Roofing With Pro Guard Roofing, LLC

I recently spent a few days working with Pro Guard Roofing, LLC, a local company based out of Huntington, WV. Operating in the tri-state area, the Pro Guard management has over a decade of roofing experience and currently works on residential and commercial roofs. From rubber roofing to shingles to metal, the Pro Guard team knows what they are doing.

           I wanted to partner with a local company who had a good name and reputation to be my Preferred Roofing Contractor, the main company I highlight and refer for roofing work. For my Preferred Contractors, there is stringent criteria they have to meet. They have to have several years of experience in their field, a 5-star review on google, a good name in the industry, and they have to be professionals that I have worked with or observed work being performed.

            As an inspector I know how an attic/roof system is framed and I know how shingles are supposed to be, and not be, installed. But there’s always a benefit of doing something firsthand. It lets you appreciate it more; gives you a more thorough understanding.

            When I arrived on Monday I talked a lot with the owner and his crew about what was going on with the roof and how they were going to fix it.

The owner and his most experienced roofer were working on repairing the rafters, while his team were getting the roof ready for the next day’s shingles. The rafters had withdrawn from the ridge board and were no longer secured. They were just sitting there with thousands of pounds of plywood and shingles pushing them down. That’s a recipe for disaster.

The area had to be opened up and repaired before anything else could be done. The old shingles and wood were removed. The rafters had to be secured to the ridge board using new boards (complete replacement would have involved ripping up and reframing more members, adding cost and time to the project that was unnecessary). These bridged the gap between the rafters that had withdrawn. Then a knee wall was installed to give the rafters extra support.

The rafters withdrew from the ridge board. This was due to insufficient strength causing the nails to withdrawal over time. Also notice the rafters are not exactly opposite one another. This was common practice in the past but is not done anymore in new construction.

At the points where the rafters had pulled back it was impossible to resecure them as they had shrunk and deflected too severely over time. Instead 2x4s were run from near the bottom of the old rafters to the ridge board. This avoids having to tear up the entirety of the old roofing system while fixing the structural problems.

The fresh wood below the rafters is a knee wall that was constructed to give additional support to the rafters. The rafters are jacked up to ensure they are level. Then the knee wall is installed, creating a rigid and strong structure. The jack can then be removed.

Complete removal and replacement of the entire rafter system could have been done, but was beyond the scope of this roof job and unnecessary for proper roofing functionality.

            It is important to note the basic structure of the attic and roof. There are two types of attic/roof systems popular today: truss and rafter systems. Today we are only talking about rafters, which is the traditional method of constructing a roof system that this house had.

            A traditional rafter system is also referred to as “stick built”. In this system, rafters are placed from the exterior walls up at an angle and meet in the center at a ridge beam or board. This angle determines the slope, or steepness of the roof (the steeper the roof, the longer the shingles will last generally). Then a sheathing is installed over these (traditionally wood, nowadays almost always plywood or OSB due to cost). Then felt is installed, and then the roof covering materials, in this case shingles.

            The board where the two sides of rafters meet is a ridge board or a ridge beam. A ridge board is nonstructural; a ridge beam is structural, and is necessary under certain circumstances, such as having cathedral or other wide ceiling/roof systems. In ridge beams, sometimes the rafters sit on top of the beam, as opposed to being nailed to it. Ridge beams usually have vertical posts supporting them as well.

This image is similar to the house we were on. The ridge board at the top connects the two sides of rafters and is non structural. These are common rafters. Valley rafters form the angle between the two hip roofs meeting. You’ll notice in this image that there is additional bracing beneath the common rafters of this roof. This is not a knee wall, it is a purlin systems. It serves the same purpose of a knee wall in strengthening the rafters, however, purlins transfer the load to interior load bearing walls that may not be directly beneath them (notice the angle is not straight down).

            After reattaching the rafters here, they put new sheathing over it. As mentioned, traditional sheathing involves wood boards spread over the roof. This is still done occasionally nowadays but is incredibly expensive. Plywood is much cheaper than solid wood, and OSB is cheaper than plywood. The vast majority of roofs today are sheathed with OSB.

            OSB and plywood are similar in strength (plywood is slightly stronger, but this is usually not a factor) and both fairly flexible, which is a good thing when it comes to sheathing a roof or house exterior. Solid wood is always going to be stronger than plywood or OSB but is less flexible. Wood shrinks and expands over time depending on moisture in the air. OSB and plywood expand very little, which is one of the reasons they are so popular in modern construction.

            Another reason they are popular is that they provide cross-bracing lateral support. When the exterior of a home is constructed, it must be cross braced against lateral (horizontal) forces, otherwise, it can be blown over by the wind. Likewise, on a roof, rafters need something to sheath or bridge over them to provide additional strength and allow the shingles to rest upon. Plywood and OSB are a better choice than solid wood to do this because they are made in large squares and cover a bigger area than a single board. Essentially, it takes the loose members of the wall/rafters and makes them a cohesive unit. The wall or roof system is stronger after the plywood or OSB is installed.

           After fixing this area, Pro Guard turned to the section below. The homeowner wanted this area repaired. As it was, water was not being properly directed off the roof. The area was too flat, and needed to be fixed. Pro Guard decided to construct a new valley here.

            They constructed a knee wall out from the side, then installed rafters over it which intersected the previous roof, then sheathed over it. And voila, it was done.

The original valley rafters are in the center. The board on the right will be the fascia for the new section.

This is an asbestos pipe. If you see a pipe like this in your home you should contact an HVAC professional about encapsulation. Removing asbestos is usually more dangerous than leaving it. In many cases it is better to wrap it with a material designed to prevent the fibers from getting airborne (called encapsulation).

An asbestos pipe INSIDE should be fixed by a professional. An asbestos pipe on the roof is not as big a concern, although the attic portions may need attended to.

These rafters will form the new roof. Adding sections on top of others is completely fine as long as structural considerations are made and the work is done properly. I’ve been in attics that had been built up multiple times. It can make it difficult to see in all the nooks and crannies though.

After the rafters are installed the OSB sheathing is installed. If you look at the wood sheathing to the left you’ll see it’s sagging a little. There was another problem here that had to fixed.

Monday closed out by laying down felt over all unfinished areas. No rain was expected this week, but this was still a necessary step. The next day involved tearing off the last portions of the old roof, and finalizing this valley area. The OSB portion on the right side was nearly done, but there was a lot of work remaining on the left side where the wood boards were. There was significant sagging here. We weren’t sure what it was until the sheathing was removed and we could look in.

As it turned out, the cause of the sagging rafters was ductwork. These ducts were secured to the rafters above. These rafters were overextended and not designed for this extra weight. Over time this caused the rafters that were attached to the ducts to sag while the others remained where they were, creating ripples in the roof. Oftentimes ripples are cosmetic, but they can cause leaks. Here we didn’t observe any indications of active leaking. Cosmetically, it looks terrible.

The Pro Guard team jacked these rafters up and installed another knee wall. This got rid of almost all the sag. Only a very minor cosmetic variation remained. One that probably wouldn’t be noticeable from the ground anyways. A knee wall would have prevented this from the beginning.

That’s the problem with construction. When somebody modifies a system without an engineer’s approval, especially decades after it was installed, sometimes you run into problems like this. Too much weight, too little support, and things will sag, bow, warp, bend, and break.

Jacking the rafters up with the use of a chalk line to ensure they are level. The knee wall is installed and the jack removed. The rafters can then be sheathed and felt and shingles installed.
Had this knee wall or a purlin system been installed these rafters would not have sagged.

This was the problem. These rafters were too long and without any purlin or knee wall bracing, they couldn’t handle any extra weight. They were not engineered for this.

This whole right side with the OSB sheathing is over the existing roof. Before this water did not have an effective drainage pathway. See the picture below as to what it looked like before.

Remember that before the new valley was installed this was the roof. This whole area was relatively flat and not allowing water to drain properly. Water that can’t drain effectively will degrade shingles quicker and can lead to leaks.

After the valleys were corrected and all the old roofing materials and damaged boards removed and replaced, it was time to nail down the felt and start the shingles.

Shingles need to be nailed with 4 nails per course (in high wind and coastal areas it’s 6), but the starter strip needs 6 nails. Also, shingles need to be offset by 6 inches. What this means is you put your starter strip at the edges of roof, then you start laying courses of shingles on them. But every time you go up a row you have to cut another six inches off so that when laid, the seams of shingle courses do NOT match up with the ones below or above. That’s a recipe for water getting onto the felt. Felt is not waterproof, it is water resistant for emergencies, but it is not suitable for continuous exposure to water.

            Also, before the shingles go down drip edge flashing is installed at the eaves of every roof area. This is a strip of metal that cups edges and corners of roofs so that any water that gets under the last shingle doesn’t come into contact with the wood fascia board but rolls down the metal and then falls to the ground. This is essential to prevent leaks and wood rot.

Felt bottom, utility knife to cut shingle courses, and nail gun to speed things along. Notice the shingles are offset 6 inches. This is very important. The bottom portion of the shingle is what’s visible once the roof is done. The top portion is the black gritty portion. When you lay shingles you lay the bottom of one course over the top of the next. You nail the shingle to the roof through the black and white strip separating the two. This has adhesive on it; when the sun heats the roof this adhesive bonds to the shingle above it and the nails creating a strong unit.

Nails have to be covered by the next layer of shingles. Exposed nails create an opening for water to get into the home. Over time the heat from the sun will cause metal nails to expand and contract and they will sometimes withdraw. These nail pops are common and are indicated by an uplifted shingle. They need to be nailed back down and sealed to prevent water leaks.

After the shingles were laid the only thing that remained was the rubber roof. Rubber roofing is installed on roofs that are too low slope for shingles. This is often referred to as flat roofing. No roof is truly flat, but the incline is so small it can appear so.

            Rubber roofing is very common on commercial properties. On residential properties, it is mainly used on porch awnings, the bottoms of valleys where there is a nearly flat area, and over additions and garages. It is rare for an entire residential roof to be rubber.

         Rubber roofing is known for leaking. On average a repair is necessary within 5-15 years. The reason is that imperfections in the framing of low pitch or “flat” roofs oftentimes cause small areas where water pools and cannot drain. Overtime this will cause damage and leaks. It is possible for leaks to occur at the seams and transition areas of rubber roofs. As the rubber itself is water proof (which is why it is used in areas too flat for shingles, which are not waterproof), these are the areas that are most susceptible of leaking.

The rubber roofing area had an active leak according to the homeowner. It wasn’t hard to find out where it was coming from.

This area was where two areas of the shingle roof met the flat roof. That’s mold that was growing underneath the rubber. There was also a lot or rotten wood here. This transition between the two areas was the source of the active leak the homeowner had told us about. The metal strip to the left is valley flashing, a piece of metal that goes in the seam of valleys as an added layer of protection against water.

            The old rubber was removed and the rotten wood had to be cut out and replaced with new wood.

Afterwards the entire area has to be swept clear of trash and debris. Side note, if you ever get the opportunity to run one of these, they’re quite fun. Basically a broom on wheels with a magnet that picks up nails.

After clearing the area the process for laying the rubber can start. Insulation boards are laid across the area and a layer of glue is applied. The glue is left alone for a short while before the rubber is applied. The rubber is then smoothed out using a broom or other similar process and it begins drying. This process is repeated until all areas are covered.

            The seams where different plys of rubber meet must then be taped to prevent water from getting in between them and leaking. The edges of the rubber must also be taped. The rubber has to be carefully installed around corners to prevent the possibility of gaps that water could get into. Lastly, the rubber is applied to the transition with proper flashing and shingles overlapping them. Remember, everything on your roof and exterior is designed to shed water down, off, and away. Asphalt shingles and felt are not waterproof, but they do shed water very well. Rubber roofing is waterproof, but the seams and transition areas must be overlapped to avoid leaks.

        Pro Guard is a team of experienced roofers that know what they are doing. They have the skill to get the job done and they were professional in how they interacted with the homeowners. They are affordable and use quality products. Pro Guard has met the criteria necessary to become my Preferred Roofing Contractor. They have a good name in the community, a 5 star review on google, several years of roofing and business experience, and I’ve worked with them at least once. I plan to work with them more in the future and recommend them for all your roofing needs.

If you are need of residential or commercial roofing work done you can contact the owners below.  

Joe       (304) 962-4709

Shane (304) 962-7380