2018 roof had loss of adhesion, particularly at lower corners. I referred the client to a roofer. The roofer said “The shingles are three tab and has zippering on corners. This is common on these type of shingles and is cosmetic. The roof appears to be structurally be in really good shape. I would estimate the remaining life to be around 5-7 years”.
I understand zippering to be from thermal expansion and contraction, exacerbated by installing shingles in a racked (vertical instead of diagonal) pattern.
I reason that this is not a cosmetic defect because the affected shingles are more susceptible to wind lift.
Yes, but the agent that called the roofer out is my “#1 referring agent”. He is a squeaky-clean, ethical, decent man that I simply cannot afford to lose because he has lost faith in me.
I want to have a definitive answer for him about whether this really is a problem or not. The roofer says one thing but not every ‘professional’ we refer folks to know what he’s talking about.
Sometimes it’s not enough to just “refer and move on”.
Don’t let who you are doing an inspection for dictate how you proceed with your report. The next time you try and impress them by not calling it out, the roofer is recommending replacement. Your #1 agent is going to tell the buyer to go after your E&O insurance.
If you call 10 different roofing contractors out there for this one, 70-80% would recommend replacement.
There isn’t a problem between us but I want to provide him with a well-researched answer. I called this out as a defect but a ‘professional’ roofer said it was cosmetic. That creates an understandable loss of confidence. I don’t feel so hot about it. Why didn’t I ever hear about ‘zippering’ before?
I have always heard it referred to as thermal expansion, never zippering.
When I first started out as an inspector, I took on 1,000s of insurance inspections to supplement things until I had enough home inspections to go full time. That roof would not have been ensured by any of the companies that I inspected for. Including the largest insurer in the US. You made the right call.
Never heard of that narrative used to describe curling shingle tab ends. Bunch of hooey if you ask me.
Causes: A: Poor attic ventilation. B: Shingles were improperly installed. C: Poor quality shingles.
I suspect insufficient attic ventilation and possibly insufficient attic insulation.
The roof is 5 years old. Nothing adverse I can see from the images you provided.
Recommend: Further review by a licensed roofing and venting contractor. Act upon any advice offered.
Monitor annually.
Attic ventilation was fine. Completely normal. The shingles weren’t curling or cupping, they had just lost adhesion
I read a roofing association trade paper that studied thermal expansion and zippering is a real thing. If it occurs in a diagonal they call it racking. If it occurs in a vertical direction they call it zippering and it’s exacerbated by installing the shingles racked.
Apparently, it’s not necessarily an installation defect, but perhaps more of a manufacturing defect.
But I don’t know. I can’t get a straight answer online
So we’ve got one professional roofer saying it’s cosmetic but that doesn’t seem right.
The 3 tab shingle ‘tab ends’ are clearly curling at both ends.
When shingles loose adhesion it can be due to being installed in cold weather. The sealing strip does not get enough thermal load to melt the upper shingle to the lower shingle.
As well, it is next to imposable to tell if the attic is venting properly unless you do tests. By the looks of it, the ridge vent look suspect.
It is unless your trying to impress someone - which seems to be your problem.
Agents are fickle creatures. You think you are desperate for this agent’s approval but they will turn on you on a dime. Once he / she / it thinks they got you dependant the’ll start trying to whittle down your price. You might as well shoot yourself in the foot now. You want to build a reputation free of agent referrals.
In my opinion, there is no shingle manufacturer out there that would say this issue is common for their product, and only a cosmetic thing. The shingles are only 5 years old and something is causing them to lift. That is not normal and a better roofer needs to take a look at it.
