Two warranties, not one
Every roof comes with two separate promises from two separate parties, and conflating them is where most warranty disappointment starts.
The manufacturer's material warranty covers the product - the tile, the shingle, the membrane - against manufacturing defects. It is issued by the manufacturer. It does not cover installation errors, and it usually does not cover the labour to remove and replace defective product except in the early years.
The contractor's workmanship warranty covers the installation - the roofer's promise that the roof was put on correctly and that if it leaks because of how it was installed, they will fix it. It is issued by the roofer, and it is only worth what the roofer's ability and willingness to honour it is worth.
The words
Limited lifetime. "Lifetime" means the lifetime of the original owner's occupancy, as defined in the document, and "limited" means read the limits. It does not mean the roof will last a lifetime.
Prorated. Coverage that reduces over time. A prorated 30-year material warranty may pay full replacement value for a few years and then a declining percentage. In year 25 it may be worth very little.
Non-prorated period. The early years during which coverage is at full value. This number matters more than the headline term.
Transferable. Whether the warranty passes to a new owner when you sell, and under what conditions - often a notification within a set period, sometimes a fee, sometimes a shortened term for the second owner.
Exclusions. The list of things not covered. Typical entries: wind above a stated speed, foot traffic, ponding water, damage from other trades, failure to maintain, and alterations by anyone other than the original installer. That last one means the satellite installer who screwed through your roof may have voided your warranty - and "failure to maintain" means a roof that has never been inspected may have too.
Registration. Some manufacturer warranties require registration within a set period after installation, sometimes by the contractor. Ask whether yours was registered and get the confirmation.
The three questions
- What does the workmanship warranty cover, for how long, and who backs it? KLR Roofing provides a ten-year workmanship warranty on the roofs it installs. Whatever the contractor in front of you offers, get it in writing and ask what happens if they are no longer in business.
- What is the non-prorated period on the material warranty? That is the real number.
- What voids it? Read the exclusions, and then look at your roof and ask which of them have already happened.
Where maintenance fits
Most manufacturer warranties and many workmanship warranties expect the roof to be maintained, and some say so explicitly. A dated record of inspections - what was looked at, what was found, what was done - is what "maintained" looks like on paper. It is also simply the way to catch the problem before it is a claim.
Roof Sentry's record is the maintenance file a warranty asks for - dated, photographed and yours.
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