Got Leaks?

	Due to lack of annual maintenance the seal around the base of the roof vent and the skylight has shrunk and left a large opening for water to get into the roof.
	Large amount of leaves on the roof are blocking the drain. The leaf build up will also cause deterioration to the roof system.
	The roof leaks in both of the places now. The price of the emergency service calls for these leaks would have paid for a large part of semi-annual maintenance for the building.

On October 16th 2004 the Pineapple Express blew into San Diego, like a runaway train, leaving San Diego drenched with much needed rain. Everyone was so happy after the first good soaking in more than a half a year. Then, oddly enough, after the first week our attitude towards the rain seemed to change with a few hold outs saying we needed it so much (true). After the second week, everyone seemed to agree that The Pineapple Express was making El Nino look like a little punk of a storm. After two weeks, property managers along with ourselves were crying uncle.

Some of the leaks were due to worn out roofs but more than half were due to lack of routine maintenance,  simple stuff like gutters and drains filled with debris causing leaks from extreme water build up.

Now is the time of the year to call for annual maintenance, when spring is here providing good dry weather to do the repairs, and your nightmares from the storms and leaks are still fresh in your mind. We have to remember that when a leak was repaired during the stormy weather, that repair (even though it did stop your leak) was really just a temporary repair. These repairs will need to be addressed in a permanent fashion or they will most likely reoccur at the most inopportune time.

If you have been requesting annual maintenance inspections during this year's rainy season and you have not been getting responses from contractors, you may wish to try this again in May or June when we have all slowed down from the constant chasing of leaks.

I would have to think that this season would be a lesson to all of us to perform routine maintenance. Maintenance should be performed twice a year-in the spring after the storms have stopped and again in late autumn.

If your roof is near the end of its serviceable life and money is an issue, you may want to try a maintenance system. These systems can be applied with hot tar over your existing roofing system and others can be applied with a cold process adhesive with cost savings of 20-40% of re-roofing. These systems are just short of re-roofing and can buy several years of additional time, while saving you large sums of money. Because they are maintenance systems and not roof systems, there are some tax advantages for the building owners such as not having to depreciate them over several years by being able to write them off as a capital expense. This year is proof of the old adage, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Mike McConnell is the principle estimator for A -1 All American Roofing Co., a full service roofing company. A-1 All American Roofing provides services to building owners and individual homeowners through its residential division. (858) 581-5177 mmcconnell@sbcglobal.net

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