Things I Have Learned - Roof and Dead Trees

Saturday, the 1st day of September, Lebanon, OH had a huge storm move through and we lost a shingle. Courtesy of this we called for a roofer to get him here so we could get a quote and I called the insurance company to get a claim started in case there was more damage than we could see from the ground. This is where they sent me an adjuster and he provided some interesting information.

1. The roof we have is meant to be on for 20 to 25 years. This is the interesting information...at 14 years the shingles start to bend and twist and fold when the wind blows and the best way to stop that is to have them sealed every two years. This is a very inexpensive thing to have done to the roof. When the roof is 15 years old the insurance companies start paying a reduced amount on the roof if there is damage to it. So if your roof is 14 years old and gets blown off, it is fully covered. 15 years, it is covered but for less than it was covered at 14 years and this amount reduces every year. Also, once you have the roof sealed, keep doing it every two or so years. This will help the roof stay for a longer time.

2. There is magnesium on the shingles and when that wears off the water going down the roof and landing on the siding is what causes the discoloration.

3. If you have a dead tree near your house, but it isn't your tree if you want to be sure that your insurance can recoup the monies from fixing your house, should the tree fall on it, you need to make sure that the owner of the tree knows that it is dead. The way to do this is: first notify the owner face to face and then send them a letter certified, signature required. Keep this for your records. If they don't remove the tree and something causes the tree to come down you are able to get your house fixed and not have it count on your insurance.

This month has been an interesting month for us with the damage from the storm and then we did have to have a dead tree removed and two trees pruned. The biggest tree cost $300, the other two trees were $40 each. Worth every penny. The men who came said that the trees were too close together and the strongest tree would pull all the nutrients and cause the other trees to stunt or die. The one tree that had died was actually having other issues, but it is gone now and the trees are looking good. (We used Cardinal and they did a fantastic job and the people that came out were very polite and informative).

Have an informative day.