welcome to roofing insights on this
channel we speak the truth about roofing
products and roofing materials while
helping homeowners and contractors alike
make the best roofing decisions in
today's video we will talk about the
most important accessory on your roof
besides shingles of course it's ice and
water barriers some people call it
membranes some people call it shield but
it's ice and water protection what is
ice and water protection let me explain
but 2006 6 to 8 that's probably fair to
say I'm just trying to figure out a cost
per job so like Home Depot casseroles
this is two square rolls so if you have
a roll that cost you forty four dollars
times sakes it's two hundred sixty four
dollars but on the higher and if it's
129 times six its 774 it's three times
that yeah $500 two and then the cheaper
jobs now if you have thirty squares
three times right it's pretty big like
you know if you're scamming somebody for
extra five bucks I know I would have to
educate the foam wonderful fair enough
so in today's video I will explain what
ice and water barriers all about I also
will teach you a few tricks how to
screen your Roofing Contractor the
person who's trying to sell your roof
how can you use your knowledge about ice
and water barrier to screen and qualify
your roofing contractor for your job
because ice and water barriers also
barrier between good guys and bad guys
in the industry first what is ice and
water shield and why do you need it ice
and water shield is a far superior
product compared to basic roofing fell
paper I call it ice and water protectors
sometimes all
referred to as ice and water shield is a
waterproof roof underlayment membrane
developed to protect vulnerable areas on
a roof from ice and water damage ice and
water protectors sometimes called ice
and snow shields in cold climates are
made with the polymer modified bitumen
speaking and very very plain words ice
and water is simply peel and stick
underlayment that goes under your
shingles usually installed first three
six or nine feet on your edge their rule
usually two feet behind your interior
wall so pretty much if you have overhang
usually we start ice and water or peel
and stick all the way at the edge but
we're trying to protect areas that's
actually heated so at least two feet but
usually you have first two or three
layers and most roofs peel and stick and
then we switch to synthetic underlayment
so that's what ice and water barrier
generally is but let me explain why I
some water is such a big deal and why
it's really big differentiators between
good and bad contractors and how can you
use this knowledge to choose a
contractor here are my four points that
you must know about ice and water
barrier that your contractor probably
will not tell you number one there's a
huge difference in cost right before
this video I stopped by my local Home
Depot and here's what I found out Home
Depot has four different ice and water
barriers one of them costed forty four
dollars and ninety seven cents and the
most expensive was 129 so we had $44 $84
parole 129 and 4998 all of them were ice
and waters technically all of them
qualify for any roofing job in the city
of Minneapolis obviously we're up north
all of those four would be sufficient
for building code but I promise you they
all perform different and some of them
would be considered premium ice in water
some of them would be economy grade and
builder grades as well so we have as far
as breaking down cost we have
the cheapest one goes for 22 cents per
square foot the most expensive one 64
cents per square foot so three times
that so on average you will be using six
to eight rolls of ice and water for
smaller houses like 2,000 to 2,500
square feet and up to 15 16 rolls of ice
and water and a little bit bigger houses
so if you do that math based on this
price is something like economy grade
ice and water will cost you 250 260
dollars and something like premium will
cost you even in a smaller house will
cost you about 750 bucks that's a $500
saving but I don't call it saving I call
it cheating so if contractor used one
versus another but did not tell you what
he's using or maybe even getting paid to
use more expensive and using cheaper one
you will never find out so you have to
have a talk with your contractor what
exactly he is using is he is use an
economy grade or premium grade you have
the right to know because they're not
saving you money they actually increase
their profits and especially if it's
insurance job maybe right now you
already have more expensive I some water
on your house maybe they're downgrading
you if they're not talking about ice and
water they're installing you might be
getting something very very cheap but
you might be paying full price that's
why I always recommend homeowners and
contractors to put it in writing be
transparent about all products all
accessories you're putting in a roof
it's your right as a consumer to ask
that question and in my humble opinion
contractor owes it to you because he's
charging you money or insurance money
for the products he's installing there's
no reason for him not to be transparent
but we do have some reasons and I
believe some contractors are not putting
in in writing and not specifying it and
the reasons are as follow reason number
two is maybe the contractor just does
not know or does not care about
performance the biggest difference
between cheaper and more expensive ice
and water barriers are you know
stickiness some other features
like is it safe as a matter of fact the
cheaper the product usual not always the
case but usually it's very very slippery
very hard to walk on so premium great
ice and water are protecting those
roofer or roofers on your roof and trust
me you don't want anybody to jeopardize
their lives for no reason so if
contractor can use less slippery product
on the edge of your roof that's where
ice and water goes on trust me you
should be making those decisions in your
favor and not just thinking about
increasing his profits I've seen a lot
of roofers complaining about quality of
ice and water over the years just like
they complain over massive granular loss
in the shingles because when your
sleeper in a roof you always have to be
alert you have to be careful you don't
want to get on the roof and feel like
you're an ice rink you know it should
not be slippery all roofing products
should be designed for roofers to
install and to be safe on the roofs
reason number three why it's important
like I've mentioned earlier they might
be downgrading you without your
knowledge let me play this scenario for
you let's say you have twelve-year-old
roof you never have any issues with it
in wintertime during the ice dam season
snow loads on the roofs your roof never
licked you always have been happy with
it and now you have a hail damage let's
say your regional contractor original
builder installed premium roofing system
he went above and beyond on all
accessory installed really good ice and
what a really good underlayment you know
premium shingles now you have a hail
damage and insurances paying to replace
your roof so insurance is paying to
replace ice and water underlayment
and architectural design shingles now
you're hiring brand-new contractor he
comes into play and instead of using all
the premium products he doesn't want you
to know that he is going economy green
he's not putting anything in writing he
turns his paint for ice in water I'm
gonna install ice and water meet the
code can't touch me so now you did have
a premium roofing system and you're
downgrading that
systems and now you have a contractor
who maximising his profit by downgrading
your roof and cutting corners instead of
installing back the premium roofing
system now the very next winter or
following winter you have a few ice dams
you have a snow on the roof and you have
a leak inside you call him out you say
hey I have a leak in this brand-new roof
he's gonna tell you hey it's not because
of my roof it's because of ice dam now
he might be right but maybe it's because
that ice and water that's supposed to
protect your roof from ice dams now it's
not as good as the one before because
trust me when you go from premium
products to average or economy great
products performance also changing so
maybe you didn't have problem for 12
years because it was premium but now
economy grade I guarantee you not gonna
perform as well so he downgraded you
without telling you on paper it's still
the same accessory but the quality of
the accessory went all the way down
would you be okay with that
I personally know for myself I wouldn't
and the last point number four why ice
and water is very very important for
your roof and why you have to have
conversation with your contractor about
it is about your warranty that
contractor who is not specifying which
ice and water he is using and maybe
trying to save few bucks by using
general brand or off-brand
name maybe he is sacrificing your
warranty as well most roofing
manufacturer shingle manufactures
have requirements for other accessories
as well some of them have requirements
to use five accessories of certain brand
they're not gonna honor warranty if you
just use their shingle and you went
cheap on different materials so ice and
water belongs to those accessories
sometimes you might use another brand
for ice and water and still get a
warranty but a lot of times it's not the
case and a lot of brands are watching it
now it's hard to enforce I know we
install Owens Corning in our business
and we have to provide receipts for ice
and water barrier that we perch
to prove that way as a matter of fact he
did use that certain ice and water to
issue warranty to our homeowners make
sure you don't get your warrant to
sacrifice because your contractor did
not explain to you which roofing
materials he's gonna be using as
accessories with everything being said
here are my few tips how to hire a
roofing contractor and how to use ice
and water talk in your negotiations so
number one simply asking which ice and
water barrier they can be using for
example my company has been a roofing
contractor for last six years we have we
call its roof in the back so when we
come to the homeowners will always show
homeowner all accessories we're gonna be
using and I just pulled it out from my
back we actually show home on three
different types and we'll own scorning
guys but you can use Atlas you can use
GAF you can use any other brand of your
choice the brand does not matter what
matters is you have to show the
homeowner visual products how they
perform and different so we give you
know like always coordinating for our
warranties we can install three
different products we'll also have you
know shingles hip and reach we have
synthetic underlayment so we'll talk
about those in the next videos on this
channel but when we come to the
homeowners we do show them options and
homeowners make a decision which one
they would like premium or economy grade
or mint great it doesn't really matter
for the warranty because they all may
buy OC by the brand we install into all
good quality but at least we show you in
it's your decision what do you want to
pay another question I would like to ask
your contractor is is the ice and water
he's gonna be installing is the same
brand as the shingles he's gonna be
installing and if it's going to affect
the warranty like I mentioned earlier a
lot of warranties are required
you know many accessors to be of the
same brand so that your contractor
should know and you also will know if
he's planning to register the warranty
or if he is just trying to do something
really quick and easy and not to worry
about people or after the fact a lot of
contractors don't like to deal with the
warranties and they just say well my
warranty is all you need
I don't agree with it but I'll let you
have
conversation with your contractor about
it the last question I would probably
ask my contractor is why he install
certain brands and that's where you will
see if he knows what he's talking about
or if he doesn't care I personally don't
believe anyone in the roofing industry
who is saying that products are all the
same
shingles are all the same those are you
should be running from because if
contractor is saying all products are
the same just choose me and I will
install wherever I like it tells me he's
actually not an expert he does not know
the difference good roofer whether he is
installer or sales rep her owner of the
business will always know what works and
what doesn't work and I some water
barrier is one of those products there
is a lot of products out there I would
not buy because I don't want to put my
installers in jeopardy because they are
too slippery or they're not sticky and I
just don't like the performance so I'm
not installing builders great in my
business I don't recommend it to anyone
maybe there is a time and place where
you can get away with the builders trade
all jobs are different I'm not blaming
contractors or builders who are using
them but I know my standards are a
little bit higher and I know I can
explain to my homeowners why I use my
products and why I stay shy from others
I just wanted to make a video to help
you homeowner to keep your roofing
contractor honest if you're the
homeowner and you're looking for
trustworthy contractor check our roofing
in size directory we backup every single
contractor on our list by $20,000
guarantee if that contractor will mess
up your job I personally will back it up
and all will make it right with you
roofing in size come for a directory
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