Dunford Roofing, Inc.

Review: In the fall of 2013, Dunford Roofing installed guttering on my home. Shortly thereafter I realized that the water didn't go in the guttering. I contacted the company, they came back looked at the roof and told me for $60.00 they could/would eliminate the problem. I paid. Same problem. I called weekly. They said we can fix it they haven't. Mr. Tom Dunford owner called me in February He said my roof wasn't right. Nothing they could do.Desired Settlement: Since I paid for Guttering & guttering is supposed to catch the water. I want the problem taken care of- or a refund of my money. I am an elderly widow. I feel that the company took advantage of me. Please help me!

Business

Response:

Upon receiving your email yesterday we dispatched two technicians to the customer’s house to inspect and confirm the roof / gutter conditions for complaint # [redacted]. Once again please be aware that we did not install the metal roof for this customer. We did install new aluminum gutters in the fall of 2013. The guttering was installed with proper slope to downspouts and all miters outlets and end cap were sealed properly with no guttering leaks. We are attaching some technical information sheets and photos which will clearly show one of the worst metal roof installations that we have witnessed. The following is an itemized list of defects shown in these attachments:

1. The metal roofing panels are not fastened properly. Fasteners are installed in the high ribs using screws that barely reach into the asphalt shingles. Fasteners are not installed through the roof panels as shown in the attached condensed technical reference sheet. These instructions require fastener to be installed at the lower levels of the panels so they can attach through the wood deck. Since fasteners were only installed in the high ribs, the roofing fasteners are backing out in most areas of the roof. In fact the panels are so poorly attached that we suspect the owner will possibly experience wind damage to a large area of the roof, especially since the customer lives at one of the highest wind areas of Tazewell County.

2. Roof panel laps and edges are installed incorrectly. Please note the attached residential panel installation sheet. Step 1 and Step 2 show a foam closure required at drip edges to prevent water from blowing under roof panel edges. No foam closures were installed at drip edges or at ridge caps as required. These areas now allow water infiltration at ridges and drip edges. Also please note at Step 3 that a tape sealant is required at lapping seams. This butyl tape sealant should be between the lapping panels and is compressed by the roof fasteners when they are installed properly. No seam tape sealant was installed at any locations of this metal roof. Therefore laps are leaking throughout the structure, especially at the pitch change where the rear low slope roof adjoins the steeper slope area of the main roof.

3. All roof details were done improperly. Drip edges were not installed as shown in the attached sheet for "gutter detail". Pitch break flashings were not installed properly. Valley details were not installed properly. Bathroom vent pipes, power mast and chimney flashing details were done improperly. Instead of fabricating proper metal flashings, the roof installer smeared a generous amount of plastic roof cement at these locations. These areas are now cracked and allowing water infiltration also.

Please note from the attached photos that many more defects exist than described in this letter. In a summary description, the owner has a very poor metal roof installation. Improper fastening, location of fasteners length of fasteners and improper details are all contributing factors to roof leaks. Since the previous shingle roof was covered over by the improper metal Installation, many leaks are traveling between the shingle and metal roofs and are running out at the edges behind the guttering that we installed last year. Since we did not install the metal roofing, we will not accept any liability for leaks or defects caused by the metal roofing. We would strongly suggest that the customer contact the installer of her metal roof. She is clearly deserving of a complete reroof free of charge or a complete refund of the metal roof installation cost.

After being in business for 35 years, Dunford Roofing Inc. attempts in every way to install quality work. We are a member of the National Roofing Contractors Association and we were recently recognized as a Master Contractor by Firestone Building Products Company. We sincerely regret that this elderly customer has been a victim of a poor roof installation.

Please feel free to contact us if you need further information in reference to this complaint.

Thomas A. Dunford

President

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

My roof was not the complaint. Dunford Roofing did not install the roof. I understand my roof was not installed properly, but that was done eight years ago and the majority of the problems didn't start until after the gutters were installed. My complaint was that the guttering was not taking care of the water, rain, snow, etc.

Why wouldn't they tell me the guttering wasn't my problem, the roof was. They didn't.

I was informed by Mr. Dunford that for 60 more dollars my problem would be fixed. They were only here 30 minutes and the problem wasn’t fixed.

I feel I was not told the truth about the guttering, or my problem. I feel they should try to fix my gutters or at least refund the extra $60 I paid them.

Regards,

Business

Response:

[redacted],

Please note this is the last response that we will give to complaint id # [redacted]. Finally the customer has admitted that her roof was not installed properly by whoever made such a pathetic mess 8 years ago. Once again we installed new aluminum guttering on the home in the fall of 2013. We have inspected the gutters several times to determine that they are installed properly. The guttering is sloped properly to the downspout drains and heavy duty hangers are installed 24" apart. All corner miters and details are completely sealed and no "gutter leaks" are existing.

This customer's problem is simply this: The eight year old metal roof is leaking at many locations and is particularly bad at the rear low slope area. The metal roof was installed directly over the original shingle roof. Consequently, the leaking metal roof is causing water to become trapped between the metal roof and the shingle roof. This water drainage is emptying out at the roof perimeter and is doing so behind the gutters. Since we did not install the leaking metal roof, we will not be responsible for this problem. The gutters we installed are working properly when water exits into these gutters. Water that does not empty off the roof edges into the gutters is not our responsibility.

As mentioned before we do sympathize with this customer and the problems she has with this leaking roof. We were requested to give a gutter estimate by the customer. We gave the estimate for installing gutters and she accepted our quote. We installed new gutters and received payment. We were not notified that she had experienced any "roof leaks" before or during the project. It seems obvious that the customer had assumed that the old gutters were leaking and therefore decided to have them replaced. In summary we simply furnished materials and labor for items requested by the customer and we had no way to know that her leak problems were coming from her roof. After the second return leak call this past winter, we noted severe ice damming and leaking roof fasteners at the rear low slope area. We tightened loose roof fasteners and sealed them with urethane for $60.00 which only recovered our material / labor costs. A few weeks later the customer called and the same problem existed. On this occasion we spent $80.00 more in repairing metal roof fasteners. However we did not charge the customer any fee whatsoever. Instead we identified to her that her problem was the leaking metal roof and that we could not repair the problem, and we stated that we could not continue returning since the problem was not related to our work.

Regards,

Thomas A Dunford

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

Regards,