My wife and I just had a whole roof shingle replacement done by Excel Roofing Solutions on our very unusual rental house. The existing three tab shingles were 31 years old and had become brittle with many nail pops and we had been plagued for years with leaks. After doing quite a bit of internet research I selected three highly rated companies that each were certified installers of the three premiere brands of shingles; Owens-Corning, GAF and CertainTeed. Without going into excessive detail, I found that while the products offered by each manufacturer are highly comparable and all of very high quality, I was most impressed by the level of detailed knowledge and experience that I saw with all the people I had contact with from Excel Roofing Solutions and GAF products.
The sale representative, Paul Gill, who was my first contact made a great impression with his product knowledge, experience and thoroughness. As you can see from the attached photos, this is not a standard home. It is a geodesic dome with an exoskeleton that was built in 1974 by my wife and her first husband, architect Giles Blunden. The pipe skeleton supports the entire structure via a large number of nodes where the pipe ends come together and are connected by large bolts that fully penetrate and attach to the wall/ceiling panels on the interior. Each of these bolt penetrations is a potential source of leaks. In addition, due to the spherical shape of the structure there are multiple slopes and ridges at multiple angles.
Paul was able to take a large number of photos which were then sent to a software package called Hover which was able to quite accurately compile a detailed 3d representation of the structure and roof and calculate the area of roof. He then flew a drone over the house and was able to take a number of birds eye photos of the roof which he then sent to me.
Paul explained the 25 year workmanship warranty and 50 year materials warranty by GAF and well as reviewing the different materials that would be used including the ice & water shield, Tiger Paw sheathing and the three types of shingles (Timberline HDZ shingles, Starter and Ridge shingles). As I knew that an unknown number of the roof panels had rot and would need replacement, I was also pleased that the quote included 25 sheets of new OSB. He was able to give me a quote which worked out to be in the middle of the two other quotes I had received and they would be able to start work in two or three days.
I think because this was such a challenging and unusual job, one of the owners, Mike Tilley came every day during the demolition and installation, which ended up taking a week which is much longer that the typical 17 square roof installation would take. The eight man work crew led by Jaime, were very good and experienced and I was quite pleased to see that they were quite consistent in their use of safety harnesses and ropes. They were also pretty good carpenters as about 2/3 of the roof panels needed replacement and all were custom cut and fitted triangles and some other odd shapes. Because of all the ridges, much more ice and water shield was needed than a more typical gable roof. The actual shingling went smoothly, however because of the angled ridges, most of the ridge shingles were "basket woven" into the main roof shingles to prevent water from getting under them. In addition to the ice & water shield, the bolt penetrations needed special treatment. Mike had his specialist installer, Frankie, fabricate special aluminum flashing collars around the bolts which were then thoroughly sealed in place with Lexel sealant. Hopefully, this will keep the water out.
I could go into more detail, but this review is already too long. At the completion of work, a GAF inspector and territory manager, Dylan Nichols, did a quite detailed inspection of the work to make sure that he felt confident that the job was done as it should have been and justified the GAF 50 year warranty and also to justify Excel's Certification by GAF. Dylan was quite satisfied with Excel's workmanship and how they had met the many challenges this roof presented.
To sum it all up, I feel I made the best choice with Excel Roofing Solutions and GAF products. I was there to see at least ¾ of the demolition and installation and found nothing to be dissatisfied with. all demolition debris was removed, including nails, and the jobsite was left very clean. I am quite confident that if you need a new roof, going with Excel Roofing Solutions you also will be quite satisfied. read more