Can Walking on Your Asphalt Roof Damage the Shingles? You need to: Clean something Check a vent Take a photo Hang holiday lights So you walk across the roof. How much harm can a few steps really cause? The answer depends on: Roof condition Temperature Footwear How much traffic occurs IKO identifies foot traffic as
CAN WALKING ON YOUR ASPHALT ROOF DAMAGE THE SHINGLES? Read More »
What Is Shingle Exposure? Look at an asphalt roof. You don’t see the entire shingle. Most of each piece is hidden underneath the course above it. The section you actually see is called its: Exposure. IKO defines shingle exposure as the portion left uncovered by the shingle installed above it. It sounds like an appearance
WHAT IS SHINGLE EXPOSURE, AND WHY DOES A FEW INCHES MATTER? Read More »
Can Hail Damage Your Roof Without Leaving Obvious Damage? A hailstorm passes. Your shingles are still there. Nothing is hanging from the gutter. No water is dripping from the ceiling. So the roof must be fine. Not necessarily. GAF specifically warns that not all hail damage is immediately visible, particularly from ground level. Hail can
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Step Flashing vs. Counter-Flashing: What’s the Difference? Roof shingles work best when water can flow down an uninterrupted slope. Homes rarely give them that luxury. Roofs meet: Walls Dormers Chimneys Other vertical surfaces Those intersections need additional water-management details. Two terms you’ll often hear are step flashing and counter-flashing. They are related. They are not
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What Are Starter Shingles? When you look at an asphalt roof, you see rows of finished shingles. What you usually don’t see is the special material installed underneath the first row. That’s the: Starter strip. Starter shingles are installed along vulnerable roof edges before the main field shingles. GAF describes starter strips as roofing components
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Gutter Guards vs. Continuous Hangers: What’s the Difference? A gutter guard sits over the gutter and helps keep debris out. Simple. But some systems do something else at the same time: They support the gutter continuously. Envirotech currently installs Alu-Rex eavestrough-protection products that include both traditional guard systems and continuous-hanger technologies such as T-Rex and
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How Are Seamless Aluminum Eavestroughs Made On-Site? A truck arrives at your house. There are no 40-foot gutters strapped to the roof. Then somehow, a continuous piece of eavestrough appears. How? It is formed on-site. Envirotech currently installs on-site extruded seamless aluminum eavestrough across its service areas. Here’s what that means. It Starts as a
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What Is a Window Rough Opening? When you look at a window, you see: Glass Frame Trim Behind that finished appearance is the opening in the actual wall. That is the: Rough opening. Andersen defines the rough opening as the framed wall opening created for a window or door. It is intentionally larger than the
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Roof Drains vs. Scuppers: How Does Water Leave a Flat Roof? “Flat roof” is a misleading name. A properly designed low-slope roof should still move water toward a drainage point. IKO explains that flat and low-slope roofs are built with enough pitch to create positive drainage, with water commonly leaving through interior drains, scuppers, or
ROOF DRAINS VS. SCUPPERS: HOW DOES WATER LEAVE A FLAT ROOF? Read More »
Does Vinyl Siding Thickness Matter? You are comparing two siding quotes. One says: .040 Another: .044 Another product says: .046 What do those numbers actually mean? They refer to the nominal thickness of the vinyl siding panel. For example, Gentek currently lists Fair Oaks vinyl siding profiles with nominal thicknesses around .044–.046 inches depending on
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