Warranty Issues

Hi, I put a roof on this ladys house about 6 years ago. The warranty is 5 years. She called me about a leak around a chimney. This was the third time we had someone out to try and fix this leak. We even paid once to fix the ceiling in her daughters bedroom from the leak. So even though her warranty was expired, because of the fact that it was a previous problem that occured after we did the roof, made me decide to to take a look for myself this time. ( which i probably should have done in the begining but i had a lot of guys doing repairs for me at the times she called before and i was trying to get out of the repair part of the business ) Anyways, this house is on a 14/12 slope. Extremely steep and 2 to 3 stories. The chimney in question was on the highest part of the house and up at the ridge. Nearly impossible to see the chimney top without a lift. At the ridge end where the chimney is is about 4 stories and then the chimney continues up antoher story from the ridge. lol Its a brick chimney with double metal vent stacks. Then they concreted the top and then continued brick up from there for cosmetic purposes only. Leaving out every other brick and leaving holes everywehre for the top 3 feet. Then they applied 3 concrete slabs on top and caulked the seams. YES This is ONE HELL OF A CHIMNEY! lol I went into the attic and could see what appeared to be a leak around maybe the flashing. But upon further inspection. ( As in climbing 25 feet from the attic floor up the rafters and beams of the roof etc. I was able to reach the chimney at the roof decking point. ) I peeled away some insulation board that was covering the inside part of the chimney box. ( there are only bricks on the outside part of the chimney and none in the attic ) and was able to get my hand in from the inside of the chimney. I ran my hand up as far as 3 feet above the roof decking on the INSIDE of the bricks and it was soaking wet. So that revealed to me that the leak is from the concrete top of the chimney which is then covered by 3 feet of decorative brick and the 3 conctete slabs on top. You talk about something hard to explain to a homeowner who is already very upset and thinks your the s.o.b. that is responsible for their problem. lol Sometimes i wonder why the hell i stay in this business. Does anyone else ever find themselves in this type of predicament? :blink:

Went on a warranty call several years ago while working in the service dept. Our office gal briefs the customer on our policies if it is determined not covered under warrany. When i arrive, I immediately have the customer read and sign the work authorization. It is a signed contract acknowledging he will pay the bill if it wasn't a warranty issue. We billed for every 1/4 hr.

He had leaks on the basement floor, the main floor had the kitchen sink above it, and there were a row of 5 skylights and a 2 inch plumbing pipe obove the kitchen sink. I figured I would be out of thier in no time (farthest right skylight or pipe causing a leak through the roofing). Tore every thing apart and found nothing, everything dry, documentent with pictures and showed the customer. Asked the cutomer if he wanted me to spend more time looking for the leak, and that this could be leading towards a billable visit. He approved and I spent the nex 45 minutes checking out the 4 x 6 wood chimney. Still nothing.

Homeowner called me off the roof to go down to the basement where the leak was. He had ripped the sheet rock exposing the pipe and asked me to check it out. Turns out there was a connection there and the sealant failed, allowing the water to seap out.

I told him it is obviously not a roofing issue now and that I would have to bill him for my time onsite. He had been briefed on our policy two times already and had to sharged him port to port and my onsite time. After taxes, he ended up paying over $300.00....that is why we have the customer sign a contract!