How Long Should Roof Repairs Be Guaranteed?

Admin

Roof 3

It is holiday time, and you are having relatives visit your home and stay in your attic guest room. In the middle of the night, your guests feel a breeze followed by a drip. You realize that there is a leak in your roof, but you are not sure if you should call a roofer and pay for the repair or call the roofer who did your last repair and demand that they fix it.

Roofs do not last as long as the homes they sit on and will need to be repaired from time to time. Any professional roofer will guarantee their work for a certain amount of time. You should read your contract carefully to make sure that the amount of time specified is fair.

Types of Roofing Warranties 

According to the website https://www.roofingbyelite.com/services/roof-repair/, roof repair can be a major expense, so they come with warranties. There are two main types of warranties that roofers offer. 

Roof 4

Manufacturer’s Warranty

If you have a shingle roof, the shingles themselves should be guaranteed by the manufacturer. They will often come with a limited lifetime warranty. Such a warranty will cover the replacement of shingles if they are faulty. If the shingles are more than a few years old, the roofing company is likely to depreciate the value of the shingles. 

Some warranties guarantee the shingles for the life of the house, and others will base the guarantee on the life expectancy of the type of shingle that you have. Different materials have different life expectancies, but most manufactures will offer an extended warranty for an additional price.

  • Composition Shingles: 12 to 20 years
  • Wood Shingles: 20 to 25 years
  • Asphalt Shingles: 15  to 30 years 

Although the manufacturer may guarantee the shingles, they will not pay for the cost of replacement. A roofer will charge you to remove the old shingles and put in the new ones. The manufacturer’s warranty will specify that it only covers defects at their factory and not problems resulting from poor installation. 

Unethical manufacturers may try to get out of honoring their warranty by claiming that a roofer mislaid the shingles. You may have to do research and talk to other people who have bad shingles from the same manufacturer to prove that they were indeed at fault.

Workmanship Warranty

A workmanship warranty will come from the contractor you hired to repair or replace your roof. You should always hire a trained, licensed contractor with plenty of experience. Roofing work requires a skilled and steady hand because a single misstep can make your roof susceptible to leaks.

A legitimate roofing company will always guarantee its work. They should be willing to replace or repair any materials that were not installed properly. There will normally be a clause in the warranty absolving them of blame if a natural disaster damages your roof or if you altered their work in some way. 

Be sure to ask plenty of questions about the warranty before you sign a contract. If the contractor is excused from blame due to a natural disaster, ask what products they recommend to protect your home from rain, ice, and wind. Although a contractor may not cause it to rain or snow, poorly installed shingles can leave a home vulnerable to those conditions. 

Your home should be a safe and comfortable sanctuary. Reading contracts carefully and doing your research can help keep the roof over your head a solid one. 

How Long Should Roof Repairs Be Guaranteed? was last modified: by