Exterior contractor in Rochester Hills, MI
Rochester Hills is not flat. The land rolls, the Clinton River runs through it, and a great many houses sit on graded lots with walkout or daylight basements. From the street a house can read as a two-storey; from the back garden it is three.
That single fact shapes most of the exterior work we do here, from how a roof is staged to where the water ends up.
The rear elevation is the one nobody has looked at
On a walkout, the back of the house is the tallest wall, the hardest to reach and the least inspected. It is also, usually, where the problems are: the wall a deck passes through, the wall the lower level sits behind, and the side the slope drains towards.
When we inspect a house here we spend most of the visit at the back. A quote based on the front elevation and a satellite image is missing the expensive half of the building.
What we do in Rochester Hills
- Roofing — roofing in Rochester Hills · residential roofing · repairs · storm damage
- Siding, soffit and fascia — siding in Rochester Hills · vinyl · fiber cement
- Seamless gutters — gutters in Rochester Hills · seamless gutters · leaf protection · copper
- Everything else on the outside — drainage, windows, painting, masonry, decks, additions and commercial roofing
Everything arrives at the low corner
On a graded lot there is always one corner where roof water, surface water off the slope and spring meltwater converge. That corner is where we find soft trim, staining, and in the worst cases water in the lower level.
Fixing the wall at that corner without changing where the water goes is treating a symptom. What actually works is getting the roof water taken well away from it and getting surface water to run past the house rather than into it, which is a gutter, downspout, discharge and grading question rather than a siding one.
Staging on a slope
Working on a walkout means levelling staging on ground that falls away, usually across a garden that somebody has spent years on. We agree where the staging feet land, what has to be moved and what gets protected before anyone arrives.
It also means the back garden is a work site for most of the job. Knowing that in advance is better than finding out on the second morning, and it is part of what we go through at the estimate.
What we check on a walkout house
The elevations on a graded lot are not equivalent, and we assess them separately:
- The deck ledger through the wall. A structural connection and a water path. If it was not flashed, it is going into the framing.
- The transition between the lower level and the level above, where the wall construction usually changes and the flashing has to be right.
- Downspout placement on the tall side. A long fall concentrates a lot of water in one place, and where it lands matters more here than on a flat lot.
- The grade against the wall at the low corner. Siding should not run down into soil or mulch, and on a slope it often does.
- The roof planes that discharge towards the slope, which are doing more work than their area suggests.
Questions from Rochester Hills homeowners
Does a walkout make the work more expensive?
It makes the rear elevation more expensive, because of height and staging rather than material. How much that moves the total depends on how much of the house is affected. We price staging openly rather than burying it in a square-foot rate.
Water gets into my lower level in spring. Is that a roofing problem?
Sometimes, indirectly. More often the water is arriving at the foundation from the roof or from the slope rather than coming through the wall. We will tell you which we think it is before you spend anything.
Do you have to take my deck apart?
Almost never entirely. Usually furniture off and occasionally a railing section removed for access. Where the ledger flashing is wrong we will show you, and what to do about it is a separate decision.
Can you look at the drainage as well as the roof?
Yes, and on a sloped lot they are the same conversation. Where the downspouts discharge is usually the cheapest thing to change and the thing that makes the most difference.
Nearby
- Exterior contractor in Oakland Township, MI
- Exterior contractor in Troy, MI
- Exterior contractor in Lake Orion, MI
The full coverage list is on our service area page.
Free estimate in Rochester Hills
On a walkout the useful inspection happens at the back of the house. It is free, and so is the written scope that follows it.
Request a free estimate or call (586) 533-8343.
