Roofing paper is not required by the building codes, although some do now require a plastic or rubber membrane on the lower overhang that extends up the roof to a point 18 inches inside the exterior wall. Although felt paper is not required on the rest of the roof, most shingle manufacturers do r...
Marie-Paule from Labelle, Quebec gave me the greatest compliment. She sent in a question in French and said that she watches the program all the time but doesn't understand English. I guess our models and graphics are doing some good.She was asking me how to paint her metal roof because she was...
Cindy from Ajax, Ontario writes: We have an L shaped house, and our roof is in need of re-shingling (we are considering asphalt shingles). Where the two roof slopes meet in the centre of the "L" there is a major valley, quite long, with steep pitch. This valley is currently an open valley...
Yvonne wrote: At the Kitchen & Bath Show in Ottawa you mentioned that vaulted ceilings are a problem in Canada's climate. We are currently designing a new home and wondered if you could tell us how to avoid problems later through proper construction, insulation, air space etc.. Or is it be...
Paint like coatings have been around for a long time claiming to extend the life of your roof for years. Until the late 90's they actually didn't do much more than camouflage a dying leaking roof -- the problem being that things move up there from full sunlight to cold nights, from hot summers t...
Getting something to stick to asphalt or asphalt coated materials is a unique problem. Asphalt driveways have their own specific crack sealers and roofing materials generally use what we call "Plastic Cement". (One exception to this is a specially formulated polyurethane adhesive that will work...
Most flat top roofs are made up of layers of asphalt, roofing paper, asphalt, roofing paper, asphalt, roofing paper, and then gravel. Although most leaks are caused by damaged or poor flashings, the built up membrane itself can get old and worn.The gravel serves to keep the UV rays of the sun aw...
Sheila writes from Ottawa : Hi there. I will try to make this as easy as I can however, it may not be.I purchased a brand new home from a very reputable builder in 1999 and took possession in December of that same year. December led into January and towards the end of January I began to experienc...
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia is home to a peculiar house with a concrete roof. The roof is now leaking and Ron would like to know how to seal it.Many good coatings are available, but all of them will eventually need maintaining and may even develop leaks from weathering -- as has happened with the pre...
We would like to think that roofing systems today are well thought out, easy to assemble and trouble free. And then there is the real world. We went to the manufacturers of roofing systems and roofing components to get a handle on what are some of the real world field problems that shouldn't be...
