Summary of 14 Experiences.
Bill Hamilton Roofing
installed a new IB membrane roof with bill hamilton roofing in 3/10. replaced skylights & curbs, added new skylights, and added more insulation. the crew was very nice, respectful, and hard working. ran into a few surprises as we uncovered & more downpours came, but all were fixed and pleasantly negotiated. IB has a lifetime warranty, so it'll outlast me. and i still hear the sound of rain, which i was afraid i might lose.
i recommend them and would use them again myself. [Feb 2012 reminder to all posters, please ID yourself!]
Eastman Roofing
Posted 7/16/24 by Grant Grundler (Hamilton Ave)
Do not use: "Deceptive Business practices". I signed a contract with "Danny" because one neighbor endorsed them. So far, it's a $1000 mistake. The contract I signed didn't specify that they would install over the existing roof and in two places implied the roof had to be removed. Our conversations up to that point included inspecting for termites after the roof would be removed. They called me a week later and out of the blue mentioned that the existing T&G roof would not be removed per contract. Danny could have told me that when I signed the contract or told me the next day. The fact that Danny waited a week to tell me was a huge red flag. Then I learned about the on going litigation and reviewed the 23 page contract with a much more critical eye - and found at least a dozen things that were either inconsistent or not specified (e.g. hourly rate to repair roof deck/beams/etc). The key thing that we couldn't resolve was the warranty: the contract specified requirements for the "roof deck" that celotex panels just don't meet ("anchor nails"). And failure to meet the requirements stated that the roof membrane manufacturer (Fibertite) might not honor the warranty. I'm not paying $40k without confidence that the roof membrane is warrantied. Jim Eastman refused to return my $1000 deposit after I refused to sign a new, corrected contract becuase he wouldn't guarantee the membrane warranty would be honored. It's still possible they will pursue litigation to claim the "20% due when canceling the contract"... we'll see.
Cosmos Roofing
Posted on 7/16/24 by Grant Grundler (Hamilton Ave)
Do not recommend but you could do worse. Cosmos roofing installed my T&G in 1992 and I'm finally getting it replaced after failures every 5 or so years (which cost $2k+ for every repair). They drove nails through the celotex and into the living space and failed to cover all the living spaces with insulation (I caught that before they were done and they covered what was missing). Rich (owner) is an excellent roofer but the crew and later support were definitely not satisfactory.
Posted on 12/27/22 by Ella Gille -2348 Jane Lane
I had Cosmos install a new roof in 2013 with a 20 year warranty! Price was fair, workers were not terribly clean but they were very accommodating. We worked with Rich the owner at the time.
After a few years we noticed that the roof looked sad so we called them because we had a 20 year warranty. They said that “we only cover leaks”. That’s not what the warranty said but I didn’t argue. Fast forward a few years and I talked to another neighbor who also couldn’t get cosmos to honor their warranty. I came to the conclusion that the roof will need to be recoated. This was a completely unplanned expense because we were expecting a 20 year roof.
We haven’t had the chance to recoat the roof but we did get a leak during a rainstorm so I called Cosmos to fix it. Thye are not open 7 days a week, but they did come the first business day that I made the request (I contacted them on Sunday, they came on Monday). There were chunks of roof missing from the skylight, they told me that they fixed the leak, and I requested for them to come out to look at the other issues with the roof, they asked to do that in three weeks and I acquiesced since the leak had supposedly been fixed. They refused to make an appointment until we got closer to the date.
Two weeks later I am now up at midnight listening to my roof leak again, same skylight in leaking in two places the original location of the leak, and the corner next to it on the skylight. I am still trying to figure out how is this possible?
Right now, I am too upset to recommend Cosmos to anyone, they were cheap but you get what you pay for and sometimes you get a whole lot less than what you pay for. Their warranty is not worth the paper it is printed on if they can’t even fix a simple skylight leak.
Posted 5/13/10 by Pat Jordan (650) 793-4274
2458 Alvin Street
Just this month, after several seasons of patching leaks in the flat portion of my roof (over the bedrooms), I finally cried "Uncle!" and decided to get a new roof for that portion. I weighed the pros and cons of T&G, versus foam, versus IB roofs, and finally decided to go with a nice T&G roof by Cosmos Roofing. Rich Cosmos gives excellent customer service, with constant updates and feedback at every point of the work, and has fair prices. His roofs are of high quality and come with a long 20-year warranty. That is a GOOD warranty. He can also install more downspouts, if needed. I worried about the recoating responsibilities of a foam roof, and an IB roof, although a really nice option, is pricier.
I would highly recommend Rich Cosmos and his company's work anytime.
Membrane Roofs
Posted 7/16/2024 by Grant Grundler
There are at least 4 different types of single ply membrane roofs: EPDM (rubber), TPO (thermoplastic polyolefin), PVC, PVC-KEE.
Forget the first two: they just don't last that long (typically 10-20 years) and get reformulated every couple of years. They make them "thicker" so they last longer but eventually still need to be entirely replaced.
PVC is exactly what you think it is: Poly Vinyl Chloride. Environmental unfriendly, highly toxic when it burns, and not recyclable in our area. Despite lasting 20+ years, once the liquid plasticizers used to make the membrane flexible "migrate" (ie evaporate) out, one can no longer repair or weld to this type of membrane. This migration happens due to the low molecular weight of the liquid plasticizers used.
PVC-KEE has nearly all the same drawbacks but will last much longer since they use Ketone Ethylene Ester (a solid plasticizer). KEE has a molecular weight many thousands of times larger than the liquid plasticizers and will not migrate out of the PVC. DuPont discovered KEE and branded it "elvaloy" - so you will like come across this trade marked name (or can search for it). The 1973 patent for KEE has long expired and other brands have since started making PVC-KEE membranes without the branding. Besides Fibertite and Flex Roofing systems, one can find additional KEE roof membrane manufacturers on coolroofs.org.
Some key reasons to install a PVC-KEE membrane roof:
- about 5x less weight on the roof during an earthquake (require the roofer to remove T&G or other roof layers)
- can last much longer than Tar & Gravel
- no maintenance (compared to foam roofs)
- easy to install and repair (thermoplastic - welded with hot air - e.g. when adding a solar system)
- "Bright White" is much cooler than most other types of roofs (see coolroofs.org). (Even cooler when installed over 3-5 inches of rigid insulation)
Bill Hamilton Roofing only works with IB Roofing materials and "IB Chemguard" is their version of PVC-KEE membrane.
Posted by Caeli on Lassen
Feedback from my question on have people installed membrane roofs. It appears membrane roofs are moving more into the residential market. The two company names I was given were
Western Roofing (Jim Hall, sales rep)
Bill Hamilton Roofing (408) 379-1303
Western Roofing got rather a lukewarm endorsement. Bill Hamilton got a very positive endorsement. I also found Williams Roofing in Santa Cruz.
BILL HAMILTON ROOFING
This company installs an IB PVC Roof which is composed of sheets of material that are welded together over your roof. It has been used in commercial roofing for years. It comes with a 15 year leak-proof and workmanship warranty and a lifetime warranty on the materials. A client of mine had it installed on their Eichler, on my recommendation, and Bill Hamilton's company was excellent to work with, right on time, and did a great job. It is a good long-term roof with few maintenance issues. Their phone number is (408) 379-1303.
Pat Jordan
Resident at 2458 Alvin Street
(650) 793-4274
Another Bill Hamilton Roofing (BHR) Review - Posted Aug 2013 by GMason on Thompson
I used BHR to install an IB Roof Systems single membrane roof on my house in Summer 2012. I chose BHR because he was able to do the carpentry work as well as the roof work. Refer to ML Wiki folder re: Replacing Celotex Panels on Roof for further details on my project.
Bill is an unusual contractor in that he enjoys talking trade to clients, which is great if you want to understand how and why certain things are done. He was open to my suggestions and was not intimidated by any of my questions about his product or his process. He also allowed me to coordinate electrical, painting and solar trades into the project. Also, Bill didn’t fuss too much when I changed my mind and removed a skylight opening after it had already been cut. Here are a couple of suggestions for your project if you decide to work with BHR.
1) Make sure you are on site when the crew is working. There are many decisions being made real time and you must be there to provide input if you care about the final aesthetic. The crew on my project did not have an eye for aesthetic and did not know as much as Bill does about roofing.
2) Ask Bill to ensure a supervisor is fully available to oversee the crew. I thought the crew on my job was too inexperienced to be left alone and there was little value in management showing up after the fact and pointing out the problems. You can’t glue rafter tails back together once they’re cut, or easily remove T&G planks after the deck is completed. Bill certainly had the required knowledge, experience, and carpentry skills for my job, but if you’re not on site where it’s needed, then what good is it?
3) Put everything in writing in advance, including the product/material specifications.
At times, the crew might have thought I was in their way, but I was determined to make sure the final results were what I expected. So be prepared to stay in frequent contact will Bill, as this will help ensure all promises are followed by action.
Would I use & recommend Bill Hamilton Roofing again? Certainly, yes, and I would stay involved too!
GMason on Thompson - Aug 2013
Comments re: a spray on foam roof
Pro: Provides a surface that you can walked on.
Con: Need to reapply UV coating every few years.
We put foam down, then put tar and gravel over that. Best Roofing says that the combination works better than either separately - the foam provides insulation, and the T&G protects the foam from the sun and other weather, as well as providing a surface that can be walked on.
Unless T & G technology has improved A LOT (hahahaaaaa...) in the past 20 years, foam is MUCH easier to maintain than T & G.... in good part because YOU can freely walk on it. Contractor: DuraFoam in Menlo Park did ours 20 years ago and have provided good support since.
I've got a foam roof on and while there were issues, they were due to a lousy initial installation. The problems were fixed by
DuraFoam. The foam roof made a HUGE difference in both summer and
winter in not only the comfort level but in the level of dirt and
dust. I suspect my T&G roof was the original basic structure with
just normal maintenance over the years. I got a lot of dirt and dust
the drifted into the house between the ceiling boards. Didn't
realize this until it was gone with the foam roof.
The foam roof is actually two parts.
The insulation is urethane sprayed on foam that then expands. This
is roughly a pale yellow to orange foam that is much tougher than,
for example, Styrofoam. It is often used, I believe, as fitting
packing material for shipping heavy things.
On top of that a flexible rubberized layer is placed that seems
similar to my touch to the material on sneakers. This sets the color
of the roof, provides a surface that you can walk on, and flexes as
the temperature changes providing a water tight seal. The foam is,
of course, water proof itself but as it doesn't seem to be as
flexible to me, perhaps it could develop small cracks? This surface
is the only real maintenance surface and now and they needs to be
renewed. Not a big deal as it is just an overcoat and not very often.
OK, my problems: the original installers (I won't mention their name
but their number is 3 sevens and a 1-2-3-4) very erratic in the
thickness of the foam they applied, from <1/4" up to the stated
2". They also didn't connect properly to the insufficient original
downspouts so the "gutter" was always overflowing. DuraFoam came and
fixed everything at a reasonable charge (did it when I had the eaves
rebuilt following termite tenting)
I had a T&G roof before & one problem that kept coming up was where the tar paper rose up and went over the board that forms the edge for
the "gutter". One one side of my house that is generally south
facing and is constantly getting blasted by the sun. The tar paper,
even with tar, was regularly failing, I presume due to UV
exposure. Annoying at the least! No problems at all in the ~15-20
years with the foam.
One last thing: walking on T&G I always thought was a worse idea than
walking on foam: the gravel tends to get pushed in through the tar
and then can puncture the tar paper, which is the moisture
seal. Walking on any roof of course isn't a good idea. If you have
to, do it barefoot or with very soft soled shoes so anything the
might puncture isn't forced into the roof. With the sneaker like
covering of a foam roof, I think a foam is more forgiving.
We had our T&G roof replaced several yrs ago and the roofers placed insulation material underneath the T&G. IT IS FABULOUS. In fact, during the spring months, it keeps the house too *cold* so hubby is constantly turning on the heat even though it's sunny outside!!!
I think we're mostly talking about the same company, who call themselves Dura-Spray-Foam (durasprayfoam.com, or 327-3200 - they're in Menlo Park).
They did a great job on our flat-roofed Eichler in 2002, and no problems
since. We attribute most of the improvement in the house temperature (i.e.
cooler in summer, and warmer in winter), to this roof. We certainly
recommend them - worth the money!
My roof is T&G with 2-inch foam underneath installed by Responsible Roofing, one reason I choose them, they have been around this neighborhood as long as
I have lived here. Quailty of a T&G roof is dependent on the contractor.
The first roof I had lasted only 10 years, the company was already out of
business. I patched that roof for another 5 years before losing the race.
I can not comment on spray on foam. They are not maintenance free. The UV
ablative paint needs to be every few years. Some else can comment further.
If you are going to replace a twenty year furnace, duct work etc. check into
an all in one heat air conditioning unit.
As people have mentioned here, insulating the roof makes the largest difference in regards to heating/cooling. The spray-on foam roof has a
lot of advantages, but I went with a T&G roof with foam block
insulation (over the house and garage) for the following reasons...
1. Foam roofs require a UV coating to be applied as some interval
(people with foam roofs can comment on this).
2. My information is 5 years old, but at that time it was a LOT easier
to cut through and patch a T&G roof, compared to a foam roof. At that
time it really wasn't recommended to cut through a foam roof.
Why would you want to cut through a roof? I wanted to have the option
of adding a skylight at some future date. Also, eichlers are slab
foundations. So quite offend electrical work (updating service, adding
more outlets, etc.) is plumbed through the roof. Something to keep in
mind.
Repair cost:
When I bought my house it came with a leak in the T&G. I spent > $2000 with Responsible
Roofing and it took 3 trips to find the leak and get it repaired. Because it was in the sloped part
of the roof it was hard to locate. It was no fun either having to watch the roof with every rain.
Additionally the gravel kept plugging the drains.
After the hassle with T&G I got a foam roof from Dura and LOVE it. The house has been a lot cooler
in summer. Easy to clean and maintain. Once my gardener clipped the tree from the roof and put more
then 10 holes in the foam. To make matters worse he used black liquid tar to fix it. Dura was very quick
to come, clean it and fix the holes. Repair cost around $130.
Now I fix small holes and bubbles myself with urethane sealant from OSH.
If you maintain the foam roof well and make sure trees do not hang over the roof the reapplying of the
UV coating is cheaper then the repair cost with T&G.
Our trimmed trees are over the roof and do not pose a problem but keep cool in the summer.
A small puncture holes are easy to fix.
There is a new solution, sand on the top layer, so it does not have to be repainted.
Joel House
All Temperature Foam Roofing
(408) 286-7190
