FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Although it would be unrealistic to publish a standard answer to this question, it’s one every homeowner naturally wants to know, so we can publish some general guidelines to give you the best answer possible before you call us. We will say up front that you will have an exact answer to that question when you get a proposal from us.

Trust is at the heart of our business model. When you put your trust in us to install a roof on your home, we put our trust in you to get paid. 50% Payment the day we start the job and 50% due upon completion.

Since the picture above provides a spoiler for our answer, allow me to share my experience and reasons for the recommendations we make. Besides, there is no one size fits all answer. We definitely use GAF more than any other shingle, but it’s not always that simple.

The fact is, we install many types of roof shingles from various manufacturers and our hands-on experience with these products is extensive to say the least. When we answer this question upon evaluating your roof, we’ll be able to make a recommendation specifically suited to your needs, budget, and home structure.

This question is among the most important you could ask or wonder about. Proper ventilation has numerous benefits and solves multiple problems. It saves you money on your heating and cooling bills, extends the life of your roofing, and even protects your health by preventing mold that would otherwise form in your attic and under your roof shingles.

Let’s start with the heat factor. A 90° summer day does not equal a 90° attic but a 140° attic without proper ventilation. This doesn’t just escalate your cooling bills, imagine the stress placed on your asphalt roofing shingles which will buckle and fail prematurely. Proper ventilation is your solution to this problem.

The two most common questions we get about permits for a roofing project are:

– Will I need a building permit for a new roof?

– If so, who will be pulling the permit?

We take care of all permits and arrange any necessary inspections. While we no longer include the permit costs in our estimate due to the large variability of permit costs in the area, we will go over any additional costs incurred by the permits with you. Not only do we have great working relationships with the permit authorities, we are experienced and familiar with pulling permits-less stress for you!

We make this as easy as possible for you by requiring very little on your part.

We do recommend that you remove or secure any fragile or irreplaceable items on the walls or ceilings inside your home. During the installation of your roof, there will be some vibration on your walls and ceilings and we will not be responsible for any damage to unsecured items that are disturbed or fall.

Your roofing installation will begin between 7:00 and 8:00 in the morning on the scheduled day and we ask that you move your vehicles out of the garage and onto the street the night before. This way we will not intrude on your morning routine.

If you’ll permit us one little boast, protecting your home during a roofing installation is on our list of things we are most proud of and where we make extra effort to outshine the other roofing companies. Every home is different when it comes to setting up for a new roof so we don’t have a one size fits all answer to this question.

What we can tell you is that our material haulers we use to transport the materials are loaded up for every job with an arsenal of protective materials: 4×8 sheets of wood, lumber, tarps, and any other materials deemed necessary that we determine during the original inspection of your roof. Extra care is given to the setup before the first crew member ever climbs a ladder to begin your roofing project.

We are often asked about our license and insurance which shows that many homeowners are both informed and concerned. Both are very important and you should ask for proof of insurance. A legitimate roofing contractor will not be the least bit offended.

This is not just a matter of compliance with Texas law, but your own personal protection.

We’re a current member of Roofing Contractor Association in Texas (RCAT) registered because state law in Texas does not requires registration if you’re working on any roof. There are no consumer protections in law to guard against roofing frauds. Be aware of storm chaser and not registered businesses.

Most shingle manufacturers recommend at least four nails per shingle and six nails to extend the wind warranty coverage. That answers the question about the minimum number of nails and we’re sure you realize that the minimum will be good enough for fast buck roofing companies, plus they’ll use the cheapest roofing nail and method of application they can find.

We at JC&C use 6 nails per shingle and only Hand-Nailed.

To answer both yes and no is appropriate. Are we going to leave your property without conscientious cleanup like some roofing companies would? Absolutely not! Are we going to guarantee we find every last stray nail during the cleanup? That would be unrealistic.

We do however use meticulous methods to assure your yard and driveway are free of loose nails.

Absolutely, we actually clean your gutters twice! Your gutters are cleaned by hand after your old roofing material has been torn off, followed by a leaf blower to remove fine debris. After installation of the new roofing material, another cleaning is performed and your gutters are cleaned a second time.

Synthetic underlayment is a high tech, high performance layer of material installed prior to the roof shingles on areas of the roof decking not covered by ice and water shield. The purpose of underlayment is to absorb asphalt from the shingle and provide an extra level of water resistance.

Until more recent years, felt paper was the standard. However, advancements in roofing technology have brought about the synthetic underlayments which consistently outperform and out test traditional felt paper.

It’s not so much a question of which is better, but a question of which is better for particular types of roofs. For example, if your home has cathedral ceilings, the ridge vent is the only viable solution. On a roof where four slopes converge to a single ridge as shown above, box vents are the best choice.

Many homes are designed where either a ridge vent or box vent will work equally well. Considering the fact that ridge vents are more aesthetically pleasing, our recommendation would be the ridge vents.

In theory, roofing shingles can be installed in any weather. Considering the variety of weather in Houston TX and the fact that not every day is the ideal temperature, that’s good news. There’s no denying that warm temperatures are best, so extra care and precautions must be taken in much of our Houston weather.

On the balmy warm and sunny days common in spring, fall, and parts of our summers, roof shingles seal to each other right away. As the temperatures climb higher with intense sun and humidity, extra care is required to avoid scarring during the installation. When the temperatures drop, the roof shingles become stiff and extra careful nail placement is required.

Ice and water shield is a self adhering rubberized membrane that protects your roof from leaking due to excessive water conditions. These conditions occur during wind driven rain and even more so during water back from ice dams.

There are several areas of your roof especially susceptible to the water penetration that ice and water barrier will serve to prevent. The entire perimeter of your roof vulnerable areas you may not think about skylights, chimneys,pipes, vents and all the “roof junctions” where roof lines merge.

Short answer is yes. Architectural roof shingles offer more curb appeal to a home due to the desired look of a high end cedar shake roof along with higher definition colors. Along with the curb appeal, the architectural roof shingles offer a higher wind resistance than standard architectural roof shingles and offer better protection in rough weather.

The age of the roof is sometimes determined by the amount of granules left on top of the shingle. The granules on top of the shingle are there to protect the waterproofing asphalt from UV rays. Once the shingle experiences major granule loss, the serviceable life of the roof is done. It’s very tough to tell the age of the roof. A properly installed roof using high quality materials can look great even at 20 years of age, while a relatively new roof at 9 years can look bad due to low quality materials.

Cost is dependent on the house, such as how many stories you have. The higher the house is the more labor there is involved in getting up to the roof. Pitch is also a factor. How safe is it to walk on, is it on a big angle? How many layers needing to be removed factors into how long the job will take. Cost per square foot also includes the material chosen. Roof shingles have a different cost than tile or metal. Removing and replacing bad decking is also included in the cost of replacing a roof. Additionally, the square footage of your roof is very different than that of your home. A ranch style home will have more roof square footage than that of a two-story house.