how should shingles look??

[Hamilton Audio]

we've been in our house for a little over a year now. a home inspection revealed glowing results - excellent shape overall. he commented that the roof was only 4 years old and looked good.

to me, however, it doesn't. in the winter I'd discovered via an ice dam (grrrr) that the soffit vents are completely plugged with blown in insulation. I've got 16" in the attic (yeah), but its a blanket...right over the soffits!!! and no, none of the styrofoame deals. from research I know this isn't kind on shingles, and allows moisture to build in the attic in the winter causing frost (which i saw a little of last winter).

what is considered acceptable for roofing? I've got sporadic shingles that seem to have an edge curling up a bit...they don't seem to lay really flat in general. optics are a bit of an issue too cause the angle of the roof is so gentle....

any ideas where this fits?

its hard to really tell (lighting sucked). but if you look close, you can see where some corners (sporadically) are pulling up a little bit and the general "rough" feel.

if possible, could you also include [e-mail] in your reply? I don't get back as often as i like.

thks! b

[willshak]

They don't look good to me for being 4 years old. My 20 year old shingles look better. It appears that you have a roll ridge vent, but with blocked soffit vents, it won't help much. If I were you, I'd remove the insulation from the soffits. It won't improve the condition of the shingles, but will delay having to replace them. If you can't get to the soffits from inside the attic (it doesn't look promising by the shallow pitch of the roof ), I would pull the soffits down and remove it that way. Are the soffits plywood with small metal vents installed, or perforated vinyl soffits? After removing the insulation, and if the soffits were plywood, I would install continuously perforated vinyl soffits for more air flow.

[Joseph Meehan]

What prevents frost from building up and causing problems is proper ventilation.

This is most likely because of the heat build up during the summers with the vents blocked.

The answer to both problems is getting those vents working!

You home inspector should have caught that first thing. You may want to make sure the venting is sufficient in size and design even before you work to clear the vents. There needs to be some sort of vent towards the peak of the roof to allow the air to leave.

I did CC the e-mail, but normally I don't. Frankly if you ask the question and expect an answer, it seems that you should be willing to make the effort to stop back and read the answers and participate in any exchange of ideas.

[Bob]

inspection

commented that the

an ice dam

in

blanket...right

from research I

in the attic

winter).

Can you clear the vents by blowing the insulation off from below with an air compressor or leaf blower?

Bob

[Phisherman]

[Joe Bobst]

I concur. It's simply common courtesy, something that seems to get scarcer all the time.

Joe

[Red Neckerson]

Try this site: