Hello all,
We're in the process of buying a bank owned, foreclosed property. It was built sometime in 1999 and has a vertical panel metal roof which we're very happy about, although it does need a bit of sprucing up. However, the issue we've run into an unexpected issue...
Our mortgage co wants us to provide homeowners insurance details for the property in advance of closing, and so far the insurance cos we've contacted want us to ID the roof and provide them with a scan of some kind of certificate before they'll give us a quote in writing. Obviously we don't have any paperwork on the house so we're stuck.
My husband went up into the attic to see if he could find some kind of a manufacturer's label somewhere on the underside of the panels but it's all lined with thick panels of foam radiant barrier so no luck there. Not that we really know where the label would be anyway...
I've attached a photo now in case any of you experts can tell us anything just by looking at it. If that's not possible, any suggestions you can offer about how we can get past this problem would be much appreciated. Would a local metal roofing contractor be able to ID it and give us a certificate? If any of you know of a good, economical homeowners insurance company that isn't so anal about metal roofs we'd love to know.
Thanks in advance!
Guest User
2015-06-08 01:31:24.000000
What you have appears to be a fairly common metal roof standing seam profile. Tracking down the manufacturer will be difficult. The panels probably are not labeled. Is there any original paperwork from when the roof was installed available?
It sounds like they have asked you to provide paperwork on UL 2218 impact resistance certification of the roof. This should not be mandatory of you. If you give them paperwork and they then provide a discount on your insurance, they will want you to sign a waiver stating that they will not replace the roof for cosmetic damage due to hail. Again, it should not be mandatory that you do this. You can just go without the discount and also not sign the waiver,
Todd Miller
2015-06-08 06:02:34.000000
Sheila, it can vary from state to state and insurer to insurer but generally speaking most insurance companies will not give the discount without the cosmetic damage waiver.
Todd Miller
2015-06-08 14:36:10.000000
You can use light power washing with detergent and TSP ... or scrub by hand with detergent and TSP. I have also heard of success using products you spray on and walk away from -- Wet and Forget ... and RoofWash are names of two such products.
Todd Miller
2015-06-08 15:15:11.000000
Thanks very much for the prompt reply, even though it's not great news.
It seems that foreclosures are usually 'what you see is what you get', so there's no paperwork or background information available for this house.
I guess we'll just have to keep looking for someone who'll give us a quote without that UL 2218 certificate, but I'm disappointed to hear that if you want to get an insurance discount for having a metal roof you're expected to agree to exclude cosmetic hail damage... Good grief. Insurance companies really do suck.
Just be sure I understood correctly, are you saying that it should be possible to get a discount without signing that sort of waiver?
Sheila K
2015-06-08 13:27:05.000000
OK, thanks Todd.
One last thing - regarding the black stuff you can see - mostly along the lower edges, plus the bigger patch (probably where a small weed tree used to overhang the roof. (There is a small tree stump below the area and several small weed trees close by.)
What's the recommended way to clean that sort of random black schmutz off a metal roof, if there is one?
Thanks again for your help.
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