# Embossed Metal Shingles



## bmgilst (Jan 9, 2013)

Earlier in the year I was approached by a customer who was having severe leaks in a roof that is 106 years old. The roof is an embossed metal shingle roof over 1x8 wood boards. The front side of the house had coating on it in relatively good condition, but the back, where the leaks appeared to be coming from, had barely any coating left on it.

Amazingly enough there were still some old metal shingles left and we replaced the tiles that were obviously damaged. The next time it rained some water still got in, but the amount was drastically reduced. We came back, free of additional charge, and sealed another area. The next time it rained it leaked, but again it was reduced. 

I recommended sealing the back side of the roof with an elastomeric coating, as it needed it anyway and I thought it would also remedy the other less obvious areas that were leaking. We primed the rusted valleys, installed one coat on the back side of the roof and installed the top coat the next day. This reduced the leak to the point where it was barely a drop. We fixed some membrane that had come loose and didn't hear about it leaking again. 

I was contacted by the customer who wanted documentation for the insurance company, which I provided and he hired a mold removal specialist as there had been a lot of damage done ( especially prior to me ever doing any work there ) and there was extensive plaster work to be done as well as the ceiling had completely caved in prior to me doing the repairs. There was also a drop ceiling that had deteriorated which lead me to believe that the leak had been going on for a long amount of time, possibly years and from many locations. At my conversation with him towards the end of September, I enquired about the invoice and he said he would pay when everything got settled with the insurance company. I was told they were doing the mold mitigation so I figured the leak had been put to rest. 

Fast forward to today, and I receive an e-mail from the GC saying that they wanted my invoice to be withdrawn and that I was responsible for damages since the leak was not fixed. Prior to, during, and after the time that the repairs were being completed by me he had other contractors up on the roof working in the same area. Typically the only type of warranty I give on coating jobs is a system warranty from the manufacturer, but in this case a mistake ( on my part ) caused the invoice to read "5-Year Workmanship Warranty."

I wanted to get your guys thoughts on a few things:

1. I used a acrylic/urethane elastomeric coating on the embossed metal shingles. While this type of coating is typically used for standing seam metal roofs, I don't know of a better option then this for a embossed metal shingle. Do you guys think this was the wrong application?

2. Even though I mistakenly marked the invoice as having a workmanship warranty, other roofers were working on the roof without my knowledge after the coating was done without my knowledge. My warranties that I hand out on warrantied projects specifically void the warranty if work in performed on the roof system by other contractors. I would imagine that my liability here is fairly small, especially since the invoice was never paid and it was an ongoing issue, correct?

3. If they were going to hold me liable for damages occuring after the coating of the metal, then I would assume that I would need to be notified that there were damages occuring. Most of our conversation was through e-mail and texts, and I received no notification by either form ( or phone ) after last repair we did that the roof was still leaking. 

I oversee, depending on weather conditions, 500-750 roof installations per year, and I'm happy to say that currently none of the roofs that I've overseen in the last five years ( those still under warranty ) have ongoing leaks to my knowledge. Our company has been in the family for over fifty years and I try to do what's right and help keep the company's good name and run a straight up business. I feel like this is one of those situations that we really tried to do what was right and we would have kept working at it until the issue was resolved. I just wanted to get a take on it from a few people in the same position as me.


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