problem customer with imaginary problems

[grumpydasmurf]

What do you do when a customer who had a roof installed over a year ago invents problems? I am in that situation. We did a roof for this customer and she insists there is aleak however I went to the place she claims has a leak and it was bone dry in a torential rain fall. The marks are obviously old and very dry.

What can I do? She wants us to take out her ceiling and do a hose test. I have already spent hours and am satisfied there IS NO LEAK. How do I get out of this nonsense?

[Rich]

Prevention is usually the best. Do an investigation before you install the new roof on the next one and keep a record of any suspect areas. But you're probably already doing that after this one :D
I'm assuming this is a low slope roof or that there is no attic space. Or for some reason you can't get into the ceiling without tearing into drywall.
One thing you can do is get a moisture meter and show the customer what the level is... compare that to a piece of drywall where there isn't an old watermark. I believe Rockler sells a pin moisture meter for this purpose. I'll do some searching and see if I can find anything else on this.

[jjcold]

Oh, my gosh! I've had a little device i've owned for years and really had no idea what it was until now. I found it in the basement of a rental house I owned after the renters moved out, it is made by Drieaz and is called a hydrosensor. It has a head that extends with two sharp metal pins, and when you stick those pins into something that is wet, a signal goes off and a red light goes on. the wetter it is, the faster the signal beeps. I guess it is a pin moisture meter! I thought it was a device for measuring the moisture level of houseplants! (could be used for that, too.)(

[grumpydasmurf]

Thanks.

[dansaintamour]

I enjoyed reading this post and am glad to see how well these problems can be solved.

I recently bought a digital cameraa and found it very usefull for documenting such situations.

Good luck,
DSt