Many people don’t realize how much potential damage can be done to their property during a roof installation. Ultimately, it is the roofing contractor’s duty to ensure that your landscape and property remains clean and undamaged over the course of the project.
Before beginning roof installation, you and your contractor should have an open discussion regarding which areas of your home need the most protection and what will happen if there is any damage done to your property.
To ensure that your home receives the best care, there are a number of preventative measures that a roofer should take to protect your home from any damage. Some examples include:
1) Plant & Garden Protection
A responsible contractor will hang tarps or visqueen around your home. These will help protect any plants, bushes, windows, etc. from any felt, shingles, and other pieces of debris that could fall off the roof during installation.
Many contractors will also lay out more tarp in specific high traffic areas around your landscape to ensure these spots are protected. Not only can this extra tarp prevent your plant life from damage, but it also reduces the chance of nails being left behind in your yard.
2) Dumpster Trailers
If you have ever witnessed or driven by a home during the process of reroofing, you have probably seen some sort of dumpster in the driveway. Contractors oftentimes place a large trailer close-by for discarding old roofing or shingles, which prevents debris from being scattered haphazardly across the yard.
An experienced contractor should also have an idea about how they plan to control potential oil leaks from dumpster trucks or deep scrapes and holes from the dumpster sitting in the driveway. There should not be any tracks or remains from the waste bin.
3) Nail Magnets
Any reliable roof contractor will own a good hand magnet to find any stray nails and other potentially harmful metal objects. Not to mention, the contractor should have someone present whose job is to sweep below the working areas with the magnet, reducing the likelihood of any nails being left behind.
If you’re worried that the contractor will overlook stray objects, it’s a smart precaution to cut your grass the day before the installation is scheduled to begin. Not only will a well-trimmed yard allow the roofer to spot stray nails more effectively, but it will also helps the hand magnet attract and grip any pieces of metal it hovers over.
4) Detailed Cleaning
Once the roofer has completed the installation process, the last step consists of thorough cleaning to the premises. All of the tarp and other debris that have accumulated during the job should be discarded into the dumpster trailer.
After the roofer has cleaned the roofing area and other spots around the tarp, they should also circle the grounds with their hand magnet to collect any stray nails and tools.
When your contractor has completed the project, there should be no dead plants or grass surrounding your home. This detailed cleaning ensures that your property is put back in its original condition prior to roof installation.
If you find that your roofer has skipped over any of this criteria, this most likely means that you have paid too much for your roof installation, and you should contact your roof contractor regarding concerns about your landscape clean up.
