How has roofing changed for your area of expertise over the years?

Nope, just surface area. The staples have an adhesive on them that sticks the barbs in the wood like...glue.

The only issue stapled roofs had were when the staple was driven at an angle or if the psi was wrong, same as a nailgun nail.

I guess all that matters is that staples worked great. My dad did all the shingle work for some of Denver's largest builders back in the 70's: Golden Key Homes, Gendron Homes, etc. Did probably 3200 homes with staples and had few issues, certainly no more than those done with nails.

I have the opposite problem around here Mike with the self adhering membranes. Upon first arriving at a job, I have to remember to either park in a place that's shaded and is going to stay shaded for a few hours or take the rolls out and put them somewhere like that. If I forget, the rolls will be so hot that the plastic backing will hardly come off and they will be hell to install. I have to carry up only ONE at a time to prevent it unless there's a shady spot on the roof somewhere. :blink:

If you were in the computer industry circa 1975 and took a 40 year hiatus your skills would be obsolete now and you won't even recognize the industry. in the roofing industry after a 40 year hiatus your skills and knowledge will need very little upgrading to catch up.

[quote/ in the roofing industry after a 40 year hiatus your skills and knowledge will need very little upgrading to catch up.

[/quote]That's funny because after 43 years of observing the residential roofing trade around me, it doesn't take any skill or knowledge to slap on a roof. I am convinced that 90% of residential roofers are incompetent.

Another change has been ventilation. Used to be, everyone just slapped up a couple of turbines. Now, seems like everyone is using ridge vents (with or without cutting the slit in the deck). Problem is no one is cutting in any soffit vents to make them work.

Absolutely natty. You being sarcastic?

Ventilation is so important, and almost every house built before the mid 80's needs attention at the soffit area. Most are completely plugged up with insulation. Not Good!!At least with the new truss systems and the energy heels, the air is able to move from the soffit into the attic space. The older housing stock will eventually dissappear, but that is years into the future.

Another thing is the chimneys on the houses. I run into it all the time where someone will get the bright idea of venting a gas log fireplace into the existing flue without sizing it down. # years later, the masonry chimney above the roof is all in pieces and the brick is all spalled off and they don't 'connect" the dots to know why.

I do a lot of ventilation work this time of year. Here in the south it's all about the heat. I actually have a separate marketing campaign that I only use seasonally beginning around the first of May and ending by the end of September.

The strongest type of roof mounted ventilation seems to be the power fans. They work best in the southern climate on homes with large/high attics. Ridge vent is popular but it is not the best solution unless it's like a ranch style home with a low attic space. Then it works fine. I don't get many requests for wind turbines anymore but when I do, I make sure to use the larger 14 inch variety rather than the cheap 12 inch ones because they do not function/spin properly.

Natty, I did a job last week where I removed two attic fans from a ranch style home built in the 80's and installed 110 ft. of ridge vents. The house only had 4 soffit vents. Two on front and two on back. lol The longest two soffits, right side and left side had none at all. I added 12 more. 6 on each side.

twill59 Said: Absolutely natty. You being sarcastic?

Chuck Said:

Natty, I did a job last week where I removed two attic fans from a ranch style home built in the 80s and installed 110 ft. of ridge vents. The house only had 4 soffit vents. Two on front and two on back. lol The longest two soffits, right side and left side had none at all. I added 12 more. 6 on each side.

At 18 sq. inch/ft X 110 ft. = 1980 sq. inches up top. If the soffit vent is 16"x8", it is rated 56 sq.in. net free ventilation. That means you would need at least 35 soffit vents just to equal the top vents. So, your ventilation job is sadly underperforming.

I have found that cutting in ridge vent on a house already roofed is way too frustrating and too much work to be cost effective. The soffit vents are hard enough to cut in, but they need to be there regardless.

Chuck, all of you guys! You are missing the mark here. On those older homes, I can guarantee you that they added insulation after the house was built. they have the soffits plugged up. I can't for the life of me understand peoples thinking about just adding some soffit vents. First, you have to go up into the attic and look down towards the soffit. If there is no light coming in, no air is coming in either. I don't care if you install 50 vents on each side. you are wasting your time. Even if you see vented aluminum soffit on the outside it means nothing unless they have opened it up when it was installed. we tear out the old soffits, wood aluminum whatever they have in there and throw them out. then we open up a channel into the attic. It can be manually bu pushing the insulation back and installing proper vents between each rafter to even taking a back pack blower and inserting it into the cavity between the rafters and blowing the insulation back into the attic. Then we install a FULLY vented aluminum soffit system and THEN you can install a ridge vent and it will do the job. Just remember, nothing in = nothing out.

I'm well aware of the formula and I'm sure we could go on forever due to the nature of ventilation. Each house is unique unto itself and the general formula does not always apply exactly as specified. OS, I do always check to see if the vents are blocked with insulation. I've found that to rarely be the case around here and was not the case on the above mentioned project.

The two fans on the house were constantly having too much pressure on them due to lack of intake, the motors kept burning out and the customer finally got tired of replacing them. He called me to improve the ventilation and make it maintenance free which is what I did. Both of us are very satisfied with the results. The house itself let out a sigh of relief! lol :laugh:

Chuck Said: He called me to improve the ventilation and make it maintenance free which is what I did. :

Old School Said: we tear out the old soffits, wood aluminum whatever they have in there and throw them out. .

Natty, if I had installed less ridge vents thereby making your formula work out would you approve? ( the customer wanted them end to end ) I cut in new soffit vents 6 feet apart which is standard in these parts. They were put everywhere there was a place to do so. It would look odd to install them any closer together. ( and be the only house around like that ) Also this customer ( like most ) was on a limited budget for the project and did not want continuous soffit venting nor did he want to pay for it. He felt the extra soffit vents I put in were excessive but I was able to convince him to do it. He called me complaining of having to replace those two attic fans multiple times over the years stating that he regretted not having them taken out and ridge vents installed when the roof was redone a few years ago and requesting that it be done now. So yes improving the intake and making the exhaust maintenance free was the goal.

PS: This house also has a small gap between the plywood and fascia with the top of the fascia being slightly lower down than the underside of the plywood so that is more intake in addition to the soffit venting. There is no drip edge on the home. And no I didn't roof it. :dry: