Roof Repair

by hummingbird » Sat Mar 08, 2008 01:38 pm

Someone I know has a roof leak. What they are wanting to know is,if the insurnace company wrote a check to tear off the old shingles and then put on new ones,do they have to do that? They only have one layer of shingles,they wanted to put the new ones over these,are they allowed to do that and keep the money for the tear off?They thought sense it only had one layer it would be good to put this second layer on top.Otherwise they will have to pay out I think because of the deductable.

Total Comments: 14

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 06:28 pm Post Subject:

If the draft is made payable to them alone they can do whatever they want with it...however, should they have another loss, and turn in another 'roof' claim, they wouldn't (probably) pay to tear off two layers.

Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 06:30 am Post Subject:

I don't think its always wise to try to save on the check written by the insurance company. As Lori has mentioned, next time they may deny the claim for the same kind of damage if its not fixed properly now.

Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 05:28 pm Post Subject:

Yes but many people leave a layer or two of shingles on their roof. We took ours off when we reshingled ours simply because we had more than three layers!!I would think that it would insulate and make it even more leak proof with two layers.I would say it depends on each instance.

Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 05:32 pm Post Subject:

You are right anony_moss.It isn't always wise. Imo it depends on what it is. I know of people who got checks to fix their vehicles and instead kept the money and drove the car with the damage.That may be where that happens when you have an accident and you get old damage fixed with the new.I know some will do that if they can get away with it.

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 12:00 am Post Subject:

Alot of people do it and then they complain when the insurance company won't pay on the second claim, insurance companies are wise to old damage and can spot it quite quickly. I would think if the insurance company is going to pay then the vehicle or house should be fixed the right way, or NO whining when the insurance company refuses to pay twice.

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 04:50 am Post Subject:

From my understanding, if the roof lay over is not done correctly the new shingles may not lay right, may not seal right, and may cause additional leaking problems down the road. There is also a problem if a small section of both layers is blown off down the road. It is almost impossible to repair the two layer roof if this happens. There are also problems with warranties (what ever they are worth). I know most roofers in Ohio won't do roof lay overs any more. They stated that because of the above reasons they would be tied to the job too long and would keep being called out to these jobs.

You may also want to check with local or county building codes. Some require that when a roof is replaced it has to be taken down to the deck.

As for the insurance check... Lori is right if only you are named, do what you want. You may also want to know that insurance companies do inspect homes from time to time and if the roof is not completed properly they may require you to replace it or risk being dropped. These inspections are done without your knowledge but depending on the carrier, do happen. Finally, your mortgage company may have a problem with this method of repair.

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 05:52 am Post Subject:

Another issue you may run into is many carriers don't like insuring homes that have more than one layer of shingles.

Should their rates go up and they decide to shop around, they may regret pocketing the money they were given to replace their roof.

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 04:47 pm Post Subject:

Like I said it isn't my roof.I only have 1 layer,butbefore we reroofed it had many layers. I kind of suspect that they may be concidering this because of the deductable. maybe the check is actually not enough to remove the first layer and they don't have the deductable. I would assume going by thier age also that the house is paid for unless it has a second mortage whish is possible.

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 05:07 pm Post Subject:

Many companies also pay claims in 2 payments. The first check they pay is for the actual cash value of the roof. This is the cost of the roof minus depreciation. Then, once the roof is replaced, they will pay the difference between the actual cash value and the actual cost of replacement.

If the insurance company paid for the tearing off of the old roof and it wasn't done, they would subract that expense from the final replacement cost.

My recommendation to them is to do what the insurance is paying for.

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