This tiny piece of metal is the difference maker!

If you Google “homeowner’s worst nightmare,” one answer sitting at the top is “major hidden property disasters.” For one Northeast Ohio homeowner, an atrociously expensive nightmare was lurking behind a perfectly ordinary sliding patio door.

On the exterior, this gorgeous home, valued at more than half a million dollars, looked to be in great shape. Its roof was less than 10 years old, and the homeowners had no reason to suspect anything was wrong. They simply wanted to replace an aging door that was no longer operating properly.

The technicians from Spartan StormShield began removing the siding on the header to make way for the new door. What they found was bad. Water had seeped behind the siding and caused extensive damage and mold.

They Had No Idea

Project Manager Robert Neuhoff was at the jobsite.

“It was a shock to discover,” he says. “The homeowner had no idea.”

Turns out, when it comes to a roofing job done right, even the tiniest details matter.

“A little element called kickout flashing, a small, L-shaped piece of metal which probably costs about 30 cents, was not installed on the job by the original crew,” says Robert. “This part should be installed where the roofline meets the siding. Its critical job is to direct water running down the roof and along the flashing away from the wall and into the gutter where it belongs.”

In this case, it wasn’t there. And that tiny omission let water work its way behind the siding and wreak havoc for who knows how many years.

The homeowners asked Robert and his crew to inspect the rest of the roof and they found further damage, which will end up costing them tens of thousands of dollars to fix, all because of an omitted piece that costs pennies.

Robert explains that even though kickout flashing isn’t necessarily required by every building code, it is an important roofing best practice—one that the highly trained roofing specialists at Spartan StormShield would not leave out.

“It’s surprising how often we discover damage caused by previous contractors when we do inspections,” he says. “We do repair work, too. Our goal is to repair before we replace, and advocate for the homeowner to get the most years out of any roof we install.”

Before the Cold Wind Blows

This nightmare illustrates the importance of having a roof inspection. Before the cold wind blows, let the professionals inspect your roof, gutters, flashing and siding for warning signs. Because once winter arrives, small problems can quickly become expensive ones.

“Homeowners should think of water damage like a slow-growing cancer. Left unchecked, a small problem can spread and cause damage far beyond the original leak,” Robert says.

To dive deeper into the details on this job, click here to watch a video.

Armed with product innovation and trusted craftsmanship from highly trained crews, family-run Spartan StormShield lives up to its reputation for installing “the roof system to last your lifetime.” It installs and repairs roofs for homes and businesses all over Northeast Ohio.

Spartan StormShield

309 Silver Street, Akron

330-SPARTAN (330-772-7826) 

SpartanStormShield.com