing. But this is the minority.
So, how do we approach our leaking roof repairs?

“When you challenge someone to a fight, you don’t need to be sure that you will win. You just need to be sure that you can go the distance…”

Jack Yuen

A guaranteed repair to a leaking roof – what are the challenges?

  • You will lose money and go broke!
  • What if you don’t know where the leak is coming from?
  • What if you don’t know how to fix the roof leak?
  • What if the roof is a ‘can of worms’
  • How long do you guarantee the roof leak repair for?
  • What if the homeowner does not pay up?
  • What if everything goes wrong?

Losing Money and going broke doing guaranteed roof repairs

Initially, I was scared.

Little expertise and little capital.

The risk of losing money on a roof repair job was quite substantial. A few losing jobs and I could be going broke!

So I understand the situation of many roof repairers starting off a business repairing leaking roofs. They are reluctant to offer any sort of firm roof repair guarantee that would jeopardise their livelihood.

There is nothing like experience to hammer in life’s realities.

After tens of thousands of successful leaking roof repairs under our belts, I can confirm that sometimes we lose money on a job. But losing money on a few roof repair jobs and going broke are two quite independent outcomes.

We have a lot more successful roof repairs that are profitable and therefore we are a long way from going broke…

Sometimes, we underestimate the work involved in fixing a roof leak. And we pay for it.
…But we learn from those jobs and these experiences eventually pay us back big time!

Why is the roof leaking?

No leaks after heavy rain😁

happy times

Picture this roof that was leaking…….

Skylights and flat metal roofs tangled up with a slate roof. If this was not enough of a challenge, there were multiple leaks. And to top it all off, a roofer had tried many times before to fix the leaks – unsuccessfully.

There were at least 5 different reasons for the leaks that we could make out. The home owner was close to giving up. He was contemplating new replacement roofs.

When I told my roofers that I had taken this roof repair job on, there were a few ‘dropped jaws”…
This was going to be one big challenge.

My guys fixed up all our ‘known’ reasons why the roof was leaking. And they waited for the next big rain.
“… still a couple of small leaks coming through” was the response.
Back again they went. More brain power to figure out where the ‘unlikely’ sources may be.

And further repairs.

Then we had the long dry period.

“…still leaking” was the response. Back we went.

Then heavy rain and hail.

Then came the above confirmation of a dry home…. At last!

We can always figure out where a leak is coming from. It just takes a few times if there are multiple sources contributing to one observed leak.

How do we fix a roof leak?

With a multitude of roof repair options at our disposal, we know how to fix any roof leak…. But only once we have figured out where the source of the leak is.

The HOW? was once a problem.
It is now totally replaced by the WHY?

“Can of Worms” roof leaks

Leaking roof can be a can of worms

“You just wouldn’t open a can of worms”

… Just as we would not open up a roof that is obviously a ‘can of worms”.

But the problem is that our perception has moved to a point where we think we can fix ANY roof leaks.

So, we often open up roofs that are ‘cans of worms” . Somehow, my roofers always manage to contain things and very little of the worms have escaped!

Roof still leaking after repair – how long is the warranty?

“If a roof repair is shown to be successful after the first big rain event, then chances are that it will not leak for years to come”

My roofers ‘crack up’ when they hear of roofers giving roof repair warranties that are measured in months. This is because my roofers measure their roof repair work in years.

I like the number 7
So, we simply offer a 7 year warranty.

We have been around for decades –so there is a likely chance that we will be around for another 7 years.
Even though the typical marriage struggles to get past the ‘7-year itch’!

What else can go wrong with a roof repair?

We make mistakes.
Not everyone is honest.
Not everyone pays.
Sure. Murphy’s Law applies.

But we have found over the years that if we keep moving forward, there are lots of people who like what we do and support us well along the way.

Check out our HOME page for more on roof repairs in Sydney

Why replace a tile roof with a colorbond roof?

Why fix it if it ain’t broke?

replace concrete tile roof with colorbond roof

This is what Tom did!

Tom had an old  tiled roof.

It happened to be old concrete roof tiles and he often wondered about its age and whether it was time for a new roof. Initially, it was a low priority item for him because he had just spent a few bucks on a new kitchen.

… Until a storm showed up.

The kitchen ceiling started to drip. It was an emergency but there were no roofers to be found.

“… it is against Occupational Health and Safety regulations to send a roofer up on a wet roof in windy and wet conditions…” – was a typical response.

Only the SES could help (apparently they worked under a different set of laws?).

“ An old dried up tree branch fell off the back gum tree. It cracked a couple of roof tiles. We have put a tarp over the area and you will need to get a roofer out when the weather gets better…” The SES guys were great.

Storms keep roofing crews busy – and it was a good two weeks before a roofer was able to peel the tarp off and take a look.

“…Yep. A couple of cracked roof tiles. They are ‘Boral Windsors’. Bloody hard to find replacement for these now since Boral stopped producing Windsors a few years back…

Lucky for you I have about 5 in my yard”

This was the good news.

The roofer had more to say….

“ You will need more work on your ridge capping because the broken tiles are directly under the ridges… Also, there are quite a few loose ridges. Maybe the SES or just a maintenance thing…

Probably about $3000 to do a proper fix.”

 

Time to make an executive decision.

For Tom, it was decision time.

He had a healthy balance on his line of credit.

The roof showed multiple dips (maybe because the roof tiles were too heavy?)

The roofer had said that if there was sarking under this roof tiles, then maybe it would have kept the kitchen dry.

The roof was hot – even though he had put a couple of whirly birds in a couple of summers before…

So Tom started researching.

He was after a roof that could withstand a falling branch. Looked good and straight. Had less maintenance issues …and a bit cooler.

Initially, he was looking for a new replacement tile roof. Then he read all the talk on the internet about colorbond roofs.

He Googled ‘replace tile roof with colorbond roof’…. And up popped a whole page published by a roofing materials supplier called ‘No 1 Roofing’.

All the pros and cons of tile vs colorbond roofs.

Tom made a decision. It was too easy…

It was going to be a new colorbond roof!

… Now, all he had to do was find a good roofer.

 

…………………………………………………………………………..

replace terracotta roof with colorbond roof

It was 2014 and Terry saw the Colorbond ad on TV.

One day…. He was going to be able to run out in his pyjamas and admire his new colorbond roof. His old terracotta tiled roof looked crap, the tiles were very fragile. And the look of the tiles did not match with the other metal roofs that were hanging off it…

Terry also thought: Maybe new guttering…and colorbond fascia covers…

That was Terry’s dream.

In 2017, It came true…

 

…………………………………………………..

When roof tiles just don’t work on a roof…

replace leaking low pitched roof tiles with colorbond

 

“… it is just criminal how builders and roof tiles get away with their ignorance and laziness about where tiles just don’t work!” – my roofers regular rant.

It is a fact that most roof tiles struggle to keep the heavy rain out when they are laid at anything less than 20 degrees.

Roof tile manufacturers say that putting sarking under their tiles will stretch the minimum tile roof slope to as flat as 15 degrees. If you read between the lines, this reads: “We know that the tiles will leak – but the sarking will catch the leaking water and carry it to the eaves. Hopefully, no water will reach the internal ceilings…”

… And they are mostly right.

Until 10 or so years go by.

The battens that sit on the top of the sarking, goes through hundreds of wet/dry cycles and start rotting. The roof tiles lose their support and collapse to a flatter position and cause more leakage. This is when water starts dripping onto the ceiling.

When it comes to roof pitch versatility, Colorbond metal roofs come out the clear winner over roof tiles. You can build a colorbond metal roof from 1 degree to a 90 degree pitch. You just cannot do it with tiles.

Some tiles are better than others…

Terracotta tiles are generally better at handling the lower pitches. The interlocking upstream edge will prevent water from overflowing the top edge of the tile.

Concrete roof tiles do not come with any ridging on the upstream edge. Water will run over the top edge as the roof pitch dips below 20 degrees.

The flat profile concrete tiles tend to be worst. They leak everywhere…

…. And then you have leaves.

Trees are great.

But they drop leaves on the roof.

Leave clog up the water courses of roof tiles and block the natural flow of water down the tiles (especially flat concrete tiles).

 

Colorbond roof replacement leaves on flat concrete tiles

In our many years of replacing tile roofs with colorbond roofs, we consistently come up against the two main enemies of roof tiles.

Trees and low pitches.

So when you are considering a tile roof, you need to take these into account first. You may end up going with colorbond.

I often tell people that I am extremely biased towards colorbond – BUT they need to take it with a grain of salt because we only do colorbond roof replacements.

Of course we are biased.

The No 1 Roofing post I mentioned earlier is an independent view about replacing tile roofs with colorbond. It does have a lot more information about the topic than I have covered above.

Pop over there for a read: http://www.no1roofing.com.au/replace-tile-roof-with-colorbond/

Then come back and make contact if you are thinking of a colorbond roof replacement.