The Carolina Contractor Show
The Carolina Contractor Show
Storm Damage to Your Roof? What You Need to Know...
A massive hailstorm just hit Greensboro NC with golf ball-sized projectiles, and your roof might be compromised without you even knowing it. General contractor Donnie Blanchard pulls back the curtain on what happens when hail strikes your shingles and why the damage matters even when there's no immediate leak.
The roofing industry harbors a dark side that emerges after every major storm. Donnie warns about predatory "storm chasers" – out-of-state operators who flood neighborhoods with aggressive sales tactics, encouraging unnecessary insurance claims that can follow you for life. These contractors often pressure homeowners to sign contingency agreements that lock them into using their services, only to disappear when warranty issues arise later.
Your insurance policy likely works differently than you realize when it comes to roof damage. Most carriers now use "test squares" to count hail strikes and determine replacement eligibility, while separate wind and hail deductibles ranging from 1-2% of your home's value have quietly replaced the standard $500-$1,000 deductibles common a decade ago. Filing a claim without legitimate damage creates a permanent record that follows you regardless of which insurance company you use.
Donnie explains exactly what to look for after a storm – from dented gutters and handrails to subtle indicators in your attic – and shares insider knowledge on flashing, proper installation techniques, and exciting advancements in roofing technology. GAF's new shingles now offer 25-year algae protection through time-released copper oxide treatments, while designer shingles continue gaining popularity for their distinctive appearance and durability.
Before you call your insurance company about potential storm damage, contact a reputable local roofing company for an honest assessment that won't jeopardize your insurance history or leave you with subpar repairs and vanishing warranties.
Welcome to the Carolina Contractor Show with your host, general Contractor Donnie Blanchard. Okay, donnie, you're not a big NCAA bracket person, or you aren't this year, did you even?
Speaker 2:fill one out. I'm ashamed to say I did not. This is the first time I have it in a long time. But man, we've just been so busy, and thanks be to the Lord for that one, because you know things were slow through the winter, but we're coming out swinging and so? No, the answer is no. I'm a big Duke fan, but I did not even have a chance to show them working their way all the way to the championship. How about?
Speaker 1:you. Yeah well, that's all big, fine and dandy, but, more importantly, we're entering the third year of the Home Builders Supply Eric Smith Invitational NCAA Brackets. I'm the two-time defending champion of this. Everybody's picking Duke this year, though for the most part I did. Now that everything's locked in, you can't cheat. One person picked Auburn and at the recording of this show they're all still in it. I mean, it's just the first half of a day. I did miss the Creighton-Louisville game. Did you see any of that today? You're probably working. I had a TV behind me, no funny enough I did.
Speaker 2:I went next door to the office and got a quesadilla from Wings to Go which is phenomenal these days and while I was waiting on my quesadilla they had the Louisville game on. They had the Louisville game on and Louisville didn't look like they were doing so hot. I want to say they're one of their main shooters got hurt while I was sitting there watching the game, so I didn't. I didn't see a good ending insight for those guys, yeah.
Speaker 1:It wasn't that you knew by halftime that they weren't going to come back from that. And kudos to Creighton. It's not like a big upset. Was number nine over number eight Right? But anyways, our work, because some jobs if they have people doing brackets they don't want money because it kind of hits that gray line of is the company or business endorsing gambling or holding it. So they do a paid day off for the winner. Winner takes all. So it's kind of cool that everybody's going. Hmm, I could get a paid day off and nobody likes me at work because they think I cheat, because I don't watch college basketball hardly at all. I don't analyze, but I just look at trends, I guess I would say. And interestingly enough, there's only been one time where all number one seeds ended up in the final four.
Speaker 2:We'll see. I'm rooting for you, not against you this year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, they'll be mad if I win it for the third year. They'll think there's a fix. Okay, let's get to work. This is the Carolina Contractor Show and again, my name is Eric Smith, two-time defending champion of the Home Builders NCAA men's basketball bracket. During this time of year People don't like me at work because they think it's a rigged game and I always win it. But hey, we'll see. This year I'm not feeling quite as confident.
Speaker 1:Across from me, Donnie Blanchard, owner of SureTop Roofing. Owner of Blanchard Building Company, also a licensed general contractor, and boy, it sure is going to be good for today's show to have you on, Donnie, because, being the owner of SureTop Roofing and knowing the inside and outside of roofs and how to not only put on a new roof or a new build when we have storms roll through, like we did last week, storm damage is a big thing and there's a lot of things that can happen to a roof that you might be able to see and might not be able to see. So today we want to start off talking about what to do if you think you might have storm damage, or maybe you didn't even have storm damage, or you did and you don't even think you had the damage because you just don't have that trained pro eye. So, uh, I say we just jump into this real quick, Donnie. What's? What's the first thing people need to be aware of when it comes to their roof after a big storm?
Speaker 2:Well, there's several things, depending on whether it be wind or hail damage. I'll start with hail, because we just had that huge hail storm run through Greensboro and it's the first time in more than a decade we've had hail that size. So certain parts of Greensboro got over golf ball size and personally I looked at a few of those houses and you know, golf ball size hail stone does a lot of damage. It'll shred the siding, it really compromises the roof and I'll get into the ways it does that in a moment. But, uh, the obvious things are that you want to just take a look around the house, usually between your cars, if they're sitting outside the garage and you're landscaping. You know that stuff kind of shreds everything in its path.
Speaker 2:So if things are in disarray, uh, you can probably bet that it did the same thing to your house and your roof is still functional after a hail storm. I've never seen a circumstance where a hail stone made it all the way through the roof and made a hole in your roof. But it does compromise the finishes, meaning the asphalt layer, that that basically protects the fiberglass mat of your shingles, you know it. Uh, the aluminum, the gutters system. It's going to basically dent those up and compromise the, the baked on finish there. So it does. It can do a lot of damage and and it's not uh damage that's going to affect you immediately. But if you let it go over time, those things are going to wear out a lot quicker than they would have hey donnie.
Speaker 1:Side note is that fancy copper trim more susceptible to dents than like a traditional metal roof.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. With the flashing that you have, the thickness of the aluminum is similar to the thickness of the copper and, especially if you have, we use a flat sheet of metal sometimes instead of the aluminum to do our flashing. But copper is just so malleable, it's soft, and so if you have copper it's a double-edged sword because it's going to show the hail damage a lot worse than metal would. And if you have the right kind of insurance, then they're going to pay for that and they're going to pay more for that copper. But if I had it to do and I didn't have a copper theme, I would side with metal every time because it just holds up better.
Speaker 1:I think maybe talking about storm damage to your roof, then obviously a tree or a branch or something falls. We know that's going to probably do something, but let's probably focus on the hail today. And one thing I do want to stress is there's a difference between someone like you who owns an established, reputable company that's local. The big problem when storms come through are storm chasers. There's several things. You have to look out for a storm chaser. You got to avoid them, but here's how you can. There are a couple of things you can tell. One of them is they pop up out of nowhere. Usually, something on their truck indicates they're out of town or even out of state, sometimes states away. Describe your battle with storm chasers when they come into town after a big storm, donnie.
Speaker 2:Well, whether it's legit damage or not, they're knocking on every door and those guys are very aggressive. We've seen just in the last couple of days they've been here from Texas, myrtle Beach, florida, indiana so hailstorms haven't been as prevalent in the last 10 years as they were in the previous 10 before that. So these guys are vultures and they come and they don't care about you. They don't care about your uh, your insurance claim history. They don't care about, uh, anything except turning a quick buck. So they may knock on 40 or 50 doors in a day and they're going to tell you a hailstorm, pass through here. You, your 40 or 50 doors in a day and they're going to tell you a hailstorm, pass through here.
Speaker 2:Your roof is damaged is usually their tagline, and they'll want to get up there and take a look. Most people say if it doesn't cost me anything, go ahead. Well, they're going to tell you, without you seeing for yourself, that you have hail damage up there and they're going to encourage you to initiate an insurance claim. What they're not telling you is that if you really have minimal hail damage there's a sign of hail but it doesn't look like you've had displacement of asphalt granules and, like I mentioned earlier. We'll do a deeper dive on that of what a hailstone actually does to an asphalt shingle, but they're going to try to get you to initiate that claim because if they do that to 20, 30 people and get that many bites in a day, then half of those may end up being insurance claims that go through and so you get your roof replaced on the insurance company's dime and it's just not a.
Speaker 2:It's not a process. That's only up and up and it's very dishonest. Uh, the one thing that they do and we've preached about this and I think it's been a while since we did a roofing show but they will say that, uh, you need to sign this contingency agreement and what that contingency agreement states is that if I get the insurance company to pay for your roof, then you are obligated to go with us as your roofer and that gives them an open door to try to milk the insurance company for all they can get. And when I said it's very dishonest, it's very unfair to the insurance company. That is and someone like us we're locally owned, operated.
Speaker 2:The insurance companies know that we're honest operations, so they refer people to us when they call to say, hey, do I have damage, they'll ask me to go out there and check it out and just give them an honest assessment and a lot of times, more times than not, we say no, you don't have legitimate damage and you may have a little bit, but it's not enough to qualify for replacement. You know you don't have legitimate damage and you may have a little bit, but it's not enough to qualify for replacement, which is the exact opposite of what a storm chaser will do.
Speaker 1:Can you, donnie, with your experience, pull up to the curb of a house because someone called and said, hey, sure, top roofing, I think I may have damage? Can you just, in their driveway, identify something from, just from your truck?
Speaker 2:It's tough from the truck, other than the landscaping being shredded, like I mentioned earlier, you can see that if they haven't cleaned that part up. But you really need to get close to the house and the way the insurance companies label this is collateral damage, meaning something other than the roof. So handrails, downspouts for gutters, things that you can see and touch right there from the ground. A lot of times those are, you know, the handrails are hollow PVC or, of course, the downspouts are um, aluminum and they're going to show. They're going to show a hail strike If there were any hail present that was big enough to do any damage. Those are good indicators. Your outside vehicles, like I mentioned earlier, and I know the one thing we joke about is, you know your mailbox will tell the tale and that's the easiest way. But it takes a heck of a hailstone to dent a mailbox because most of those are a thicker gauge aluminum I'm sorry, thicker gauge metal.
Speaker 1:Does SureTop Roofing handle the insurance? So if you say yeah, your roof is damaged, you need to contact the insurance company. Is that something you help a homeowner with?
Speaker 2:If they ask, yes, we do and we're glad to do that. But we're upfront about what they should expect. And a lot of times people will say we want to handle our insurance claim Ourself, will let you know if it's approved or denied. And then there are other people who we've gained their trust over the years and they want us to meet the adjuster and pretty much handle everything start to finish. I tend to say that the latter gives you better success because we don't push and we certainly don't even tell you to initiate the claim if your damage isn't legitimate.
Speaker 2:I should have mentioned that a few seconds ago when we were talking about what happens if they do deny the claim.
Speaker 2:But if you call an insurance adjuster out, go through with the claim and they don't find any damage or they find minimal damage that doesn't even exceed your deductible, then you have a claim history from that day forward and that follows you, no matter which insurance company you have, for forever. So it makes you a calculated risk and the answer is yes, it can make your premiums go up and, like I mentioned, those storm chasers, they don't care about any of that. They're just trying to get in, get your roof and get gone. And so those guys, they're just bad all the way around and from a warranty standpoint they're not going to come back. From an installation standpoint, they don't have local installers. They're just trying to find subcontractor crews any way they possibly can. So, uh, encourage everybody if they're from out of state or have a 1-800 number on their truck, don't answer the door, and if you do, politely let them know that you'll be going with somebody local.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I was going to mention that about warranties and installation, and they're going to do things that will, even if you get the high-end shingle, say the GAF, if you don't use starter strip that's recommended or it's not installed by a certified installer, the warranty isn't going to be there. And those guys that are looking to shred a roof, put a new one on, get a check and get out of town. They're not going to come back. If you have a small install error where some shingles weren't put in correctly, they're going to be up and disappear. So, like you said all around, if they're not from town, avoid them like the plague and call an established local roofing company that can take care of it, and we'll put that information up on the website.
Speaker 1:Of course we have suretoproofingcom, but you can also find it at thecarolinacontractorcom. Do want to mention we upload these shows onto our YouTube channel. We have links there, along with all the other social media. So again, hit thecarolinacontractorcom. So we've talked about the basics people can look for. Missing shingles is kind of an obvious thing. If they're turned up or bent, that's a time to call a pro. Inside the house would there be indications of roof damage? But you see it on the inside.
Speaker 2:Yep, let me answer that one in one second. I want to comment on what you said about missing shingles or shingles turned up. That falls in the category of wind damage and if your insurance company comes out, they're going to delineate that the cause of loss matters and every cause of loss has a separate deductible. So if it's wind damage, they'll write the roof as wind damage, which is very straightforward. Hail damage is subjective to the adjuster or the insurance company's requirements. With hail damage, what they do is what they call a test square. So they'll draw out a 10 by 10 section on every slope and they count how many hail strikes they can find in that 10 by 10 area. So I won't call anybody by name, but there are some insurance companies who just absolutely will not pay unless there are, unless that test square is just peppered. And there's other people that says, hey, if there's you know six or eight in there, then we're good to go.
Speaker 2:But uh, to comment on that separate deductible issue, one thing that I've been seeing, and since my insurance adjuster days, gosh, 12, 15 years ago 15 years ago everybody had a $500 or $1,000 deductible. Well, the insurance companies got wise that so many folks are out there filing claims for wind and hail that they have issued I'd say 90% of the population a separate wind and hail deductible and sometimes that's anywhere from 1% to 2% depending on the cost of your premium. So usually you're usually able to choose which one you want, but most of the people choose a higher deductible. So I've been running into folks since this hail storm hit that have deductibles anywhere from two to four to $5,000 on a larger home and and that's really a big decision you got to make you still win. If they pay for it and you come out of pocket everything but that $3,000, then it's still a win, but it's not like it used to be All right.
Speaker 1:Thank you for doing that Again. It's why we like having someone who's a professional when it comes to roof repair, because it is a big investment and people don't understand how the insurance policy follows you. Okay, so I was going to say so again. Is there something you can see inside that you can't see outside that might indicate true roof damage? Right?
Speaker 2:Not.
Speaker 2:Uh, really not with with hail, with wind, the answer is yes because, uh, normally with wind damage it'll flip a shingle back and tear it off and it's just gone, even if it's creased or or raised still have wind-driven rain get under there.
Speaker 2:If there's any kind of damage to flashing or pipe boots, normally that just gives a straight line of water to come down. And I tell people, if you're agile enough to get into your attic, that's a good way to start. Go in the attic, pop on the lights and if there's a drip in any direction, you can usually see it. The reason that's a better way than looking from the inside is that insulation in the overhead ceiling is usually going to absorb rain for, I don't know, months in some cases. So, depending on the type of insulation, it could turn into a big sponge up there and it will mask the problem for a long, long time. So, getting in the attic and just laying eyes on it and we do that when we come and inspect a roof we'll inspect in the attic for you at no charge. But really you have to be in the attic during a rainstorm and it's just kind of one of those things that falls on the homeowner in most cases.
Speaker 1:Granular damage to the shingle versus a shingle wearing out? Can hail really make enough damage that the granular makeup of that shingle starts coming off?
Speaker 2:Yes, and so how hail damages a shingle is it displaces the granules, meaning like, uh, you know they, they, they show pictures of a asteroid hit on the moon or or you know some kind of uh, something that makes landfall here and it just basically displaces the dirt in a circular shape. It's that on a very small level. And and what's happening is, when those asphalt granules are displaced, it exposes the fiberglass mat below, and the fiberglass mat is the real roofing material. The color that you see is in the asphalt granules, and all those asphalt granules are doing is protecting the fiberglass mat. So basically they're like a sunscreen.
Speaker 2:And people confuse that because the asphalt looks like it's the roofing material but it's really not what's keeping the water out. So the way that the manufacturers word the warranty information is after a hailstorm your warranty is voided with most of the manufacturers because they claim that the shingle will deteriorate at an accelerated rate. So once that fiberglass mat is exposed, it's going to spiderweb to the next hail strike and the next hail strike and basically when that roof was made, to lose granules at a certain rate over time. So you know, granule loss is not something that's not supposed to happen, but when it does it at a faster rate and that 30 year roof that you used to have breaks down in 10, that's why it is warranted as a legitimate insurance claim.
Speaker 1:If you hear branches hitting your roof in the middle of a storm, that thud that we all fear and I don't mean big six-inch around diameter branches, but you hear a lot of branches and you have branch debris in your yard and maybe there's nothing sitting on your roof after the storm. If you hear that, is that probably a reason you should call to get an inspection.
Speaker 2:I think so Absolutely. Um had a windstorm blow through maybe three, four weeks ago and, um, you know, especially if you're in a wood, heavily wooded lot, that's something that you'd be wise to get checked out, because it's nothing for a a branch to just make contact in in the absolute right way. Where it hits between two roof rafters and all you have there is a piece of shingle and then a half inch piece of plywood there, so something the diameter of your wrist could hit that and it could go through your roof. I just had that happen. My fiance's house had basically looked like it's covered in tree debris and one of those pieces of debris happened to go all the way through and it was funny because it continued to rain after that and it sealed so tight when it went through the roof that she didn't get any water inside. But that that's definitely something worth checking out. So if you I'd say a good indicator is if it's not plain to see if you have a lot of tree debris on your roof, you know that's one of those things where we can come look at it and just make sure everything is okay. And and you know a lot of times, if it's not a lot, we'll just take care of the tree debris and knock it off there for you. But, um, yeah, we had a.
Speaker 2:We had a really sweet lady call in last week after the storms and her name was Ann Allen. She's 90 years old and Ms Allen was just. I don't have any grandparents left, so I just I love older people and when I say this lady's 90, but her yard looks like she's about 40. She maintains an amazing, an amazing lot. I mean all the way around her. She has a border all the way around her house and um, uh, just, I was just blown away that she was 90 years old. Uh, she still had it, has it all together and and, as a hard worker, and uh, of course, her roof. You know it wasn't in the greatest shape, but we could have got her down the road a little bit longer, with maybe a repair, but I think she just wants to. Hey, we'll be glad to check you out for maintenance sake and and I think we're going to end up putting a new roof on for her, but we don't charge anything for that service.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, please call if there's anything in question like that you know that is a bonus if you go through the process of having to get a new roof and maybe, especially if you have a more neutral color, say a white house, and you have a gray shingle on it, you could sit there and go well, can I change colors? Because if you're not doing anything crazy, the price is the same. You could go with a really dark charcoal, or more a black color on your roof and make it look kind of like a new house, as long as it matches some of your other trim, and that's, I guess, kind of a cool opportunity to change up your house.
Speaker 2:Yeah, roof is a big deal when you pull in. She has a the Allen lady I just mentioned. She has a reddish color shingle and it goes with the theme of her shutters and even the the rock border that she had around her house. It all goes in and she has a black accent brick in her brick veneer. So we whittled it down to red or black and you know that black high definition shingle that we put on everywhere is just so sharp that she said she thought she would just change it up, like you mentioned. And when I say that black high def shingle, it's going to make her house look like a completely different home. It's going to do the trick, makes it pop.
Speaker 1:I want you also to quickly explain, as we mentioned at the beginning of this episode about flashing. Some people don't understand what it is, so they're not sure what they should be looking for. So could you give a basic definition of what flashing is and how people could identify it on their house or around the chimney, for example, and how they could identify if maybe it's damaged and they need to contact you?
Speaker 2:Right. So flashing goes anywhere. You have a roof slope meeting a vertical protrusion, so anything that comes up through your roof or if your roof butts into a chimney, then that's going to require flashing. And there's two types. There's step flashing and counter flashing.
Speaker 2:The step flashing is what's doing all the work and if you do the shingles up the side of a brick chimney, for instance, every shingle gets an L-shaped piece of flashing.
Speaker 2:So you put the shingle down, the L-shaped piece of flashing, and you nail that flashing underneath what would be the next shingle up, so the step flashing goes under each one to shed water.
Speaker 2:The step flashing has to be capped off with the counter flashing, which is what you see, that the straight line metal, and so a lot of times, depending on the application, a lot of times if you have a vinyl siding chimney or vinyl siding on the house, you only need the step flashing and the J channel and the vinyl serve as the counter flashing. But if you have a brick veneer chimney I think you have that at your house then you'll want to go with the uh, with with the counter flashing on top. That matches the roof color in most cases and a couple of different ways. People like that, either straight line in some circumstances, or they want that what you call stepped, and so it steps along the mortar joints of the brick and it's a little more expensive to do that and you know, it's a good look and it's how they used to do every single house, but it takes about all day if you have several areas that need to be cut in that way.
Speaker 1:And you don't spend a whole lot of time looking at the flashing around the base of your chimney and stuff like that. And of course we already know, donnie not a big fan of chimneys because that's a possible point of intrusion by water I love a chimney and so you know each their own. We can still manage to get along, you know, it's okay. Gutters and downspouts very important and ever driven by a house and you see the what I call the waterfall effect going over a gutter, which clearly indicates if it's not a obviously a monsoon but a normal rain. You've got clogged gutters, you've got a big issue and that can lead to to a bunch of other stuff. And you do gutters also, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we do, and I like to encourage people and, depending on the size of the house, if it's a smaller house with a modest roof pitch, that watershed is not going to come off but so aggressive. But if you have one of these houses that are so popular now, with a 30 foot rafter run and a 12, 12 pitch, and you know that that baby is 45 feet in the air, then it's a no brainer to go with six inch gutters, and the standard gutter size is a five inch. It doesn't sound like a big jump to go to the six inch, but the amount of volume that it can hold is exponentially more hits it can really handle and you're not just accounting for volume, you're counting for runoff speed and at the bottom of those valleys that's a lot of water channeled to that one specific spot. But yeah, the gutters. If anybody had hail damage and wants the gutters replaced, I highly encourage that. $1 more per foot is well worth it to go with a six inch.
Speaker 2:What kills me is the people who do their gutter. They replace their gutters and then they call us for the roof. I'm thinking that was the cart before the horse, but it is what it is and we're very careful and and we still make it work. But the right order is roof first, gutter second.
Speaker 1:So you would come in at, like you'd come to my house and you'd peel off the gutters.
Speaker 2:Then peel off the roof, put the roof on and then put on the new gutters. I guess it's that simple. No, a lot of times we leave the gutters in place because we want to make sure that the way that we cut our shingles sheds appropriately into the gutter. That's there. So we let the gutter folks take down the gutters when they do the replacement, because they can see what you have and it kind of gives them a pattern to follow as well.
Speaker 1:Once again why you need a pro to do this, because I would have just thought common sense it's like deconstruction and reconstruction of the roof and the gutter system. But that makes perfect sense because until they see the slope and how everything is, they could put in wrong size or maybe have the angle, Because there is a little science to the angle of the gutter against the roof. It's not like a perfectly flat point.
Speaker 2:We have shingle overhang requirements where the shingle overhang has to go a specific distance into that gutter for the gutter to be effective and, like I mentioned, every roof is different. So we kind of like to leave those in place and make sure we do it right.
Speaker 1:Hey, that's the number one thing is get the job done right, especially when it comes to your roof. Suretoproofingcom is the roofing company that Donnie owns, if you want to give them a call if you suspect you have any roof damage or anything like that. Now let's nerd out for a couple minutes that we have left. In the Carolina Contractor Show you see information and things that are new products or new installs or anything. We got advancements that are worth talking about coming down the road new shingles, new installation techniques something that the average person might not get, but the nerd and all of us who like construction would.
Speaker 2:I'll backtrack for a second, and I think the last time we did a roof show, the HDZ was the big new thing that GAF had come out with, and high definition is the HD.
Speaker 1:And then I know you say Z stands for zombie, but they would never go with that. They wouldn't go with it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it stands for strike zone, because when they put the top and bottom layer of that architectural shingle together, a high nailed roof is just about the worst thing you can have, and that's that's pretty darn common. So what they did to offset that is, they made a bigger strike zone, so it's almost two inches, just shy of two inches, so that the installer in the field has a bigger variance to install that nail. Field has a bigger variance to install that nail, and that was the big thing back then. Designer shingles are slowly but surely making a comeback and there was a day when they said that designer shingles would replace architectural shingles, the way that architectural shingles replaced three tab shingles. So we actually own the domain name designer shingle no S, designer shingle dot com and we're we're in the process of redoing the website. We'll do a big show about that, but we're I bought I don't know how I got it, but I got architectural shingle dot com as well and we're doing a big, big website which is already in place at designer shingle, but we're going to overhaul the whole thing and incorporate that into the suretoproofingcom website so that we have basically an online gallery that that anybody can use, whether it be a customer or a competitor. We're going to make it super friendly.
Speaker 2:But to answer your question, that was a long winded back answer. Um, to answer your question, I think the latest greatest thing is that, uh, back answer. To answer your question, I think the latest greatest thing is that GAF had a series called American Harvest and there were a bunch of new colors that came out with American Harvest and they used to cost a little more but they incorporated that into the HDZ line. So basically, american Harvest. We have all these new beautiful colors to choose from. There may be a lead time depending on the color because they're not a common stock item, but they did include those in the HDZ line.
Speaker 2:But the biggest breakthrough is that they have a 25-year algae warranty on the shingles now.
Speaker 2:So for the whole time we've been in roofing it's been a 10-year algae deterrent warranty and if you've ridden down the street and you see these folks whose houses face the north, they have these ugly algae streaks and you know a lot of people get roof replacements just because of that.
Speaker 2:But this new algae warranty, or algae deterrent warranty, has been increased from 10 years to 25 years, which is really strong, and the way they pull that off is they treat these things with copper oxide in the plant during the production process and the way that they stepped it up from a 10, that was how they did the 10 year. The way they stepped it up is they almost have uh what's a good way to explain it A time release capsule. So they have these almost like a time release pill that you would take time released copper that will uh release over the 25 year span and it releases an ever so slight amount of that, but that's enough to keep that algae from growing on there for 25 years, really strong and the strike zone was to make it easier for installation right the z that was that was strictly.
Speaker 2:They didn't want anybody to and from their, from their end, they don't want a bunch of manufacturer defects or they don't want claims that they have to come out and then they say, well, you, you high, nailed it, you installed it wrong in the field.
Speaker 2:And I think that's what really lit the fire for them to make that advancement, because they're coming out there and the shingles are coming apart and they're saying, well, that wasn't our fault, our shingle was fine, you installed it incorrectly. So when they saw that, for a few years, uh, they responded accordingly, which I think is wonderful because they got proactive and they said we're going to make this change. And they, they mechanically attached the bottom and the top layer, sort of like a plastic package. You know, when we were kids or when I was a kid, it was a lot longer for you, but, um, when we were kids, it you could just pull a package apart and then they made you work for it. You know, they mechanically attached that perimeter in the plastic where they embedded the top and the bottom layer. Same exact concept with the shingle, but it's very simple but genius.
Speaker 1:Well played. You deserve that. I usually give the smart aleck remarks, but you landed that plane very well. I will bow to your excellence today on the smart ass joke. You got me by a few years. Yeah, yeah, you got me on that. I do want to say that I'm familiar, obviously, with designer shingles, architectural shingles and, man, it's a little bit more money per square but they are cool looking when they get done on a house. I would have never thought before I got introduced to you and then how all this kept going, that I would drive around and go, ooh, they got those nice new designer shingles. They're really nice looking when they're put up on a house, whether it's an old house or brand new build, they look so sharp. So I'm excited talking about the designer shinglecom site in the future when you get that revamped.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir, likewise I have a lot to say about it. All right, well, we uh again stress if you think you had storm damage, especially had storm damage, especially to your roof, go ahead and give SureTop Roofing a call. There's several locations. The easiest thing to do is go to SureTopRoofingcom and call from there and set up an appointment.
Speaker 1:As Donnie said which, again, I didn't know, donnie, all this time, one of the things you do is you can come out and just take care of basics. They might not have roof damage, but repairing pipe boots yeah, I said it roof damage, but repairing pipe boots yeah, I said it. Pipe boots that dry, rot out and putting down nail pops and stuff. That by itself is a great little service to be able to provide people, if you can say, hey, that's all we had to do, you had some loose stuff, but, man, your roof protects everything inside your house, so let him come out there and look at it and make sure it's right. It's not going to take long and you're just going to get a much better roof install when you do somebody local. And again, avoid the storm chasers that are coming into town to do these repairs because they're going to hit you quick, take care of the insurance and leave you with a problem.
Speaker 2:Hey, speaking of insurance, I recently got connected with someone from the Department of Insurance, so I think a good follow up to this show is that we should get them on in the future. They, they policed the storm chasers and the word on the street all these years was that only Texas and Florida did that, because they have hailstorms every year in Texas and hurricanes every year in Florida. Well, that's not so. And this department, I guess in North Carolina, they lay low, I'm sorry, the division of the Department of Insurance in North Carolina. They lay low until they don't. And so the fellow that I met said that they were all highly trained. He said we got no new guys. Everybody's a seasoned vet in here. And when people commit the insurance fraud through the storm chasers where they go, damage the roofs and we didn't mention that earlier, but that does happen where they tear shingles up and try to get a claim, this guy said they're the folks who police that, and I think that that'll be a great show. They'll have a lot to say.
Speaker 1:We'll put information up on the website, thecarolinacontractorcom and look for a future show talking to the experts in North Carolina about tackling insurance fraud, especially when it comes to the storm chasers. And again, I cannot stress this enough, it's not hard to do Contact suretoproofingcom. Let them come look at your roof If you had storm damage or you think you had storm damage, and put your mind at ease. Let them take care of you and you can sleep better at night, not wondering if you've got damage that's going to turn into a bigger problem. Website Website, again, thecarolinacontractorcom, and we thank you for tuning in, checking us out on YouTube and we will see you again next week. Thanks for your time everybody. Thanks for listening to the Carolina Contractor Show. Visit thecarolinacontractorcom.