WHAT IS A ROOF "FAILURE"?
It's not enough for
consumers to only know
the "functional life" of a roofing
product.
It's more important to understand The
Re-Sale Window -
The age BEFORE shingles start
to show
obvious signs of imminent failure and cannot
pass a Five Year Certification Inspection.
When
homeowners try to sell their home, potential buyers
(actually the lenders) expect a Five Year
Certification
on the roofing and
normally require either the
replacement of roofing
or payment of a "roofing
allowance" whenever
roofing cannot pass a Re-Sale Inspection. Therefore, it's
critically important roofing has AT LEAST five
years more
when the home is sold.
This
is the critical "Re-Sale Window" for roofing
products. If the "functional life" of the Presidential
TL is 20 years
that DOES NOT mean shingles can
actually pass a Re-Sale Inspection at that time.
And
determination of "Failed"
roofing is
based on the WORST portion of the installation -
never on the
strongest area. It simply does not matter
if
the north-side of the roof is still in decent
condition... when shingles
on the south-side have already failed.
Paying $20,000 for Presidential
TL shingles today
may just be your
initial down payment
when it
requires replacement costs of over $40,000
(due to inflation) to Re-Sell in only 15 years.
And it may be very
little consolation to receive a claim payment of
$4,800 (12%) from CertainTeed.
This is the problem of intentionally marketing
roofing products with "inflated" warranties.
Whenever manufacturers
provide warranties of 30 years, 40 years and 50 years in order to "sell" products
that have
a documented history
of premature failure BEFORE
20 years - Many innocent families suffer
financial loss.
A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE
On the issue of failed / failing roofing, it's
important to understand that "expert" opinions
will reflect the fundamental
perspective of those expressing the opinion. And often the
difference between the perspective of (roofing)
Sellers
and the perspective of (roof) Buyers can be quite extreme.
Sellers (like CertainTeed) may consider roofing
"failed" when shingles pass their functional
lifespan and threaten
damage from leaking. Buyers (homeowners) may consider
"failure" to occur whenever the shingles are past
their
Re-Sale Window and require either replacement or payment of a
"Roofing Allowance" in order to sell their home.*
Sellers (like CertainTeed) may consider a
certain percentage of premature failures to be
acceptable because the
cost of paying claims is already built into the shingle price - and
very few failures get submitted as warranty
claims.
However, most buyers (homeowners) will consider ANY
premature failure to be unacceptable -
especially when the
warranty payment is just a small percentage of actual replacement
costs... and failure was expected by the Seller.
* Based on product design and proven
performance, there are only two (2)
conventional
fiberglass shingles that we find ANY evidence of
typical durability beyond 20 years. These
shingles are not popular products (in the
Seattle area) as most roofers don't tell
consumers
about the history of premature failures - and
the very limited durability of fiberglass
shingles.
Do you want to get the BEST VALUE on your
roofing project?
You will need Full Disclosure and Unbiased
Information.
Contact us for Specific Advice on your Project.
Free Consultation Anywhere in U.S.
Seattle Roof Broker
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Disclaimer: This is not an advertisement or a solicitation
and information is provided only as a public
service.
The information above is presented for educational
purposes only. The commentary and all
contents reflect
the professional opinion and experience of the author
alone and are subject to error or change without
notice.
The presence of a link to a website does not indicate
approval or endorsement of that website or any
product,
service or opinion that may be offered by them.
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