Taking Care of your Skylights

Tips for Taking care of your Skylights

Many homeowners today are including skylights as part of an energy efficient build or makeover.
Why?
Because when properly placed, they can help lower heating and lighting costs by making efficient use of solar heat and natural light. They’re not only good for your utility bills, but for the environment as well. However, as with all good things, you need to maintain them properly. Here are a few tips to help you do that.

1. Clean Glass Regularly
Ensure the glass is thoroughly clean; start by soaking it in clean water and mild soap. Use a mild, non-abrasive glass cleaner and a soft brush (or pad) to remove any dirt and debris, and a squeegee or lint-free cloth to wipe clean. Avoid using metal scrapers, blades or knives as they can scratch or damage the glass.

2. Pre-finished Wood FramesIf your skylights have wood frames, do an annual inspection before spring for signs of peeling, cracking or fading. Also ensure all exterior fasteners are secure, and that cladding and flashing are free of excessive wear or scratches. Immediately replace any that are damaged or broken.

3. Venting and Electric Skylights
For venting skylights, make sure the mechanism that opens the sash is working problem-free by opening the skylights (turn off the power if it’s electric) and use a clean, dry towel to wipe off the chain.

4. Skylight Blinds
Consider installing blinds on your skylights if you already haven’t done so; they can help improve overall energy efficiency. Remote-controlled, solar-powered blinds allow you to easily open and close solar powered skylights, and shade them when the sun touches that part of the roof – improving the skylights’ energy performance rating by as much as 45%.

GAF: TigerPaw Synthetic Underlayment

Tiger Paw™ Roof Deck Protection

Help Protect Your Home From Damaging 
Moisture With Premium Roof Deck Protection

Premium-Quality Roof Deck Protection Can Protect And Beautify At The Same Time!

Premium-quality roof deck protection should protect your home by providing a critical extra layer of protection between your shingles and your roof deck. It helps prevent wind-driven rain (or water from other sources) from infiltrating under your shingles and causing damage to your roof structure, or to the inside of your home. In addition, premium-quality roof deck protection will:

• Help reduce damaging moisture that can become trapped on your roof deck
• Provide longer-lasting leak protection than conventional “felts” 
  (which can rot or become brittle before your shingles reach their useful life)
• Help your shingles lie flat and uniform, for a better-looking finished roof

WHY SHOULD YOU USE TIGER PAW UNDERLAYMENT ON YOUR ROOF?

There are many components to a roofing system. A complete roofing system includes field shingles, starter shingles, hip and ridge shingles, underlayment, leak barrier, pipe flashings and proper ventilation. There are many different options for each of these key components of the roofing system. Roofing underlayment is critical to the roofing systems longevity and overall effectiveness.

Urbach Roofing Inc. has installed virtually every type of roofing underlayment on the market in San Diego County and surrounding cities. After our many years of experience we have found our favorite underlayment, GAF’s Tigerpaw Synthetic underlayment. Tigerpaw Synthetic underlayment is not only superior for its application on the roof, but its much easier on our installers as well. Here are some of the features of the underlayment.

• Safer for Installers: It’s specially designed surface helps provide excellent walkability for installers versus conventional felts, or typical synthetic underlayment’s.

• Special Moisture Control Design: This helps remove nearly twice as much damaging moisture from your roof deck as the leading synthetic non-breathable underlayment.*As per ASTM D570-modified.

• Stronger: The synthetic non-woven construction provides at least 600%, or at least 7 x’s greater tear strength than standard #30 felt.

• Lightweight: At 40 lbs. per roll, it’s approximately 33% lighter that a roll of #30 felt.

• Installs Faster: The 10 square, 48” wide roll installs up to 33% faster than conventional felts.

• Roll Length: 250 feet; Roll Width: 48”; Total Area: 10 squares (1,000 sq. ft.); Roll Weight: 40 lbs.

A quality roofer  will always use a roofing underlayment on your home when performing a re-roof. Do not settle for a fly-by-night roofer re-using the old underlayment in your new roof system, or cutting corners by not using underlayment at all.

Make sure you verify your contractors credentials before you hire or sign a contract to verify that they are a safe choice for your project. Contractors State Board, check a license.

Check out what our customer are saying about us on Yelp!!
For more information on complete roofing systems or to request a free re-roofing estimate visit our websites Contact Us page or call 760-471-5065.

Common Roofing Issues and the Ways We Resolve Them

Your roofing system is a significant investment that you don’t want to fail prematurely. Unfortunately, it’s a common problem when your roof is old or was handled by inexperienced installers. With over 44 years of experience, Urbach Roofing is well aware of the common problems that homeowners face. We focus on three common causes of premature roof failure and provide the ways we deal with them.

1. Poor Installation

Ensure the proper installation of your residential roofing in San Diego County by hiring a contractor who is certified or otherwise acknowledged by the manufacturer as an installer of the product you’ve chosen. Otherwise, you may experience issues and not have any way of getting them resolved except at your own expense. Proper installation starts with great care when putting everything in place; all seams should be sealed correctly. Urbach Roofing makes sure we get things right the first time. Each step of our installation process comes with comprehensive quality checks to avoid any hassle and we only install products we know and are trained on.

2. Faulty Materials

Great roofs require both a conscientious installation and great materials. Urbach Roofing takes pride in our certifications from some of the best names in the roofing industry. We carry products from GAF, Owens Corning, CertainTeed, ASC Metal Roofing, DaVinci, Boral, Eagle, and more. These are among the most durable, aesthetically pleasing, and long lasting products today. Combined with our exceptional installation process, these products will free you from worrying about premature failure.

3. Trapped Moisture

With coastal humidity, sometimes moisture problems affect many homes in San Diego County. While Urbach Roofing certainly provides timely and effective roof repairs throughout the County, you can deal with this problem through proper insulation and even reflective coating. With first-hand knowledge of the specific climate conditions in our area, Urbach Roofing will make sure your roof is free from unwanted moisture.

Don’t fall victim to these avoidable problems. Let Urbach Roofing provide you with roofs from the best brands, and an installation you can depend on. Call us today at (760) 471-5065, and we’ll be more than happy to help you find the perfect solution to your roofing needs.