The roof... the roof... the roof is on... er, broken

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

Here's the obligatory roof question for the day.

A few years back I bought a new house. It had just been built. (in 2003). Then last week, we had some rather strong winds. Afterwards, I noticed the peak of the roof has some loose shingles that are sticking up and flapping around up there.

The house is 3 years old. The house has two warranties: Builder's warranty for 1 year and structural warranty for 10 years. Which do you suppose the roof falls under? Being a Sunday I can get no answers from the homebuilder and I want to have my plan of action ready for tomorrow. I looked through all my paperwork and perhaps I missed it, but I can't find detailed warranty info anywhere.

Anyone know how expensive roof work can get? If they just need to climb up there and tar down a few shingles, would it be a few hundred bucks? A thousand? Worth filing an insurance claim if it's not warrantied? My house is two floors tall and I don't have a ladder tall enough to get up there and see just how bad it is or isn't; from below it just *looks* like loose tiles.

 

[T9D]

Well the buliders warrenty would hav covered it but that's obviously expired. So thats not an option. Unless you tell them and they decide to just be nice and fix it.

The structural warranty sounds more like something that covers larger things like foundation or framing, or if the whole roof actually blew off etc. I'm thinking you'll just have to pay a roofer to do the small repair. But it's worth at least calling and finding out.

I'm thinking it wont cost more than a couple hundred dollars.

 

[bctbct]

not a structural problem. probably cost less than a $150

 

[Greenman]

It's wind damage, so it's not under warranty unless you can prove the shingles were installed wrong.
You refered to the roof as shingles and tile, but since it would take 150mph winds to damage a tile roof, I'm going guess it's wood shingles or comp. In either case, if it's just the ridge thats damaged it shouldnt be more than a few hundred bucks to fix.
Your homeowners insurance should cover it.

 

[waggy]

yeap its wind damage wich is usually not covered.

anyway is it really hard to figure out wich to use when one is expired?

 

[DrPizza]

Except most people have a deductible on their homeowners insurance...
Before you even contact insurance about it, see what the cost of repairs would be. There's an incredible variation in costs geographically. I'd guess $20 for materials and $50 for bothering to fix it, but that's in my area.

 

[d3n]

Might be a project you could do yourself depending on how steep it is. Normally with old roofs this is trouble since they crack when you try to bend the shingles up to slide the new ones in. With only three years they should still be flexible. Its that time of year to get up there and check your gutters anyhow.

geh, If roofers come out to fix it go over your lawn and driveway with a fine tooth comb. These guys seem horrible about leaving nails behind.

 

[Greenman]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Except most people have a deductible on their homeowners insurance...
Before you even contact insurance about it, see what the cost of repairs would be. There's an incredible variation in costs geographically. I'd guess $20 for materials and $50 for bothering to fix it, but that's in my area.

Wow, around here, you can't get a contractor to answer his phone for fifty bucks. (I know cause I am one).

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

Thanks for the good advice everyone. I would like to get up on the roof (it's not TOO steep; maybe 30 degree incline?) but I don't have a ladder that will reach 20 feet up. Perhaps I should buy one...it's something I should have anyway, because I'm sure the gutters could use periodic cleaning and who knows when else I might need it. But I don't know the first thing about roofwork... I have no idea how to re-attach loose shingles. From what I can see... it appears the loose parts are the angled shingles that form the top "ridge" at the highest part of the roof.

 

[Greenman]

If you can get to it, and get me a pic, I can tell you how to repair it.