When buying any expensive product these days, you will generally be offered a form of warranty to give you some protection for your purchase. When it comes to a roof, this can be a serious investment that you will want a warranty for. Being exposed to the open world and nature, your expensive roof replacementcould be damaged at a moment’s notice.
Understanding what exactly a roof warranty is and what you should look for when getting one will give you the peace of mind desired for a homeowner. We’ll take a look at what exactly a roof warranty is, why you need one, and what you can expect to have covered with one.
What is a roof warranty?
Before diving into what you get with a roof warranty, we first need to understand what a warranty for your roof can look like. What a roofing warranty does is it essentially protects your roof from sustained damage if something occurs. This is able to be done by having a certain length of time that your roof is covered under a warranty to have someone come and repair it when necessary.
When you pay thousands of dollars to get a new roof, you deserve and expect for some level of protection from things that are out of your control. Making sure that you have a generous warranty to protect your roof will give you less to worry about when trouble arises. Most roof warranties are based on a period of time and will expire after a number of years. These warranties are designed to fix small issues that may pop up and all have different levels of coverage.
Why do you need one?
Asking why you need a roof warranty is essentially asking why you need car insurance if you have never crashed before. Even if nothing happens, you will have more peace in knowing you would have been protected if something came up. Having a warranty for your roof means that if something comes up that you can’t fix, you won’t have to pay someone out of pocket to come and fix it if it is covered under your warranty.
Every roof warranty is a little different than the others, but they will all offer you savings and security with your recent investment. To understand what exactly you can and can’t get out of your warranties, we’ll take a look at the types of warranties offered and what you can expect to have covered.
Types of roof warranties
When getting a roof installed, there are two types of warranties you can expect to see. Often, they are had separately, but sometimes you can get both with installation. Let’s see what makes them unique and what they can offer.
Contractor warranty
A contractor warranty is exactly what it sounds like. This type of warranty is offered by the contractor who actually performs the job and generally only covers the work that was done. This warranty can cover things like installation and replacement if necessary. This type of warranty will be different from contractor t contractor, so ask your roof installers what kind of contractor or labor warranty they offer.
Manufacturer warranty
Where the labor warranty covers work and replacement, the manufacturer warranty will generally just cover the actual materials used when building. What this entails is that if a piece of the roof fails or is defective, the roofing manufacturer will send you new roof to have installed. Depending on the depth of the warranty, they may also pay for someone to install it, but that differs on a case to case basis. Metal roofing typically has the best warranties.
What can it cover?
Now that we know what warranties you should look to get when getting a roof installed, lets see what usually gets covered in these warranties. Once again, these may differ on a case to case basis, but these examples are fairly standard.
Leaks
Leaks are often the most common thing that is covered in a roof warranty. If your roof was installed improperly, then even the slightest rain and water could cause a leak. These are the leaks that are covered under warranty and will most likely be addressed. If the leak was caused by more extreme conditions, the warranty will determine what action will be taken.
Hail and Wind
These two coverages are generally offered, but you may have to see what tolerances are covered and if you need to pay to have them covered. A roof that is damaged by reasonably high winds and hail will be covered under warranty if that was part of the agreed conditions. Often places in hail prone areas will be asked if they want this added on for a cost.
What doesn’t it cover?
Warranties are generally helpful for minor inconveniences, but there are some things that almost no warranty will cover normally. These are some things that you will need to look at your insurance for covering if they are to occur.
Secondary construction
When you tamper with the construction of a roof by adding or taking away things, that almost always voids the warranty. If you want to install things like air conditioning or change some part of the roof structure, this will take away warranty coverage. Adding things to your roof without consulting the roof installer is generally not advised.
Acts of God
The term act of god is very vague, but it covers a wide range of accidents. They are generally unusually high danger weather incidents like hurricanes and tornadoes that are never really predictable. Roofing companies cannot foresee these events happening and will rarely repair a damaged roof caused by the event for free.
Conclusion
Getting a warranty for your roof is something that should always be considered and researched carefully. You need to ask questions and read the fine details of your warranties to know what you can expect to have covered. When the unexpected arrives, you will be thanking yourself for being vigilant. If you have any questions about your roof replacement warranty, contact Atlanta roofers, Colony Roofers.