Pay Attention To Warranty Cards

Warranties. I often wonder if they are the biggest scam in the world. That little card when you buy a toaster, microwave or radio. I have even found one in a book shelf I bought. It warrantied the special screws.

Not that this is a a legitimate survey, but I asked 10 friends and co-workers if they have ever filled one of these warranty cards out. Zilch, zip, zero.

Take roof shingles. You can buy 10, 15, 20 and even 45 year shingles. But if you don't have the invoice for the shingles or fill out the warranty card, those shingles can be 100 year shingles, you are out of luck.

Have a look at this roof. These shingles are IKO 20 year shingles.



These shingles were put on 10 years ago.



This is the south side which gets most of the sun. Now look at the this picture of the north side of the house.



The warranty specialist at IKO who manufactured this shingles said, it looks like two different roofs.

This is my roof and no I did not install the shingles 10 years ago. When we bought the house, the shingles had been done the year before. No we do not have the bill and the previous owner was unable to find his records of the project.

I wasn't looking for them to give me free shingles to fix the south side just a break in the price to replace them. Pleading with the warranty specialist at IKO it looked like there was a glimmer of hope for a great deal on the shingles.

After a long pause came the question, "Are your soffits vented", asked the specialist. No my soffits are not vented but I do have three roof vents and a front to back airway in house peaks.

"Given your roof size you need at least 4 roof vents and the soffits need to also have venting. Your problem is you are getting to much hot air trapped in your attic and its causing your shingles to bake. Your problem is a venting issue not a manufacturing issue".

Which brings me back to the warranty. These shingles could have been 19 years old and I could have had the invoice and the crew's bill who installed them and that warranty would all mean bumpkiss. You see right in their FAQ section under Roof Types and Designs, how much ventilation do I need, there is a link to the CASMA site which goes on to explain how much you need, blah blah blah..

Now science was not my strong point in school and I did miss a lot of shops classes. But with all the hot air trapped in my roof wouldn't you think that the north side of my roof would have some "baking" to the shingles considering there are NO vents on my north side?

"Warranties, what are they good for, absolutely nothing"

I am thinking the warranty specialist at IKO might be full of hot air.

Tony Mariani