Salt Lake County, Utah
Roofing in the Alta area
A family roofing company that reads a Alta roof before pricing it.
What Alta weather does to a roof
The freeze that follows a warm afternoon does more damage around Alta than a steady cold spell ever does. Meltwater finds its way into a lap or a nail hole at two in the afternoon and turns to ice by eight, and ice that expands in a seam does not put the seam back where it found it.
Alta sits inside the ground we cover around Salt Lake City. Working it regularly is why we can tell you what a roof needs without hedging.
The weather a Alta roof works against
Dry for months, then all at once
This climate does not rain steadily, it saves up. Long dry stretches let dust pack into valleys and gutters, then a single cell drops an inch in half an hour. A valley that was clean in May is holding pine duff and grit by August, and that debris dams the water right where the roof concentrates it.
What we clear before storm season
Valleys, gutter runs, the back side of chimneys, and the low end of any cricket. Ten minutes of clearing beats a drywall repair.
Thermal shock on metal and flashing
Metal moves. On a sunny winter day a standing seam panel or a piece of valley metal can run a hundred degrees warmer than the air, then drop back after dark. That expansion and contraction happens every clear day of the year here. Panels have to be fastened so they can move, clips have to be right, and a valley has to be detailed to slide instead of being pinned tight at both ends.
Pinned metal tears its own holes
When movement is blocked, the fastener holes elongate and that becomes the leak path.
The valley floor sees less snow than the benches above it, but the benches above it are where a lot of the housing is. A roof in Holladay or Cottonwood Heights lives a different winter from one in Kearns, five miles away.
What we find on roofs around Alta
Ice-and-water shield, and where it goes
This is the single most important membrane on a Utah roof. It is a self-adhering sheet that seals around nail shanks, and it belongs at the eave, in every valley, and around every penetration.
The eave measurement people get wrong
Code language is about coverage past the interior wall line, not a flat number of feet. On a house with deep overhangs that means more courses than a builder might assume.
Valleys get it too
A valley carries water from two planes. It gets the membrane whether anybody asks for it or not.
Architectural over three-tab
Most homes here that are replacing a roof move to architectural shingles and stay there. The laminated construction is thicker, carries a higher wind rating out of the wrapper, and does not show every wave in old decking the way a three-tab does. Three-tab still has a place on a rental, an outbuilding or a repair that has to match what is already up.
Wind rating is a nailing question
A shingle only earns its rating if it is fastened the way the wrapper says. Six nails in the nail line, not four in the wrong spot.
Alta is part of our Salt Lake County work. 27 years in the trade, and a full replacement carries our 10-year workmanship warranty.
What we do around Alta
Every service is its own page. These are the ones Alta asks for most.
Roofing
Full replacements and new roofs on Alta homes, deck up.
Repairs
Leaks and failed details, which is most of what Alta calls about.
Upkeep
Inspections, cleaning and sealing before a small thing gets expensive.
Shingles
Architectural laminate, the field material on most of this valley.
Metal
Standing seam and corrugated, common on canyon-side snow load.
Tile
Clay and concrete tile, and the flashing work they need.
Commercial
Membrane systems for flat and low-slope buildings around Alta.
Coatings
Restoration coatings when a commercial roof has life left.
Storm
Hail, wind and the insurance paperwork that follows.
Skylights
Installation and the curb-flashing repairs skylights usually need.
Gutters
Gutters, downspouts and fascia, which are part of the roof.
Government
Schools, city, county, state and federal buildings. Every government service is on the government roofing page.
How the job runs
Sequencing around a mason or a painter
When a chimney needs tuckpointing or a wall needs paint, the order those trades go in decides whether anybody has to come back. Masonry work happens before the roof ties into it so the flashing can be cut into fresh joints. Siding and paint on a wall above a roof plane go in before the final course below them.
We will talk to your other trades
A five minute phone call between two crews saves a week of scheduling around each other, and we would rather make the call than let you relay it.
Attic access before the ladder goes up
A good deal of what we need to know is inside, not outside. We want to see the underside of the deck, the insulation depth at the top plate, whether the soffit chutes are clear, and whether there is a bath fan dumping warm wet air into the attic instead of out through the roof.
Half of roof leaks start in there
A roof fixed without looking at the attic is a roof fixed halfway. Sometimes the answer is that the shingles are fine and the bath fan needs a duct.
Roofs around Alta
Work from around the valley
Straight about what a roof needs
Not every roof needs replacing. Some roofs need a pipe boot. Some need one slope. Some need everything. We tell you which, we show you the pictures, and we let you decide with the real information in front of you.
Including when it is not us
If a roof needs something outside what we do well, we will point you at who does it.
Turning work down
We say no to jobs. Sometimes it is a roof that needs a specialty we do not do well, sometimes it is a schedule we cannot actually hold, and sometimes it is a homeowner who has been told by three companies that they need a full replacement on a roof with good years left. We would rather tell that homeowner the truth and lose the job.
Saying no is the useful signal
Any shop that has never turned down work is telling you something about how it decides.
Questions we get asked
Not the question you had? Call the shop and ask a person. We would rather talk it through than have you guess from a website.
(801) 382-8898Do you actually work in Alta?
We do. Alta falls well inside the radius we run, and being there often is what lets us tell you how the housing around it was built.
How fast can you get to Alta after a storm?
Storm calls jump the queue. We get there, stop what is coming in, and schedule the real fix rather than rushing a permanent repair in bad weather.
What happens if you find bad decking?
We show you. The decking is only visible during a tear-off, so that is when soft sheathing gets found and replaced. We photograph it rather than just add it to a list.
Do you work through the winter?
Yes, with judgment. Shingles need to seal, and in genuine cold that takes longer or needs hand sealing. Emergency work happens whenever it has to. Full replacements get scheduled around the weather rather than forced into it.
What makes a Utah roof different?
Snow load, ice at the eaves, canyon wind and high-altitude sun, all on the same roof. A crew that learned roofing somewhere mild has to learn it again up here.
How do I know when a roof is getting close?
Granules collecting in the gutters, tabs lifting or curling at the edges, shingles that look bare in patches, and daylight or staining in the attic. Any of those is worth a look.
Where Alta sits on our map
Alta sits in Salt Lake County, inside the sixty mile radius we run crews in every week.
Talk to Hancock
Roof work in Alta
Call (801) 382-8898. If it turns out to be a repair we will say so and do the repair.