DeLuca Roofing Inc.

Initially, please accept our apologies for any inconvenience that this unfortunate situation has caused.
Once the details of this misunderstanding are brought to light, we are confident you will understand that DeLuca Roofing has been as proactive as possible, acting on your behalf to acquire this warranty settlement for you.
We acknowledge that a little over 11 years ago you paid DeLuca more than four thousand dollars to remove and replace your then existing roof system. Included in the contact was the addition of two more roof vents intended to increase the exhaust capacity of the attic space. This increase in capacity exceeded the then, minimum, Ontario Building Code for the Roof Canopy portion of the Attic Space. There was however, no provision to alter the intake (soffit) venting as this is NOT considered a part of the roof. Generally, responsibility for soffit ventilation is that of the home owner, through the builder, siding contractor or insulator, not the roofing contractor.
The documented DeLuca Roofing workmanship warranty on your contract was FIVE years.
The shingles installed on your home were a Canadian manufactured product by BP (Building Products) called Rampart. This product came with a 25 year, pro rated manufacturers warranty (and has since been discontinued by the manufacturer).
The seemingly premature degradation of the roofing material was an unforeseen circumstance and we do sympathize with your situation. Please understand that when we purchased the product from our distributor, we believed it to be of very high quality and one that could be relied on. We also maintain, that as the Roofing Contractor, DeLuca Roofing is limited in it's liability, as we do not manufacture roof shingles.
In the Spring of 2010 we attended your home to assess to condition of the roof, seal the skylight (approx. 20-25 years old as it had been re-installed in 2000), replace some shingles,a second time to tarp your roof and attended a third time to gather photos, information and do the administrative legwork to initiate a warranty claim. All of this was done at No Charge to you despite the long expired installation warranty. When you were subsequently denied a warranty claim due to the unliklihood of water infiltration, we were there again for you and launched an appeal on your behalf, again , at No Charge. The appeal was also denied and this is where the claim was specifically invalidated citing inadequate soffit venting. This was a condition either pre-existing to our shingle replacement (fault of the builder) or a result of an ill informed Insulator (who smothered the soffit exhaust baffles with excessive insulation). We know that is the reason for the denial as it was the pictures that we provided of the home owners attic that brought this condition to light. These photos are required by the shingle manufacturer for assessment of the warranty claim.
From our discussions previously, you were adamant that we are responsible despite our willingness to help and ignored our offer to assist with a new roof and have now asked for another solution. It remains our position that this situation, however unfortunate, is not the fault of DeLuca Roofing Inc. and we are not culpable in any way. However, as a further gesture of good will, we could offer that DeLuca Roofing would be willing to provide some assistance , on the most recent estimate provided to you. We would however insist that you, at your cost, rectify the remaining soffit ventilation issue prior to our involvement in any re-roofing project at your home.
Thanking you in advance for your anticipated response and again, please accept our apologies for the inconvenience or financial burden that this represents.

As you are aware, a major wind storm swept through the Golden Horseshoe area on April 28, 2011. Our technicians main focus was to first repair the wind damage on homes that were at highest risk for water infiltration or further weather related damage. Our staff conveyed this information to you at the time of your call in May and advised that we would attend at our earliest opportunity. Your request was for a post winter, follow up inspection and you had reported that you had not experienced wind damage, nor did you have any specific concerns. Across the region, damage was significant and extended beyond shingle damage. Trees were uprooted, windows were broken, siding was torn off. Many trades were heavily affected and many claims filed with insurance due to the damage that remained after the winds calmed. Our technician has attended and did not have any concerns with the install or otherwise. We truly hope that you are happy with your roof since the replacement. Should you ever have any concerns, please do not hesitate to contact our office.

Initially it should be stated that DeLuca Roofing Inc. currently has tens of thousands of residential properties under it's warranty umbrella. To assert that our company does not honour it's warranties or provide quality after sales service is simply not true.
We are grateful that property owners have a forum such as Home Stars through which they can voice their concerns, although it does seem unlikely that it will be utilized to the same degree by the tens of thousands of satisfied customers who contracted the services of DeLuca Roofing?
As well, we are fully aware that very few homeowners find pleasure in incurring costs for household repairs and maintenance. We do realize that this criticism that has been logged does not suggest that DeLuca Roofing failed to provide service, nor that we did not respond promptly to the request for service. Rather, the complaint revolves around the results of the Service Inspection and the conclusions that can be drawn.

General Background Information:

It is important to acknowledge that not all moisture that might penetrate the interior living space of a home will necessarily come from the roof system proper. There are other systems that have interplay with the roof system. One such system is the homes mechanical system. The furnace of a home, as it creates heat, also generates exhaust gases, and that exhaust has within it, moisture. The flue assembly, (typically called an 'A' vent or a 'B' vent), is intended to carry this warm moist exhaust from the heating system upward and out of the top of the flue which sits outside above the exterior roofline. These flue pipes are comprised of sections typically four feet in length, and have a specific diameter appropriate to exhaust the volume air mass that the mechanical unit produces per minute while it operates. As a 'best practice', the mechanical contractor who originally installed the flue assembly should install sheet metal screws to function as a 'set-screw', or locking screw, which will hold the flue lengths together at the point where they are joined. If the lengths of flue separate beneath the roofline, the warm moist exhausting air will filter into the attic cavity. Some of that warm, moist exhaust air may simply condense as it contacts the colder air masses of the attic cavity and the resulting moisture will fall to the exterior side of the ceiling board. Some of the exhaust may rise up and rest against the underside of the roof decking. Since the attic temperature above the insulation should be close to the exterior temperature, the underside of the roof sheathing is very cold. The moisture in the exhaust air will turn to frost which will cling to the roof sheathing. When sunshine or milder temperatures warm the roof deck, the frost will melt and resulting in moisture that may seep into the living area below. It is very easy to mistake this moisture build-up as something that has originated from the exterior surface of the home, all too often labeling it as a roof leak.

Obviously, what has been stated above highlights the fact that assigning culpability is not as straightforward as one might think. Though there is always the possibility that during the roof replacement process the vibrations or the process of reinstalling the exhaust flue flashing may have resulted in a small degree of movement of the flue sections, it must be agreed that had the flue sections been mechanically secured via the installation of set-screws by the mechanical contractor, the flue sections could not have separated!
It's also equally likely that high winds and blowing snows may have caused the flue stack to shift slightly resulting in the small opening between flue sections that was noted in the report of our service Technician, (and documented in the photo file).
After an extremely thorough investigation, our Service Technician is very confident that the roofing system is free of any deficiencies that could result in water infiltration to the interior of the home! It is often the case that corrective work performed by one trade will reveal
the existence other deficiencies. Typically, DeLuca Roofing will continue to work with home owners to help them resolve their issues even when these issues have been proven not to be directly related to the roof system.

Steadfast in our commitment to working with our customers to provide solutions and helping resolve their issues, whatever the cause, it is our hope that home owners like “Sport” will try to adopt an objective perspective and constructive approach to their home repair and maintenance
requirements.

Please see the response posted to "Sport" - The issues causing leaks were very similar in each of these scenarios. Since the roof was the last major renovation done in each of these homes before the water was detected, it was DeLuca Roofing that was contacted and blamed for the problem. DeLuca Roofing arranged for a service call by the HVAC trade to assist the homeowners with having the problems with the mechanical system in the home resolved. The roof replacement had nothing to do with the repotrted concerns, however, DeLuca Roofing did assist the homeowners by pinpointing the issues and referring the homeowners to the proper repair personnel to resolve.