"Our house is only 13 years old," says Tyler (not her real name). "About two months ago, I stepped in a puddle of water in a corner of the dining room. The floorboard, molding, drywall and carpeting were ruined to the tune of $3,000 for a contractor to replace everything. My insurance would only cover interior damage."
Tyler also had a professional roofer estimate the damage. "He had never seen a roof in that bad condition," she says. The shingles had deteriorated right down to the felt (meaning there is no more shingle left, just the underlying piece).
Just as CertainTeed requested, she sent pictures and samples—eight weeks ago. When Tyler phones them, she gets a recording then a real live customer service person when she asks the status of the claim. They just said it would take up to 12 weeks to respond.Tyler kept proof of delivery from UPS that the samples and photos were delivered on September 12th. "They also wanted more documentation--when our house was built, what kind of a roof, can you prove if it really is CertainTeed, says Tyler.
"Apparently they need all this information to determine whether they are CertainTeed shingles.
'Yours is not the only package we have to go through,' I was told by a Certainteed rep.
'I feel sorry for you and your company if it takes six weeks to open my package,' I said.
This just goes to show how many consumers are sending their defective shingles back to the company.
"I know our roof is CertainTeed because I asked my roofer. Out of 50 homes in our community, 14 roofs (that I know of) have been replaced. Most of them were built by the same builder--my builder--and it's likely they are also CertainTeed roofs. And they were all built in the early 1990s.
When I asked my insurance company if someone was going up on the roof because I wanted to see where the leak was, they said if this was a CertainTeed roof, they do not cover defective products of any kind. Is there hail damage? Probably, but I am caught between a rock and a hard place, because a hailstorm occurred two years ago and at that time we didn't have any roof problems. If I saw water after the hailstorm, I would have had some coverage. Now I have nothing—unless CertainTeed makes good on their defective product.
The water came in through the lower floor. One contractor thinks it came from the roof line and trickled in between the insulation. There is no plumbing or ground water near the leak—there is no way water could get in from somewhere else.
My roofer told me that, with every wind and rainstorm the roof loses life. But these shingles can't handle too many storms. Now I am running out of good weather, waiting for CertainTeed to get back to me.
READ MORE LEGAL NEWS
I heard that in some cases, CertainTeed is offering $500 replacement and not a dime to cover labor. My house is 3,500 square feet. The labor, and having it done correctly, is the biggest cost--it's going to cost $12,000 in labor alone. The golfing community where I live has a minimum recommendation of a 40-year, architectural roof. So now I need a 40-year lifetime roof on a 13-year-old house. I didn't even get half the life out of this roof.This is week 10. The colder weather is here. Luckily we haven't had any torrential downpours—yet. I have kept a fan going in my dining room with the carpeting pulled back to dry the floor. It is so annoying. I believe the fault lies with CertainTeed.
I call them every few days. 'You will get something in the mail,' they say. But what?"
LawyersandSettlments will check back with Judy Tyler at the end of week 12.
