This is the time of year I’m most grateful that I work for DaVinci Roofscapes and spend most of my day in a nice toasty office. For many years I spent my winters outside installing roofs and don’t remember those days with fondness. I don’t think anyone likes to work outside when the temperatures are sub-freezing. The problem is the mortgage company doesn’t care if it’s cold outside and the family still needs to eat. Putting physical comfort aside for a moment, special care needs to be used when working with steep slope roofing materials in freezing temperatures. Self-adhering membranes sometimes don’t stick, underlayments are hard to roll out or crack, caulking is impossibly stuck in the tube, and shingles become brittle and crack. Many manufacturers will not allow their materials to be installed when the outside temperature is below 40 or 45 degrees F. This is a big problem for roof installers throughout the country during the winter months. For those roofers who work in high mountain country where temperatures can reach 45 F at night in August, it is a big problem year round.
Thankfully DaVinci Roofscapes solves at least one of the problems. Our engineered resin system is designed so that the tiles remain flexible in cold temperatures and can usually be installed in temperatures as cold as 20 degrees F. When installing DaVinci Slate and our composite Shake in cold temperatures you must make sure that the tiles have been stored flat and are flat when installed. You must make certain that the space between tiles is at a very minimum 3/16”. If using a pneumatic roofing nail gun make sure that the pressure isn’t set too high.
I know as an old roofer I probably shouldn’t be quoting Friedrich Nietzsche, but, when you’re out there in the cold and your feet feel like stumps and you can’t feel your fingers anymore remember, “ That which does not kill us makes us stronger”.