Home Inspection Results

I am in the process of selling my 1987 home. One of the items the buyer wants me to fix is the rotted areas of trim and rake boards. Is this expensive and/or hard to do? Or would you tell the buyer it come with the age of the home? Thanks!!

post pics for accurate opinions

Would depend on the details of trim and rakes and if roof is connected to rakes.PICS up and close…

Is it all of the rake boards and trim that needs to be replaced? How large is your home? If you provide some more details I could answer more specifically.

With that said, it’s not something you could do on your own unless you are an experienced roofer. The buyer would probably want a professional to do it anyways. I am thinking that the buyer probably wants you to do it because its going to cost.

Not the answer you want to hear, i know.
But if you can see rotten trim and rake boards…
then your roof has failed all over the place.

Your entire roof needs to be replaced along with substantial wood replacement.

It is my experience that if you see ZERO wood to be replaced, than you will still find leaks during a replacement and still have wood to replace.

But if you can actually see rotten wood in a place or two, than you have gotten at least ten leaks.

For every leak you do see, they’re ten leaks you don’t see(yet)

Your 1987 roof is past needing its roof replaced.
Now needs LOTS of wood replacement too.

Unless he is paying cash for the house, i don’t think it matters what the potential buyer wants.
the mortgager will make you replace that roof.
So you will be wasting your money by trying to fix just the trim and rakes.

[quote=“roof-lover”]Not the answer you want to hear, i know.
But if you can see rotten trim and rake boards…
then your roof has failed all over the place.

Your entire roof needs to be replaced along with substantial wood replacement.

It is my experience that if you see ZERO wood to be replaced, than you will still find leaks during a replacement and still have wood to replace.

But if you can actually see rotten wood in a place or two, than you have gotten at least ten leaks.

For every leak you do see, they’re ten leaks you don’t see(yet)

Your 1987 roof is past needing its roof replaced.
Now needs LOTS of wood replacement too.

Unless he is paying cash for the house, i don’t think it matters what the potential buyer wants.
the mortgager will make you replace that roof.
So you will be wasting your money by trying to fix just the trim and rakes.[/quote]

Wow, you can tell all of that by her/his post? :shock:

I’m currently looking at a roof that has damage to perimeter wood, but it is because the ice & water shield was run too short, and no, the entire roof does NOT need to be replaced.

Also, how do you know it is from multiple roof leaks and not from ice-damming or a poor gutter installation that overflows rear vertical leg of gutter?

All I can say is I wish I could analyze roofs from my desk the way you do, but instead I actually have to go visually survey them and take roof cores when necessary. Shoot, you didn’t even have to use Google Earth or anything! I’m truly in awe! j/k :stuck_out_tongue:

my thoughts exactly, Cerberus! I didnt know there was the “10 leaks for every one seen” rule either.

I’m telling ya’, I’ve seen some crazy things written around here lately.

[quote=“roof-lover”]Not the answer you want to hear, i know.
But if you can see rotten trim and rake boards…
then your roof has failed all over the place.

Your entire roof needs to be replaced along with substantial wood replacement.

It is my experience that if you see ZERO wood to be replaced, than you will still find leaks during a replacement and still have wood to replace.

But if you can actually see rotten wood in a place or two, than you have gotten at least ten leaks.

For every leak you do see, they’re ten leaks you don’t see(yet)

Your 1987 roof is past needing its roof replaced.
Now needs LOTS of wood replacement too.

Unless he is paying cash for the house, i don’t think it matters what the potential buyer wants.
the mortgager will make you replace that roof.
So you will be wasting your money by trying to fix just the trim and rakes.[/quote]

That’s a helluva lot of assumptions…

Is the original poster talking about fascia boards? I have seen fascia rot with no roofing problems whatsoever.

99% of my customers replace their roof BEFORE there is seen rotten wood on the trim and rake boards.
And if the roof was 1987, there would be no question as to what needs to be done.

You should replace your roof before your structure rots out…

Who here would advise that this 1987 roof just needs their TRIM and RAKE BOARDS replaced and not the whole roof?

Unless of course the roof was replaced 5 years ago and they didn’t replace all the rotten wood…

lets see pics!!

Mortgage companys here will NOT give a mortgage loan unless a state licensed roofer gives in writing that in their opinion, the roof will last at least 5 more years.

Is this a Slate or Metal roof?.. I doubt it.

example-Yesterday i tore off a 67sq 8/12. Archictect roof less than 20 years old. It had no signs of rotten wood or leaking anywhere before tear off.

And It had over 10 leaks on it…

Roof totally torn off. All decking renailed 6 inches on center everywhere, rotten wood replaced and underlayment fastened to kingdom come. and inspected.

[quote=“roof-lover”]example-Yesterday i tore off a 67sq 8/12. Archictect roof less than 20 years old. It had no signs of rotten wood or leaking anywhere before tear off.

And It had over 10 leaks on it…

Roof totally torn off. All decking renailed 6 inches on center everywhere, rotten wood replaced and underlayment fastened to kingdom come. and inspected.[/quote]

So now that roof has become your standard by which you compare all other roofs? :roll:

[quote=“Cerberus”]

So now that roof has become your standard by which you compare all other roofs? :roll:[/quote]

You have a serious comprehesion problem.
I gave my initial opinion on March 18th.
I tore off a roof yesterday March 22nd.
So your comment makes no sense.

My opinion is from a lifetime of actual working experiance.
Unlike you!

You work on a few flat roofs and think you know something? HA!

[quote=“roof-lover”]

[quote=“Cerberus”]

So now that roof has become your standard by which you compare all other roofs? :roll:[/quote]

You have a serious comprehesion problem.
I gave my initial opinion on March 18th.
I tore off a roof yesterday March 22nd.
So your comment makes no sense.

My opinion is from a lifetime of actual working experiance.
Unlike you!

You work on a few flat roofs and think you know something? HA![/quote]

You sound like a swell guy. :roll:

[quote=“roof-lover”]

[quote=“Cerberus”]

So now that roof has become your standard by which you compare all other roofs? :roll:[/quote]

You have a serious comprehesion problem.
I gave my initial opinion on March 18th.
I tore off a roof yesterday March 22nd.
So your comment makes no sense.

My opinion is from a lifetime of actual working experiance.
Unlike you!

You work on a few flat roofs and think you know something? HA![/quote]

Trust me, I’ve forgotten more about roofing than you’ll ever know. I’ve been involved in this industry since 1981, and have roofed/consulted for Nissan, Anheuser-Busch, Sears, U.S. Gov’t, Dept. of Corrections Va., JFK Airport, Miami Beach Convention Center, etc. I’ve literally put down and/or inspected millions of square feet of roofing. The Nissan plant that I roofed (me and about 50 other guys) was 3,600,000 square feet of coal-tar pitch with fiberglass insulation.

So you come on back when you learn a little more about roofing junior, because you would do well to learn in your lifetime what I know about roofing after 30 years:!: