LESLIE: Ruth in New York is on the line and needs some help with a leaky roof. What’s going on?
RUTH: I have a three-family house that was built in 1974. It’s a flat roof and the pitch is forward. It has two scupper boxes and there seems to be – the water seems to come all the way down to the basement. And I don’t know how to find an hire the best roofing contractor or what roofing materials I should be looking for to fix the roof leak.
TOM: So it’s very simple. What I would do is I would go to HomeAdvisor.com. That’s a great source to find qualified roofers in your area. And I like it because you can read reviews on all of the roofers that are servicing that area and find those that have been rated highest by your neighbors. And this will give you a good place to start to find the best roofing contractor. And then you can have them come in and get some estimates.
In terms of that water control, yeah, you’re going to want to get that under control and you’re going to want to have a good set of gutter systems that collects that water and gets it away from the house. You can’t let it drain down because that’s what’s causing those flooding and those leaky issues.
But I would just go to HomeAdvisor if you don’t know anybody. They always say gets references or ask a friend. Well, that’s like a really big friend that you can ask because there’s just thousands and thousands of people that use that website. And this way, you’ll know which roofing contractors are really doing the best work. Because they can’t hide from that, you know? If they’re doing a good job, you’re going to see it there. And if they’re doing a lousy job, you’re going to see that, as well, OK?
RUTH: Do you think I should get the large gutters and leaders that – the commercial size?
TOM: Well, I’ll tell you what, on my house I’ve had both. I had the standard 4-inch – it’s called the “K-style gutter.” And now I have – when I did my roof last time, I went with the 6-inch. And I’m very, very happy with the 6-inch gutters, for a couple of reasons. First of all, gutters don’t clog nearly as much because they’re just bigger. And the downspouts are bigger, so they don’t get obstructed up there at the downspout. I don’t have any gutter guards on there and I’ve never had a clogged gutter and I think it’s been almost three years now. So pretty happy with that.
They’re also sturdier. They’re thicker and they’re heavier and I found that they weren’t all that much more expensive than the smaller gutters.
RUTH: Do you have any suggestions for the scupper boxes that – the house pitches forward and then there’s two scupper boxes that lead to the gutter.
TOM: Yeah. So the best roofing contractors will line that. And that’s sort of a special technique. And I actually had some of those on the flat section of my roof. And they line it and they use the right material, you don’t have to worry about it leaking, OK?
RUTH: OK. Thank you very much.
Leave a Reply