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When one talks about warranties on homes, there is the usual time spans for everything to be noted and, in Ontario at least, one hopes that the Tarion warranty will help out when a builder fails to come through. Wishful thinking but sometimes they do come through.
Now, when you re-shingle your roof you get these lifetime, 25, 20, etc year warranties. When you buy a new house, have you ever seen a written warranty go with it? You might expect to get maybe what some consider a minimum 15 years before having to shell out for a new roof.
Seems with Mattamy, this might not be the standard.
At this link, I read the following by Mattamy: “We are known for our attention to detail in all aspects of building finely-crafted homes and people oriented communities.”
Mmmm, well not in my experience or in the experiences of others I would have to say.
If you go to this link, you will see that some homeowners are looking at replacing their roofs in time frames of 3-8 years of gaining occupancy.
3 years!!!!
Another writes that they have observed that over 90% of the homes facing west and southwest are already curling their shingles. What did Mattamy say about construction: “building finely-crafted homes”. If this award winning company can’t build a roof that lasts more than 3 years, I wonder just how bad those other companies are that don’t win the awards?
Some house inspectors and a realtor do give some good advice in this forum though. If you go to the link, you will see that they themselves aren’t too pleased with the Mattamy roofs and give some good advice on what to look for. One, Andy Shaw of Halton Inspections has even gone to Tarion and got a ruling for his clients, a ruling which everyone could have access to as long as they have properly documented the problem and processed the paperwork as they should have.
One advantage to having a knowledgeable house inspector on your side. So, you can believe the Mattamy ads or face the reality as some people have. Those who feel their house was quality built – did you go up and look at your roof? Maybe you got the flowers and good paint job but, if the roof wasn’t built right, you may have to replace it in 3 years. Another thing in addition to the development charges Mattamy didn’t mention.
Your roof might be alright but I’d suggest looking at it and comparing it to the information given in the forum to see if in fact it was built properly.
You can spend 10 minutes now going out (take a glass of wine in case you don’t like what you see) and checking it or, getting a professional to come and replace it at your cost in anywhere from 3 to 8 years based on what I have read.
Good luck……..
In case you don’t go to the link, here is the information…..
| Quote: |
| 2009Miltonite Posted:Any way around this if you’ve just purchase a home under a year old? I’m hiring a home inspector when we approach the one year mark in our new house. |
There is nothing you can do about Mattamy roofs, the materials they use, or their Roofers lack of common roofing knowledge.
Mattamy roofers wrap themselves tightly in the Ontario Building Code’s lame minimum standards. They don’t even follow basic guidelines and fundamentals which tells me that they lack basic understanding with regards to shingle installation.
In fact, the OBC rules with regards to roofs are so poor and vague that virtually all other roofing companies in the country follow other guidelines set out by the Canadian Roofing Contractors Assossiation.
Simple issues like exposed nail-heads are still common on 90% of Mattamy homes. Even when they are sealed, the job is done poorly. This reflects a bad attitude.
The OBC requires a “Starter Strip” at the eaves of roofs, yet often these strips are short, incomplete, or facing the wrong direction. At a home a week ago, the Starter Strips were short and incomplete at six locations. One area that was short, was clearly visible from the street and was in fact, the first problem I saw when I arrived at the house.
At gable edges, Mattamy Roofers usually don’t install a Starter Strip at the edges. This small detail is required by the CRCA because it is recognised as a basic detail that should be on all roof edges. It improves the look, the strength, and water resistance to every roof edge. This detail would take 20 minutes of time and $20. in materials to do properly. I have no idea why Mattamy or any other builder would consider this acceptable.
The CRCA requires that the ridge shingles that overlap each other, overlap facing away from the prevailing winds. This prevents water from blowing under the shingles and soaking the structure at the peak of the house. This costs nothing to do properly yet Mattamy roofers seem oblivious to this basic fundamental of shingle installation. In southern Ontario, the prevailing winds come from the west. Any Roofer that does not know this should go home and look for another job.
The Tarion Construction Performance Guidelines and the CRCA require that shingles overhang all roof edges a minimum of 12mm / 1/2″ yet Mattamy’s management has forgotten this major detail and has built hundreds of homes with this serious defect. In this case, the problem is not the Roofers fault, it’s the fascia installers fault for extending the outward bend at the top of the fascia too far. This “mistake” should have been caught by Mattamy supervisors early on but has been missed. Now, like I said, there are hundreds of homes out there with this major defect.
In the last year I have been watching this “shingle overhang issue” get worse and worse only to find out that Mattamy has been sending people over to my clients homes who convince owners that these issues are not legitimate concerns. When I found this out, I contacted Tarion and arranged a meeting with Tarion and upper level Mattamy management. At this meeting they agreed that this issue was important and that they would improve this problem. This however, does not fix the fact that many dozens of my clients were mislead and cheated from getting these legitimate repairs done. If, in the last year, I brought this “shingle overhang issue” to your attention during your inspection, only to be told by Mattamy that they would not fix this it, then please phone me. I will contact an individual at Mattamy who has assured me that these repairs would be done. In addition, I did contact the technical people at Tarion regarding this issue and they did agree the shingles must overhang the gable / fascia edge the minimum required 12mm / 1/2″ but even they suggested 3/4″ overhang was better.
Do your shingles properly overhang the edges of your gables ??
For those that don’t know, a Gable is the upside-down V shaped roof. There are Gables on most roofs. Stand directly under the gable and look up. You should see the shingles overhanging the edge of the gable by at least 12mm or 1/2″. Most roofers prefer a 3/4″ overhang and consider that standard, so 1/2″ should be the minimum amount to overhang this edge.
Andy Shaw – 905 876 4761
www.haltoninspections.com
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