Friday, July 25, 2014

Are you thinking of listing your home for sale?

Are you thinking of putting your home on the market? The current real estate market in our area has been pretty competitive, with most homes are selling very quickly after receiving multiple offers. When people think about putting their house up for sale, the first things that come to mind are improving curb appeal, de-cluttering the house and maybe some light updating or painting. Most do not think about paying a little attention to the roof until after they are in a contract and have had some areas of concern pointed out in a home inspection report.

On occasion, we receive frantic phone calls from real estate agents and mortgage officers asking us to inspect a roof or make roof repair Dallas, because their client is in an option period or under contract and is potentially at risk of losing the sale.  While we always try our best to accommodate these types of last minute requests, we recommend that real estate agents have their clients obtain free roof inspections before listing the home for sale. Roof inspections are free and are a good way to determine up front if there are any issues or repairs that should be made before listing.

Outback Roofing, a roofing company Dallas, will perform a free roof inspection (within a reasonable travel distance) and will provide the seller, buyer or agent with an indepth report covering the condition of the roof and roof elements as well as any proposed repairs or recommended general maintenance. In some circumstances, if a full roof replacement is deemed necessary where no insurance claim is warranted, we may be able to work with the sellers and obtain payment from proceeds at closing from the title company to limit their out of pocket expense.

If you are a real estate agent in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex and would like more information on how Outback Roofing, a roofing contractor Dallas, can help you with your listings, please contact us at 972-930-9990.

Monday, May 12, 2014

That was a monster of a hail storm!

Evidence of Sharknado?


Image source

The Headington Shark is a rooftop sculpture at 2 New High Street, HeadingtonOxfordEngland, depicting an oversized shark embedded head-first in the roof of a house. (text taken from Wikipedia). It was commissioned by the home's owner in 1986. When asked why he had it erected he explained, The shark was to express someone feeling totally impotent and ripping a hole in their roof out of a sense of impotence and anger and desperation…. It is saying something about CND, nuclear power, Chernobyl and Nagasaki."  The city officials were not too happy about it, but were not able to find any good reason or law that he was breaking, so the shark has survived. If you happen to be in Oxford, be sure to stop by and take a look!

Thursday, April 24, 2014

How to have the hottest looking roof in your neighborhood.



Are you looking for a unique and durable product for a fraction of the cost of slate and shake? The Bellaforté line of slate and shake polymer roofing tiles have the appearance and beauty of natural slate or shake shingle roofing materials, but each highly-engineered and proven polymer roof tile offers durability and maintainability that the natural shake or slate roofing tiles cannot generally deliver.
 
DaVinci Roofscapes is leading the roofing tile design industry and using field proven polymer technology to enhance the art and functionality of roofing materials. The patented design of the Bellaforté shake and slate composite roofing tiles uses less material and therefore the tiles weigh less than other polymer roofing tiles, thereby reducing the carbon footprint associated with production and transportation.

 
Bellaforte Shake
 
Bellaforte Slate
 
Like every DaVinci product, Bellaforté composite shake and slate tiles are backed with a 50-year-limited warranty. Are you ready to bring Bellaforté shake or slate roofing materials to your home?Outback Roofing is proud to be an authorized installer of DaVinci Roofscapes products. Make an appointment to visit our showroom and let us show you how we can transform your home into a masterpiece!

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Ever Wonder Exactly How Hail is Made?

Roofers always say that if you really want a good dependable weatherman, don't turn on the tv, call a roofer! Most roofers I know, have become extremely proficient at reading radars, weather patterns, cloud formation and pretty much in general, can read the future when it comes to the weather!  I must admit, that I find myself becoming increasingly fascinated with the weather. In particular, I have developed a fascination with hailstones.

Hail is a creation of art by mother nature. While it can wreak havoc on cars, houses and crops and cost us billions of dollars per year, it is truly amazing. Much like snowflakes, no two hailstones are the same. They come in different shapes and sizes and densities. Some are round and smooth, while others can be flat, saucer-like with jagged edges. Some hail is extremely dense and hard, and some are soft and break apart easily. Hail is formed in cumulonimbus clouds. Raindrops are sucked into the updraft of the stormcloud and become frozen, where they continue to recirculate and grow until they become too large for the cloud to hold and then they are released.  If you look closely at a hailstone, you can usually see the rings, which indicate how many times the stone cycled before falling to the ground.

So, the next time some hail falls around your place, grab a few stones and take a look. See how many rings you can count! Send us your fascinating hail pictures and we will post them on our blog and Facebook page.

Other hail facts you may find interesting:

  • Approximately $1 billion U.S Dollar losses because of hailstorms in forms of crops and property each year in U.S.
  • The costliest hailstorm in the United States was in Fort Worth in May 1995. Total damages were $2 billion, with an estimated $1.1 billion of that attributed to hail damage.
  • The largest hailstone recorded fell in Coffeyville, Kan., on Sept. 3, 1970. It measured about 17.5 inches in circumference (over 5.6 inches in diameter) and weighed more than 26 ounces (almost 2 pounds).
  • Cut in half, a hailstone has concentric rings like an onion, which reveal the number of times it traveled to the top of the storm before falling to Earth.
  • The largest form of frozen precipitation happens during the warmest time of the year.
  • Hailstorms rarely last longer than 15 minutes.
  • Hails rarely occurs in tropics except in high elevation area.
1999 Encyclopedia Britannica

http://scijinks.nasa.gov/rain

- Jennifer Crutcher



Jennifer is a licensed insurance adjuster in the state of Texas, a Haag Engineering Certified Residential Roof Inspector and is passionate about consumer protection and education. She works at Outback Roofing, a family owned and locally operated company, where she is responsible for daily office operations. Jennifer resides with her family and two German shepherds in the Dallas area. A little known fact is that she secretly aspires to be an ice dancer!