LESLIE: Safety concerns don’t only occur inside of the house; they occur outside of the house. Peggy in Lake Tahoe, California has a question about shingles and if they’re a fire hazard.
Peggy, tell us about your roof.
PEGGY: Well, I was kind of wanting some advice. I do have a cedar shingle roof and I know that they’re very flammable and I’m just wondering this summer should I have it taken off and have something safer put on.
TOM: One of the downsides of wood shingle roofs is that they don’t last nearly as long as an asphalt shingle roof. I’ve seen them go in as quick as 15 years. This tells me that your roof was well put on: it was put on by a pro; they put it on with enough air underneath it so the shingles constantly dried out because, generally, if they’re too wet for too long they basically turn to mush.
Now, as to the fire hazard issue, yes; clearly, wood shingle roofs are a flammable product and so I would be hesitant to put a shingle roof on a home today. There is a new kind of shingle out today that did not exist in 1977, I believe, when you put this roof on.
LESLIE: And if you like the look of your shake shingle roof there’s a good option for you. They’re making one by Owens Corning which is an asphalt fiberglass and it’s made to look just like that shake shingle as well and that is flame-resistant and it’s also resistant to a 60-mile-per-hour wind.
TOM: And you can find that at your local Home Depot. There’s one in Carson City, another one in Reno right near you. And by putting that shingle on, you will have the appearance of a wood shake roof but you’ll have the safety and the durability of an asphalt shingle roof.
The way they’ve built these shingles, the way they’ve been able to manufacture shingles today has really come a long way. They actually put the granules on the shingle sort of one at a time in a pattern that creates the illusion of the shadow line that you might have with a real wood shake roof. So I think if you take a look at one of these roofs installed, you’ll be very happy with the way they actually look, Peggy.
PEGGY: So you would recommend that I maybe do this project this summer even though my roof seems to be fine?
TOM: I think it’s time. Yeah, I mean you’ve got 27 years out of that roof now. I think it’s time to give it a rest. Let’s retire that roof. It’s had a long, successful service life. Let’s present that roof with its gold watch for all of those years of service to your log home there in South Lake Tahoe and let’s put on a new roof; one that’s a little safer, little durable. Because you’re not going to want to go up there over the next few years if those shingles do finally start to break down and fly off and you certainly are not going to want to have the risk of a fire if, God forbid, something happened in your area in that beautiful wood setting that you live in.
PEGGY: Well that sounds like good advice.
TOM: Alright, Peggy. Thanks so much for calling 1-888-MONEY-PIT, 888-666-3974.
That sounded like a lovely home.
LESLIE: I know it does. I wish I was in the woods.
TOM: Yeah, in a nice, log cabin in the woods and with a beautiful cedar shake roof that’s time to replace it. And so we’re going to help Peggy do just that.
What do you want to repair, what do you want to replace? Give us a call right now. The number is 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
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