Shingle overlap and dirty gutters

Hello, forum.

I recently had a new roof done. We bought asphalt singles with a new felt underlay. (50 pound felt, 40 year singles.) The quote was obtained in May. The work was done in November.

We’ve paid about half, and I’m not planning on paying any more until the roof is fixed to my satisfaction.

One of the cheap, crappy, little windows on the shed was broken. The shed’s in horrible shape, but the underlying carport is just fine. (Don’t ask. It’s a long story for a different forum.) It was fixed last week, and it looks like the subcontractors were a family of beavers. They left a mess, including broken glass on the driveway. They offered to send someone out to clean up the mess, but I figured it would probably take them 2 more months to find someone who could use a broom.

After a lot of new rain (we’re on the west coast) the gutters are full of “shingle gravel”. A lot of it is the new black colour, but some is the old green - which was removed when the work was done. There was also a lot of leafy debris, clearly older than any new droppings could be. When I called to comment on this, he said that it was normal and would be just washed down the gutters. (In my experience, rock usually just sits there at the lowest point and clogs the drains.)

The roof overlaps the gutters substantially. I called another company in town, and they said that the normal overhang is 1-1.5 inches. There’s apparently a line on the felt that makes it line up perfectly. On the new roof, the singles overlap the gutters by 3-4 inches, and in some places go completely over the gutters. (If your gutters aren’t working, it’s not a house. It’s a pile of wood. Am I right?)

My feelings are this:

  1. They messed up the roof, and the overhang is excessive.
  2. They couldn’t reach into the gutters to clean them afterwards, so they didn’t.
  3. When we complained, we were told two stories: One, that it was a leaf guard. Two, that during the summer, the house would expand and that it would make more sense when it was hot.

(Conveniently, if I wait until the summer, they’ll have all the money.)

Are there any circumstances where a responsible roofer would overhang the gutter in order to “create a leaf guard”?

How much will a house expand in the summer? I can’t imagine any object expanding by that much, independent of the other materials.

What should I get them to do to fix the roof? They suggested cutting the shingles to get them to fit correctly. I honestly don’t know if that’s a good solution. There’s a good chance that they’ll mess that up too.

Thank you for your help.

no, the shingle should only overhang the drip edge 1/4-1/2", no more. and as for cutting the shingles, that won’t work, there is a sealing strip on the edge of the shingles that keeps it stuck to the starter strip ( they did use starter didn’t they?) so the wind will not peel the shingle off. as for the debris in the gutter, unless it was specified in the contract to clean the gutters they are not required to do that, though most do.

hello themagni,
expand . no.
there will be granuals in your gutter forever.
shingles overhangin to much. it happens, exspecially in the southeast u.s.
maybe your roofers from alabama.
and i dont care to much bout messes and bushes.
the homeowner can help clean up and the bushes will grow back.

gweedo.

I would have picked you out right away and walked, I would have refused the job.

Sounds like too me you are overly sensetive.

You probably picked the cheapest guy and expected the best job.

You get what you pay for.

as for all the complaints, none of them are that serious that you would hold back payment on the job done. I am not even going to go through them, its not worth it.

there is a strip of asphalt on the starter strip it self that the shingle
adheres to so all they have to do is pop a line on the over hang
and cut it .
then you should pay theme. sounds like you got the lowest bid you
could find .

Actually, I didn’t get the lowest bid I could find. I chose one that was fair and reasonable.

I used a reputable local roofing company with over 35 years of experience in town. They gave me a list of several addresses in town to look at their work. (Admittedly, I didn’t go up on a ladder.) I picked them because the price was reasonable, the warranty was better than the other places, and they don’t use subcontractors.

I got a thicker felt and more expensive 40-year shingles because I wanted the roof to last longer. I did NOT just pick Joe’s Cheap-Ass roofing company and buy the Home Depot clearance shingles. I wanted to get the job done once, and that’s it. If I wanted a job that was done badly and cheaply, I’d do it myself. :wink:

I don’t expect perfection, but I do expect that the job is done properly. I don’t think it’s normal to have the damned shingles cover the eaves so they don’t work and can’t be accessed.

Theres no way I would pay them until things are fixed, Yes Granules are to be expected in the Gutters ,but We ALWAYS clean them out when we finish the job,its true that moe will collect but at least its clean now.
As for the shingles overhanging the Gutter, were these guys drunk when they installed them? They shouldn’t over hang by more than 1 1/2 inches max. . I would call the local building inspector & ask him to come out & take a look & advise if the work has been done right or not .Then make the clowns fix it before you pay them .

as for the granules in the gutter… you will get this heavily for about the first 3 years of the roofs life (as they put extra granules on at the factory to protect them in shipping and instalation). then you should experience minor granules for the next 22-25 years, then heavy again at the end of the roofs life.

[quote=“G-Tape”]I would have picked you out right away and walked, I would have refused the job.

Sounds like too me you are overly sensetive.

You probably picked the cheapest guy and expected the best job.

You get what you pay for.

as for all the complaints, none of them are that serious that you would hold back payment on the job done. I am not even going to go through them, its not worth it.[/quote]

Wow! I never thought I’d hear an answer like this from G-Tape! I always scream at guys when they leave granules in the gutters. To me, it’s that small step skipped that, when found later, leaves a bitter taste in a homeowners mouth and costs you that coveted free referral. Tell your roofers that an air-chuck is a mandatory hand tool… when the roof section is done, disconnect the gun, connect the air chuck, blow the granules out, and move on. Remember, sounds like nitpicking, because it takes two minutes with staging set up… it doesnt take two minutes for a scared homeowner doing 3 feet at a time from a ladder.

I know many of you have been in business far longer than me, but from the time I’ve been roofing I’ve observed that aside from an occasional ex-contractor, the average homeowner sees only three things while you’re there… how long it takes, how good was the clean-up, and if it leaked or not. You can talk terminology and explain why your roof is better all you want, but in the end, thats all they see.

we keep air chucks and this past year a gas leaf blower in the job trailers. and i must say the $100 leaf blower makes for a spotless roof, drivway, sidewalks and gutters in about 30 seconds, while the chuck takes 10-15 minutes while putting a severe beating on the compressor. the blower was a very good investment for clean up.

Well, cleaningthe gutters is one of the last things we do, and the granules will continue to come off for a period of time. Customers have called to comlain about granules in the gutters before…two years later.

as i said earlier

I’m with Oldman on this one… I wouldn’t be as concerned about granules in the gutter so much as I’d worry about the insane overhang off the roof.

As for saying “It’s a leaf guard”, that has GOT to be the most crazy thing I have ever heard of. As an FYI, the LeafGuard & similar gutter products have a CURVED “nose forward” design & it’s the CURVE that pulls the water back towards the gutter through a ‘cling’ type effect & is supposed to shed the leaves (although some always do get into the gutter). IMO, it sounds like what you have is a crappy, way excessive, first time on the job shingle overhang that almost completely covers the gutter (but is backed off just enough to let the shingle grit rinse down).

Yikes!

I’d stand on the street outside this guy’s office or house with a sign stating your case until he makes right… sounds like a crap job to me & for the life of me, I can’t even remotely begin to fathom why someone would install shingles with that kind of an overhang.

If you’re in an area where the heat gets even close to bothersome, gravity & the temperatures will make the shingles droop & eventually crack or split.

That’s my opinion, anyhow.

Yes this is wrong the overhang is way to long. My wuestion is how will they get the ofsets back in line once it is torn apart and backed up. I would think they would have to start all over since they will never be able to line up the shingle correctly at all.