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Friends:<br><br>
Two weeks ago we had a torrential downpour in our area-- about 4 inches
overnight. I received a call Sunday morning from a client who we
had installed a roof mount system for almost 5 years ago. Their
roof was leaking!<br><br>
I hurried right over in the rain and sure enough, there was a leak right
below one of our feet placements. I inspected the caulking, and
though it was not as pretty as I might have done myself, there was no
apparent leak path. Seeing no other apparent reason for the leak, I
assumed it was through our penetration. I re-sealed the two
penetrations nearest the leak and promised the home owner I would take
care of all repairs..<br><br>
That evening the client called and the roof was leaking again. This
seemed unlikely since I had carefully sealed my penetrations. Upon
further inspection, there was a valley near the leak and there was a tiny
little sand dam in the valley.<br><br>
The next clear day, I hired a local, large, well known, reputable roofing
contractor to deconstruct the valley. My arrangement with the
client was: If the leak was not caused by my work, I pay
nothing. If I caused the leak, I pay for everything, (including
ceiling repair). It turns out the valley was installed incorrectly
with many deficiencies: There was no paper in the valley, there
were nails through the sheet metal, there was no mastic and the sheet
metal was allowed to bulge up to allow a sub-valley away from the actual
center of the valley and there was a hole in the paper right above the
leak.<br><br>
This same thing happened to us a year ago on a tile roof. We were
able to deconstruct the valley ourselves and the roofing estimator who
had originally blamed us came right back over and verified we were not to
blame.<br><br>
I am relating this to the Wrenches list because any of you could have
this happen to you. The moral: Don't be quick to accept blame
for a roof leak. Inspect valleys carefully for debris.
Shingles or tile should not encroach too closely to the center of the
valley. Look for mastic under the shingles. Don't be afraid
to lift tiles and look for water staining and debris trails.<br><br>
Good luck out there!<br><br>
William Miller<br><br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3>William Miller <br>
Miller Solar<br>
Voice :805-438-5600<br>
email: william@millersolar.com<br>
<a href="http://millersolar.com/" eudora="autourl">http://millersolar.com<br>
</a>License No. C-10-773985<br>
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