Why roofs fail
Six months of the year a good share of these houses stand empty, which is exactly when a small failure gets the time it needs to become a large one.
- 1 The ridge. The highest, hottest course, and the one the sun works on all day.
- 2 The field. Tile or shingle above, and the underlayment that actually keeps water out below.
- 3 Valleys. One channel carrying what two slopes shed, at the pace this coast rains.
- 4 Flashing. Where the lanai and the enclosure meet the house, and where neither trade owns the seam.
- 5 Penetrations. Every vent and curb is a hole the underlayment has to seal, and the first place it stops.
- 6 Eaves and metal. Drip edge and fasteners, which salt air reaches years before it touches the covering.
The six
- The empty half-yearThe season nobody is home
- Roofs on one clockWhen a whole street is the same age
- Under the tileThe layer that decides when a tile roof is finished
- Fasteners and metalThe hardware nobody looks at
- Low pitchWhat a shallow roof asks of its materials
- Lanai tie-insWhere the cage meets the roof
Why a roof here ages the way it does
Half the year the house is shut and nobody is on the roof. Streets built in the same season reaching the end of a first covering together. Tile that looks permanent over an underlayment that is not. Fasteners and metal in salt air. Slopes too shallow for what was laid on them. And the joint where the lanai meets the house, added later and flashed as an afterthought. Very little of that list is the tile itself.