Having conflict with roofer about sheathing

[danmcgov]

I apologize up front for the long message but I contracted with a roofer for a new roof and at the time, I told him I intended to stay in the house for a long time so if there was any doubt about whether the plywood needed replacing, replace it. It does not make sense to me to spend thousands on a new roof only to ' penny pinch' on the plywood.

Well as I feared, not one piece of plywood was replaced and I've been up on the roof enough times to know that some of it was warped (bowed in and out in different places).

He says I'm being picky and "he's coming out one more time for free" to repair it. In the back of of the house, there was an incredibly unsightly area that was bowed in; he repaired it and now it's worse; bows in and shingle sticks out.

What is the rule of thumb on replacing the plywood. He said it was not leaking so he kept it there and that is "what most home owners do". I think he's full of it.

I included some pictures of the area in the front which is clearly bowed out. The best pictures I have of the back are actually digital video (better camcorder than camera).

Any input would be much appreciated! danmcgov@comcast.net

Looks like the resolution on the pictures are too high; See pictures http://home.comcast.net/~danmcgov/
more to come

[Rich]

I have to say that's pretty unsightly.
I'm not taking any sides here but.. nothing can be done unless it was called out specifically in a contract to replace the plywood. If, after the shingles were removed, a walk-thru was done and bad plywood was noted on some documentation and both parties signed it - then I would say you have an argument.
For you and anyone else reading this post - documentation documentation documentation. It's the only thing that, once you have it, will cover you in most if not all situations.
Now - should the contractor have replaced those areas? You bet he should have. A contractor has 3 moral obligations (in my opinion) to a client. On time, on budget, and at quality specified. That is upon execution of a signed contract. The problem is, that it's a moral obligation and not a contractual obligation.. unless it's specifically noted in the contract what the quality expected is.
Sorry for being so long winded.

[grumpydasmurf]

Rule of thumb is: If it is weak, cracked, moldy or can not hold a nail it's gone.

Our contracts state we will replace all rotten wood so as ar as rich brought up about contractual bound, we are contractual bound.

[mreynolds]

Rich,
Could this be a case where the sheathing underneath didn't have the proper spacing?

[Rich]

It could be but with shingles it's unlikely. If there was slate tile on there then it definately could be the reason. Most likely rafters are on 24" centers with 1/2" OSB or plywood - which is just enough. I still like 5/8" for a roof.

[danmcgov]

Thanks to all of you for the replies...I really appreciate it. I'll be putting more pictures/video on the site specifically of the back of the house which is actually worse than the front (bowed in, not out).

I don't have the contract in front of me but it did say the 'plywood would be replaced where needed'.

It's a shame because most of the job looks good with the exception of 4-5 areas (it's a big roof) but now he's coming back to tear parts of the roof up and I can only imagine what it will look like when it's done.

I hope I'm satisfied because going done the legal path is the last thing I want to do.

[jjcold]

"You're being picky??" tell him, "You bet I'm being picky - the man who writes the checks gets to be picky."