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Roofing/Celotex shingle warrantee

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Expert: Stan Skarbek - 9/14/2005


Question
I had a reroof done 8 yrs ago using Celotex, 25 yr warranteed, 3 tab shingle. This summer shingles started sliding off my roof.
The contractor who installed them says its a default in the shingle " they did not seal down " . He also says that Celotex filed chapter 11 in 1998 and will not honor the warrantee, so I need to buy a new roof again.
Is there someone I can contact, myself, to validate what I'm being told?
I'd appreciate any advice.

Answer
Hi Richard,
The short answer...
Celotex did indeed file bancruptcy and there's no money there for a person in your situation.

But you should know, the more likely explanation for your roofing problem is that there were mistakes made by the contractor, not the material itself.  In that case, you may be able to get the contractor to step up and do what's right.

The long answer...
Your contractor is partly right.  Celotex did file bancruptcy.  I strongly doubt that you'll have any luck getting any compensation from them.  Even before they filed bancruptcy, their warranty had so many qualifiers that most people wouldn't be able to get help from Celotex.  Before they filed bancruptcy, if your roofing contractor would be your advocate, Celotex would step up and do what's right, just because they need to sell more shingles to the roofing contractor.  But if a homeowner tried to deal with them, there were too many hoops and technicalities to make it worth the effort.  If you're interested in those sort of things, I could tell you about all the hoops.

If shingles are coming off your roof, you need to see if the shingles were nailed correctly.  There are several common mistakes...

...Lift the shingles apart so you can see where the nails are.  There should be 4 nails in each shingle and those 4 nails need to be on the nailing line, about 1/2" up from view.
...See if the nails (or staples) have been driven too deeply so that they go through most ofthe shingle.
...If nails were used instead of staples, see if the nail goes in at an angle, so that part of the head of the nail is cutting into the shingle.
...If the slope of the roof is particularly steep, then 6 nails per shingle are required.  If there are only 4, then the contractor made a mistake.

If the contractor looked at the roof, and saw those problems, and then blamed Celotex, that gives you an idea of who you're dealing with.  Hopefully, you have a reputatable contractor who just didn't notice the problem with the nailing, if indeed there is a problem there.

If you're not the sort of person who climbs up on roofs, you could ask your contractor if he double checked these issues.  If you have the least bit of distrust in his answer, then ask another contractor to look at it.

I hope that helps.  Feel free to follow up in the future.

Your roofer with a keyboard,
Stan Skarbek

Roofing

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Stan Skarbek

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I`ve been in roofing for 30 years. I`m a roofing contractor in California. I have in depth expertise in residential roofing, especially wood shakes and shingles, asphalt composition shingles, and to a somewhat lesser extent with hot tar systems, tile, and all the other residential systems on the market.

Experience

ROOFING..HISTORY........ My father was a roofing contractor in the 60's and 70's. I started roofing in 1972 when I was 18 years old, in Encinitas, California. Since 1975, I've been in San Jose, California. I earned my contractors license in 1977, when I was 23 years old, and immediately started a company. I did great on the roofing side of the company. The company grew very large, with my focus on the residential repair and reroofing market. Unfortunately, within 3 years my lack of business management education was shining through. I was bankrupt and I lost everything. In 1981, at 27 years of age, I partnered with two other men to start a new roofing company. Again, we did great on the roofing side, and the business grew, but we weren't doing very well managing the business. I had learned much during my experience with the first company, but I had more to learn. We sold the company in 1983 when I was 29 years old. During those two businesses, I was learning "Business Management" the hard way. After we sold that second roofing business, I dabbled in two other industries for four years, before picking up my roofing tools again. During the late 1980's I recieved some actual business education thanks to West Valley College of Saratoga, California. CURRENT..ROOFING..INVOLVEMENT........ I started my current business in 1990 and I'm pleased to say that I have both the roofing side and the business side all figured out now. I've done well in San Jose over the last 17 years. Maybe "30" is the age where you get your head screwed on straight, eh? A little maturity, a little bit of learning from past mistakes and a whole lot of "Business Management" textbook study? And out pops a healthy business. I've been keeping the business fairly small, doing what I do best and working with people with whom I actually enjoy doing business. I have a strong reputation around San Jose for being able to figure out problem leak situations. I do roof inspections and repairs. My focus is composition shingles, wood shakes, tile and hot tar systems. ABOUT..MY..FAMILY........ My wife and I have been married 31 years, (since 1975) and we are very much in love. We have 4 sons, born between 1977 and 1982. They've all done roofing at various times. The oldest graduated from Stanford with an Master's Degree in computer engineering. He works at Paypal. The second graduated from Vanguard University with a BA in Business Management. He started his own roofing company. This year he's gone back to school at Santa Clara University to get his law degree. One of my twin sons has an Economics degree from San Jose State University. He's received much acclaim for his economics work and his work has been published in economic journals around the world. He's currently in the PHD program at George Mason University. The other twin is the most courageous man I know. He recently won a terrible battle with cancer. It was a worse experience than you can imagine. It was an aggressive form of cancer that put him through hell, but now he's on the other side of the battle and the cancer lost. He has a great career working for San Jose State University in their shipping & receiving department. ABOUT..MY..FAITH........ No description of my life experience would be complete without mentioning my relationship with Jesus Christ. My faith in Christ is the guiding light that reaches into every area of my life. It affects how I treat my wife and kids. It affects how I conduct business. It affects how I align my priorities in life and why I say "no" to some things and "yes" to other things. Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for my sins so that I could be forgiven and restored to a relationship with God. Jesus stands at the door of every man's heart, knocking. If you'll humbly acknowledge your need for a savior and open the door, he will come in and make you alive. You can have a relationship with the living God. True freedom in life comes when you make yourself a servant... to Jesus Christ. There's the shortest sermon I ever preached :o)

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