We recently completed a roof/siding repair an a two story studio type home. Imagine one large box (the second story) sitting next to a smaller box (the first story).
Where these two met the roof leaked. On the day were removed the siding to inspect the flashing, it was about 45 degrees. I determined that we needed to cut into the existing commercial style SBS flat roof, and since it was so cool, it was like cutting marble. We chopped at it with our sharpened bars and roofing hatchets, but since it had been repaired incorrectly so many times it had a real thick layer, almost and inch and a half thick, of built up tar, scrim, and other repair materials.
In a moment of inspiration/desperation, I remember that little tool sitting brand new in its box on my front seat.
I put the 1 1/2" blade in it, and it buzzed right through all that roofing like it was butter! I cut out three large pieces with the machine, and it never balked. The kicker was that in cutting through the piled on roofing gunk it ground the teeth off the blade almost immediately. But that meant that when I cut through the roof, it couldn't cut the plywood underneath with no teeth, so the decking was safe!
One of my guys was so impressed that he wanted to continue to play with the tool. He took that same blade (I have already replaced it - they are $5) and cleaned off all the hard asphalt and mastic on the base flashing along the wall. Cleaning the base flashing is usually a tedious, on the knees, difficult job with a sharpened bar and hammer.
This little thing buzzed off all the crap on the flashing in no time. And the flashing was extra clean as the guy cleaning it was having a blast.
We cleaned the tar and sealant off the little machine, and it now has it own HF ballistic carry bag ( $7 ) that was purchased when the blade was replaced.
I don't know what else I will do with this little machine, but if I don't use it for anything else, ever, it had paid for itself as a roofing repair tool.
Robert