Frequently Asked Questions

The average roof replacement is going to take about a day. It starts with our production manager as they determine which crew to send to your job depending on how big your roof is, how steep it is, and how complex it is. 

The crew will show up at 7 o'clock. They'll go around the property putting out tarps, and protecting all the landscaping. The first 2-3 hours is the crew completely removing the old roofing system. The next 1 hour to 2 hours is spent weatherproofing the new roof by installing the underlayments, the ice and water shield, the felt paper, the drip edge, the starter shingles, and the valley metals. 

After a lunch break, the crew spends the remaining hours of the day installing the new roof. The new shingles, ventilation parts, the pipe boots, the flute caps, all that stuff. At the end of the day the crew cleans up, and trailers are removed from the premise. 

First, you will want to make sure your vehicle is out of the garage and the driveway. Your roofing team will be delivering materials as well as a big dump trailer or a dumpster that morning.

The second thing you will want to prepare for is removing items away from your house. Your house patio furniture,  grills, potted plants, and anything valuable to you around the home should be moved to a covered area. If you have items that are too heavy for you to move then make sure to let the foreman or your project manager know so they can help move them before the roof starts. Also, let us know if there are any delicate plants or shrubs around your property and we'll make sure to cover them before we start the roofing project. 

Lastly, you will want to let us know if there are any items on your walls that are expensive or fragile family heirlooms. We don't want those to accidentally fall down when we complete your new roofing project. 

Remember you can always ask your project manager questions about anything inside or outside your home before the roof starts.  

The Number one thing that you want to look for when picking a roofing contractor is to make sure they are licensed, insured, and bonded. Ask your contractor if they have a document they can show you that displays the number they're insured for and that they're licensed and bonded. 

The second thing you should do is talk to your friends and neighbors that have used a roofing contractor in the past. You can also talk to your insurance agent, or local realtors to see if they have any good recommendations. 

Lastly and most importantly, I would check out online reviews. You can find these reviews on different websites such as Google, Facebook, BBB, and most roofing companies' websites. 

In the fall the number one problem that people have is leaves getting in their gutter systems. An easy way to prevent that is a gutter screen. This is placed right on top of the gutters so that nothing can get into the gutters while the leaves fall off of the trees. 

Another issue homeowners will run into as the season changes are issues with snow and ice. Things such as deicing cables are an easy way to prevent snow and ice build-up on your roofing system that could cause serious damage later on.

The last thing to consider, and something we highly recommend, is that after all the leaves have fallen get your gutters cleaned. This prevents build-up on the gutter system that could cause clogging and possible ice dams. 

99% of the time it is not leaking. We get a lot of calls about this during winter and it is typically trapped moisture from inside your home. 

When you think about your house, you've got your house, whether it is one-level, two-level, etc. Whatever the top level of the house is, above that is a layer of sheet rock and then a layer of plastic. In the attic you have the insulation. It's meant to keep the heat and the moisture in the house and out of the attic. Because in the attic, that temperature is going to be the same as the outside temperature. 

These "leaks" that are happening, what's typically the case is inadequate insulation. The warm moist air from the house is getting up in the attic and its freezing. Once it warms up again outside, all that moisture that was frozen, melts, drops into the insulation and then works it way down through the house.

If you are running humidifiers, you should be running fans a lot to vent that moist air up and out of the house. You should also check the insulation in your attic to see if it is adequate. 

Yes, we do offer a variety of different maintenance services. Some examples include siding repair, roof leak investigation and repair, deck repair, and on call services. Many often ask what our on call services include and that would be any emergency related service subject to storm damage. 

We want to be your go-to partner to take care of any of your exterior maintenance needs. So, if there is something you or your community is facing, don't hesitate to reach out. We would be happy to take a look!

First when choosing the right shingle, you want to make sure of your timeline. Check with your project manager to make sure that shingle is available because that will effect ultimately the timeframe of your job being built and finished. 

Secondly, keep in mind any future home improvement needs you may have. If you're looking to change color or adjust something on your home, make sure that color you choose is going to last throughout projects on your home now and into the future. 

Lastly, understand that these are architectural shingles, they have a lot of dimension. So, when looking at the shingle, understand that there's lots of different granules, colors, speckles within that shingle that can add to bring out features in your home. Whether it's your siding, your fascia, your shutters, whatever it may be, those colors can help accentuate those parts of your home. 

Prior to starting a project a detailed timeline is always given to the property manager. But as we all know there can be delays. We could experience inclement weather, supply chain delays, or an unexpected issue. We can always get ahead of schedule as well. 

How we best communicate these changes to eliminate any surprises to our managers and the residents is through our client communication portal. Anyone has access 24/7 to project status. The management team is provided a dedicated URL and is continually updated with any important information including any changes to the schedule. The property manager can then share the URL with all of the residents which saves their team time each day. 

Another cool feature we have on the client communication portal is our contact us form which allows anyone to reach out to a member or our team directly with any questions they may have about the project.

Melted snow is caused by warm air that heats up in the attic. As water runs down the roof it comes in contact with the eaves which is a much colder part of the roof. Ways to prevent that from happening is to: 

1. Consult with a professional. This professional can come out and make sure that your ventilation in your roof, your soffits, the R value of your insulation in your home are good and up to code.

2. Invest in a roof rake. When you get a heavy snow rake the first three or four feet of each eave that has snow piling up on it. Pick up a heat cable and install it onto your roof yourself. 

Number one, I would recommend checking with the contractor and getting a copy of their license and insurance along with the estimate. 

Number two, you want to compare the materials being used and the components that are being used when looking at the estimate. Drip edge, ventilation systems, and the manufacturer of the shingle. 

Number three, you want to check out the warranty. Not only the manufacturer's warranty, which can vary from contractor to contractor depending on who you use and what their qualifications are with that manufacturer, double check with the contractor and see how many years they warranty their workmanship. Very important to do. 

Lastly, number four, you want to ask the contractor how the job site will be managed. For example, at Capital  Construction we have a crew foreman and a project manager on site. The foreman is there when the crew is there. The project manager is someone that is there during the job and after the job. So, if you have any questions after the job is completed,  you want to reach out to the project manager. 

Ice and water shield is a type of underlayment that protects your roof from water damage, especially ice dams. It is an asphalt membrane that has a sticky back that adheres to the roof's surface. In addition to protecting against ice dams,  it also protects against wind-driven rain. Ice and water barrier is extremely important in  Minnesota as we go through harsh conditions throughout the winter. It is necessary to install ice and water shield on the eaves of the roof and throughout the valleys and where ice dams are likely.

Number 1: Increases energy efficiency.  When we replace your roof, we also replace the ventilation system on your roof. This increases airflow throughout the attic space. Which helps with climate control inside.

Number 2: Helps increase home value. A new roof stands out to potential home buyers. And,  can increase your home value by $15,000.

Number 3: Peace of Mind! Knowing that you have a reliable and durable roof overhead brings peace of mind. With a new roof, you can feel confident that your home is well protected and you won't have to worry about frequent repairs and unexpected leaks.

Number 4: Helps with insurance premiums.  Insurance premiums are based on the age of your roof. A newer roof would have a lower insurance premium.

If you have a basic 3-Tab shingle - It's the thinnest shingle that they make, 1 dimensional, and not much character to it. You can upgrade from a 3-Tab  shingle to an Architectural shingle. It's thicker,  it's dimensional, it's nicer looking, and it performs better. 

Next, there is the impact-resistant shingles.  It looks identical to the architectural shingle,  it is architectural. But, it's impact resistant. It resists the impact of hail. Certain insurance companies will give you a 10-20% reduction in your premiums with this shingle.  Your insurance company says 'If you put in a  Class 4 impact-resistant shingle on your roof,  we will reduce your premium by $300." Run the numbers and say it costs $900 for that upgraded product, you're going to break even in 3 years and then you're making money from there. 

Lastly, as far as shingles go, impact-resistant shingles very are thick, heavyweight, and probably twice the weight of those architectural shingles, designer, and luxury shingles, very thick, very heavy weight.  And they're going to really make your roof pop.

The average length of time you have to file a claim is going to be a year. For most insurance companies you're going to want to get your property inspected and looked at and a lot of them want you to have the work done or at least started by that year mark. Let's just say you have a hail storm last year and you've just been busy so you haven't got around to it but are only a few months from approaching that 1-year mark. It's very important to at least have it looked at your insurance. Your insurance company might actually tell you that they're not going to insure your roof anymore or they'll just give you an actual crash value policy which loses a lot of value to you. 

Let's say you want to go to sell your house three years from now. The first thing that they're going to do is have your home appraised for the new buyers and they see you got hail damage in your roof. You're going to have to drop the price of the sale of your home by the cost of a new roof which can be about twenty thousand dollars depending on the roof.  That's a huge deal. Another reason to at least have your roof looked at by someone who knows what they're doing whether you have anything going on or not.

The short answer is no. A claim regarding a storm is deemed an 'act-of-nature' claim. You can't specifically have your rates raised by your insurance carrier as you couldn't do anything to prevent it event from occurring.

Something to keep in mind is that if enough claims come out of a certain zip code, everyone's rates may go up short term.  

The process is pretty simple, have your property evaluated, and see if you did have damages and if you do, it is in your best interest to file a claim. That is why you have insurance on your property. 

There are three ways to file a claim with an insurance company. 

1. Call your local agent: Let them know that you had storm damage on your roof and that you would like to get a claim started. 
2. File a claim online: Go to your insurance company's website and look for the 'File a Claim' button. It will guide you through the steps on what to do. 
3. File a claim through your insurance carriers app: Most bigger insurance carriers have an app that has a portal for you to file a claim through. 

When it comes to filing the claim itself be prepared to answer a few questions from your insurance provider such as:

• Was your roof inspected by a contractor?
• What day did the storm occur?

There are many reasons you will want a contractor with you when an adjuster comes to assess the damages to the exterior of your home.

A lot of times when major storms come through local adjusters cannot handle the volume of claims coming through. They will reach out to other states, and people around the country to come in and help. They are called independent adjusters. 

They come in and write claims for these local carriers but since they are not local to the area's building codes. They might identify hail damage and the scope of repairs correctly but might be missing a lot of the items that are required in Minnesota due to our harsh winter conditions such as ice and water shields.

From there the adjuster is going to look for signs to see if there is marginal damage or if it is on the border of the damages being able to be covered by insurance. Keep in mind that the adjuster for the insurance company is the insurance company's representative, they're told to mitigate or minimize the loss where they can. 

That is why having a contractor on your side is important as they will advocate the damages that should be covered for you. Here at Capital Construction, we are your proponent. We're doing everything that we can to make sure that you are getting coverage for the damages that we see. 

We will have a conversation at that time with the adjuster and try to get you covered for a roof or siding replacement. 

It's great to have two sets of eyes. A contractor on your side and an adjuster working for the insurance company meet at the same time to talk about the damages and come to an agreement on the scope of repair damages to the property.

The next step after receiving approval for your roof to be replaced is you will receive a summary of the loss from your insurance provider. It is a small paragraph detailing the benefits of the loss. 

The second thing you're going to get from your insurance company is a scope of loss. This is what you will provide to your contractor when reviewing the project details. This covers what parts of the roof got approved and if there are any additional damages to the gutters, pieces of siding, or a window. 

The last thing is that you will receive your first check which is the ACV  (Actual Cash Value) check and the term that insurance companies use. You will give this to your contractor as well.

How you can expect to receive this information in two ways. First, it will come via email to make sure to give the adjuster the correct email address. The second way you can receive this information is through your mail. 

Vinyl siding is plastic-like and has been around for a long time. It provides good value to your home as it's going to be more affordable than say hardboard siding. They come in a lot of color options as well. They've come a long way with making vinyl siding so it doesn't fade as much as it used to. Your traditional vinyl siding would be a double four an-inch or double four-and-a-half-inch exposure, bigger rocks of hail are going to break it but also it's great because you break apiece of the siding you can very easily get a new piece and open up that wall of siding pull the broken piece out put a new piece back in there as opposed to hardboard siding. LPsmart side wood composite is tested by throwing baseballs and golf balls at it and it does not damage it keeps away bugs and infestations very well it's going to be about 2 two and a half times the cost of a vinyl siding job but you do get the return on your investment. I believe LP has quoted that at 83 percent you'll get a return on your investment when you go to sell your house Piers James Hardy which is going to be a cement board composite - those are some of the main differences between vinyl siding and the hardboard siding