The bill to create licensed Georgia roofing contractors (House Bill 301) was dropped on day sixteen of the current Georgia legislative session. The bill has been assigned to the regulated industries committee.

This bill is intended to protect Georgia homeowners and businesses, who are
regularly victimized by fly by night roofers. Often from our neighboring states,
all of which have strict licensing requirements, they come to Georgia because our
lack of regulation allows them to prey on the unwary. After every natural disaster
in the state, whether a hurricane on the coast or the recent destructive tornado in
Adairsville, unqualified roofers descend on Georgia to take advantage of the
victims, making easy money doing shoddy work, or taking deposits and doing no
work at all.

This bill is crucial to the future of regulation in the roofing industry.

For a copy of the bill please visit: http://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/en-US/Display/20132014/HB/301

Roof Flashings – 101

Roof flashings are the system components that weatherproof or seal the membrane at the roof edge or anywhere the membrane is penetrated.

Basically, they seal the roof at the edges and at penetrations.

Types of Roof Flashings

Curbs

Parapet Walls

Gutter

Pipes

Ducts

Ridges and Valleys

Scuppers

Vent Stacks

Roof drains

Expansion joints

TPO and PVC flashings should never be mixed together, because they will not weld together. This is a common installation mistake, which should never be made.

Many contractors are unaware or don’t take advantage of the incentive programs that are available to them.

A lot of the major roofing manufacturers have joint marketing programs to help contractors promote themselves and their products. Others have programs intended to reward contractors with discounts and other rewards.

Duro-Last offers the Amp-up incentive program for the exclusive use of authorized Duro-last contractors to advertise, publicize, and promote the sale and use of the Duro-last roofing system in their local markets.

 John Manville offers the Peak Advantage contractor program. Members can gain discounts and other benefits from organizations like Office Depot, Napa auto parts, Cintas, Avis, and Goodyear. You can also gain access to training and educational modules. Other merchandise can be awarded as well such as tickets to events, navigational systems, Ipads, employee gift reward cards, and jackets.

Almost every roofing manufacturer is offering some sort of incentive program. Every contractor should take advantage of these programs.

Rust treatment should be part of a regular roof maintenance program.

If left untreated the rust can destroy a metal roofing system. The rust will create damage to the structural integrity of the metal roof panels. For best practices rust should be treated when it first appears prior to its spreading. It can be important to determine the main cause of the rust. For example: if caused by galvanic corrosion, remove the questionable corrosive metal and replace it with a similar metal to the substrate.

Before applying a rust inhibitor the surface must be thoroughly cleaned to promote proper adhesion. Then the surface must be dried, before applying a surface seal. Then the roof should be treated for rust. Heavy rust may require a second application of rust inhibitor material.