Your Roof: Essential to your comfort

We at Dream Team are sure that you're aware that the roof at the top of your home is one of the most important parts of the structure.  Safety, comfort, value, and curb appeal - all of these things have problems and solutions that can be tied directly to your roof.

A good-looking roof is vivid in color and makes your home stand out against the rest of the neighborhood.  A faded, old roof looks dilapidated, and generally makes your home look just old, stale, and tired.  You don't want that - and you certainly don't want it when you go to sell!

Of course, roofs can leak, and we all know that the best material in the world is only as good as the contractor who installs it.  You want to make sure you have someone experienced, who understands your home and knows the materials they're working with.  The plywood under your roof can be damaged from a number of badly installed parts. For instance, the damage to the right was due to that pipe not being properly sealed, which allowed water in, which caused rotting to the roof and warping of the plywood beneath.  It's never a pretty sight, and it's always traumatic to think that your home which provides so much safety and comfort to your and yours could be "that" house on the block.

Calling a licensed contractor is the only right way to deal with this issue.  At your call, the contractor will have an experienced technician come out to your location, so that the problems can be fixed quickly.

Safety risks come from all directions.  The toxic molds that were discussed in other posts on this blog love badly-installed roofs - the warm, dark area is an ideal incubator for that silent killer.  Wind on a badly installed roof rips shingles off, and as more than one person has noted: strong winds are not always dangerous for the wind alone, the danger comes from what is carried along with it.  Enough storms, with enough shingles ripped off, will cause a leak and damage your home.  Moreover, if allowed to get in, rainwater can cause leaks down your walls (that's a part of why the molds are such a huge issue), but even down to your masonry foundations.  In short: left long enough, a bad roof will cause a house to destroy itself.  It's not a question of whether it will or not - only when.

We at Dream Team are GAF Certified, and any contractor you use should be too.  They guarantee the quality of their material, and being certified means that our technicians know exactly how to install it in the best way possible.

Keep your roof in shape, and your home will always be a great place to live!

Give your home a shower!

Power washing your home is big this time of year.  It's nice and warm out, the skies look bright and cheery, and you want your home to look that much better.  And, if you have aluminum or vinyl siding, like most of America, and certainly most of New Jersey and New York, you know that dirt sticks to it like glue, and with all of the environmental dangers to your home, you can be sure that at the beginning of the summer, your home is not looking at its best.  So what options do you have?

You can't just go outside on a ladder with a steel wool pad - that's way too much work for anybody; and you're probably going to end up hurting yourself.  So you hire a licensed contractor to power wash your home.  Of all the work that can be done on the outside of your home, power washing is one of the best, for several reasons.

This is in the middle of the work, how amazing is that?!

1. It's quick! Most power washings take less than two hours.
2. It's easy! All you do is call a contractor, and they should be able to start making your home look spotless in no time.
 3. It's visible! As soon as the stream from the power wash hits your home, you'll start seeing that dirt and grime peel away, revealing the beauty beneath.
 4.  It's good for your home! It might be hard to believe, but that easy-as-pie power washing can help save your home from deadly and toxic black mold like you saw two weeks ago on this blog.

Other parts of your home can benefit from this valuable service too.  Wood decks take on a new shine and instead of looking tired and filthy, look like real healthy wood again. Look to the left over here.  On the left, we have gray, weatherbeaten, foul-looking wood.  Even walking across that deck wouldn't be as good.  The one on the right looks warm and inviting, like a good solid wood deck.  It's amazing what dirt and dust can do, if they're allowed to build up over time.



And other parts of your home, too, like masonry.  So make your home look the best it can!  Call Dream Team today for a free estimate on power washing.

Keep cool! In your attic, at least

Hello again!

Most people know that heat rises.  Most people also know that at the top of your home are usually asphalt shingles on top of wood - both of which absorb heat in your attic. And when your attic is hot, it comes down through your chimney, your walls, and into your living spaces.  There are two ways to keep your attic cool - vents and fans.  Ventilation is a passive process that causes cooler air to come into your attic and keep the hot air out.  The image below can show you better than I can tell you.  If you notice, not only is your attic a full 25 degrees cooler, your living space is actually 15 degrees cooler - naturally!  And every degree you can cool naturally is one more degree that you don't have to cool with electricity.


























Now, an attic fan is a more heavy-duty solution.  As the name implies, it's a fan on the top of your house, that makes the attic even cooler still.  As you can see, with a fan, it's even cooler than venting alone, and keeps your home cooler constantly.

And if you're worried about the energy draw of the attic fan on your home, there's a great solution: solar attic fans! With one of those in your home, you're not drawing any energy - in fact, you can sometimes give a little energy back to the grid - just like a regular solar panel on your roof.  You're using the sun to cool your home, in a great "take that" to Nature!

Gutters: An essential part of your home.

I don't think our learned readers need a long-winded explanation of what gutters are.  But, do you know the difference between a good gutter and a bad gutter?  A good gutter protects your home from rain by funneling it away from your roof and into the downspouts.  Bad gutters can fall into many categories:

• Badly installed: If the gutters are set at the wrong angle, water will not flow properly to the downspout and runoff will occur at the wrong places.

This is a gutter in real danger!

• Too loose: If water cannot easily run to the gutter, or there is space between the gutter and the wall, there is a danger of water running down from the gutter into the siding - this is very dangerous to your walls and fascia boards.  A gutter that pulls away can also do serious damage not only to the board behind, but also the roof it's connected to.

 

•  Clogged: Have you ever seen what happens after a beaver dam is built?  That happens in your gutters; and if you have trees over them, they can even clog up with frightening regularity.  And when it gets bad, if a seed, gets stuck in, something like the image to the right can happen!

 

• And still more.

 
So, what kind of danger are you in with bad gutters?  Well, the word "extreme" comes to mind, in big flashing neon letters.  Always remember this: your home's enemy number one, with a bullet, is water.  Starting from the top, we have: danger to your roof and fascia.  Wood & water do not mix in a way that's conducive to your home being a strong and safe place to live.  Too much water will cause wood rot, which we'll talk about in more depth in a moment; and it also causes the wood to crack, especially if there is still water when the winter comes and things freeze up.  If anyone remembers their science classes, you'll remember that water expands when it freezes - which can cause all sorts of warping and cracking effects on the wood under your roof and the fascia behind the gutter itself.

When you get past the roof itself, water from badly-installed gutters and downspouts can damage your walls, your foundations, and leak into your basement.  Once it gets in there, there are a whole host of problems related to the wood rot.

So let's get to the nitty-gritty.  The reason for the extreme danger is thus: mold.  Water causes mold growth, and warm, dark, places like your roof and basement are the absolutely perfect places for it to grow.  Why should you be worried about this?  Because even the CDC says,

"In 2004 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) found there was sufficient evidence to link indoor exposure to mold with upper respiratory tract symptoms, cough, and wheeze in otherwise healthy people; with asthma symptoms in people with asthma; and with hypersensitivity pneumonitis in individuals susceptible to that immune-mediated condition. The IOM also found limited or suggestive evidence linking indoor mold exposure and respiratory illness in otherwise healthy children."

And there are some very horrifying kinds of mold, like Black Mold.  It will, if untreated, kill you.  And while it's killing you, the water and the mold growth are eating away at the wood of your roof, the masonry foundations, and even your walls - in a few short years of mistreatment, your home can be completely unsafe and in fact, deadly for anyone to enter without a hazmat suit on.
Here's an extreme case - each of those polka-dot spots is really a colony of toxic black mold, spewing enough spores to kill a grown person:


And how do you prevent all of this?  It's very simple.  Twice a year, get your gutters flushed by a professional contractor like Dream Team.  So save your home and keep dreaming safely, by calling us at (888)382-2001!