Roofing in the Kearns area
Tear-offs, repairs and replacements across Kearns, from a crew that works compact postwar streets week in and week out.
What this valley does to a roof
Snow sliding off a pitch is a design question in Kearns, not an accident. A roof that dumps its load onto a walkway, a gas meter or a porch roof needs retention planned into it, and that is a decision made before the shingles go on rather than after somebody gets hit.
Kearns 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 Kearns roof works against
A slide onto a walkway
A loaded slope above a front door or a side path is a safety matter before it is a roofing one. Snow releases in one piece, and a hundred pounds landing on a step is how people get hurt. It also tears at the gutter on the way past and bends the hangers out of the fascia.
Fixing it means changing the geometry
Retention hardware, or a small roof over the entry to break the fall, or moving the path. Something has to change, because the slope will keep doing what slopes do.
Dust storms before the rain
Ahead of a summer cell the wind arrives dry and full of grit off the open ground west of here. That grit gets driven into every horizontal surface on a roof, then the rain lands on top of it and packs it into a paste in the valleys and the gutter seams.
Grit is an abrasive
It grinds at the mat under foot traffic and it holds moisture against metal long after the surface has dried.
So we clear twice a year
Once before summer, once after the leaves are down.
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 Kearns
Six nails in the right line
Every shingle wrapper prints a nailing pattern and a nail line, and that pattern is what the wind rating was earned with. High nailing misses the reinforced strip and leaves the nail head sitting in the exposed area of the shingle below. Four nails where the wrapper asks for six cuts the uplift resistance on the one part of the roof the wind works hardest.
Overdriven is as bad as missing
A gun set too hot cuts through the mat and the shingle is hanging on a hole.
Cheapest detail to get right
And the most common thing done wrong.
Intake and exhaust have to match
Attic ventilation is a balance, and most of the failures we find are unbalanced. Ridge vent with the soffit stuffed full of insulation is exhaust with no intake, so the attic pulls its air from the house instead and drags moisture up with it.
How it shows up
Frost on the sheathing in January, a hot attic in July, curling shingles on the upper courses, and an ice dam at the eave that nobody can explain.
Baffles are cheap
Keeping the insulation off the soffit with a proper chute fixes more roofs than most people would believe.
What we do around Kearns
Every service is its own page. These are the ones Kearns asks for most.
Roofing
Full replacements and new roofs on Kearns homes, deck up.
Repairs
Leaks and failed details, which is most of what Kearns 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 Kearns.
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
Protecting a tile or stamped drive
A loaded dump trailer parked on a decorative driveway cracks it, and the crack shows up a week after everybody has left. We look at the drive before deciding where anything heavy sits, lay planking under the wheels and the tongue jack when there is no other option, and park on the street when the street will do.
Same thing for a paver walkway
Debris chutes get positioned so nothing lands on set pavers, because a dropped bundle of old tile will break one and matching a paver is its own project.
Ask us to move the trailer
If the spot we picked bothers you, say so. It takes two minutes.
Ventilation gets fixed during the roof
A replacement is the one moment when correcting attic airflow is cheap, because the roof is already open. Cutting a ridge slot, adding the right amount of exhaust, and clearing blocked soffit intake takes a fraction of the time it would take as a separate job later.
We calculate rather than guess
Net free area on the intake side has to at least match the exhaust side, and it usually does not on an older house.
Then the attic stops sweating
Which is often what the homeowner actually called about.
Work from around the valley
Down to earth, and particular
Friendly does not mean casual about the work. We will joke with you in the driveway and we will also tear out a valley that was ninety percent right and redo it. Those two things live comfortably together in a family shop.
What particular looks like
Six nails in the line. Step flashing one piece per course. The magnet run twice.
What friendly looks like
You get a real person on the phone and a straight answer.
Talking to homeowners like adults
We explain what we find in plain language and we show the pictures. You do not need a roofing vocabulary to make a good decision about your own house, you just need somebody willing to say what a bruised mat is and why it matters. Most people, given real information, decide well.
No scare tactics
Nobody needs to be frightened into fixing their roof.
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 Kearns?
Yes. Kearns sits inside the ground we cover around Salt Lake City, and the crew is there most weeks rather than once a season.
How fast can you get to Kearns after a storm?
We make the roof safe first, then come back and do the repair properly when conditions allow.
Do you handle the insurance side?
On hail-damaged roofs, we work with your insurance to get the roof covered. We document the damage thoroughly with photographs, so the claim reflects what is actually on the roof.
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.
Where Kearns sits on our map
Salt Lake County work, Kearns included, is a normal week for this crew rather than a trip.
Roof work in Kearns
Call (801) 382-8898. If it turns out to be a repair we will say so and do the repair.