Q. I have a friend that her house caught fire . it burnt a hole in her roof in the kitchen and the fire spread to the living room and utility room and done a lot of damage. the rest of the house has bad smoke damage. how will the insurance pay her. full cost to replace the whole house or just what it would cost to replace what was burnt and clean the smoke damage up? i heard if a hole is burnt through the roof they say it is a complete loss, is this true. it is an older house, they said it was the wiring.it got hot .they was not at home at the time

A. It depends on what kind of policy she bought! On a standard HO3 with replacement cost, ASSUMING she's not underinsured (big assumption), She'd be paid replacement cost to replace everything and clean up, with debris removal, minus her deductible, IF she chooses to replace. The wiring itself, is not covered. But many, many insurance companies won't write an HO3 with replacement cost on a house with out of date wiring. So odds are, she doesn't have replacement cost coverage. It's not true, though, that the house is a "complete loss" if a hole is burnt through the roof. Bottom line - unless you know exactly what kind of policy she has, you have no way of knowing how it's going to be paid out.

Q. The roof is standing seam & old and we started to get a leak in our Dining Room. After going through 4 contractors (all turned down saying it needed total replacement) we found this local man (who owns a roofing company). He said he could fix the leak. After recoating the standing seam roof with a "special sealant" aluminum coating, "restamping" the seams down, & laying a rubber roof over our addition building (off the main house), the roof started leaking again in the same area. We called him back many times & finally got him over. He said it was a seam that popped back up & he said he'd use screws instead of nails to fix it this time. It rained afterwards & leaked again. We called him back & finally got him to return after many excuses & missed appointments on his end. He said he didn't know what was causing the leak & would refer to his brother (who works for him & apparently knows what he's doing). We didn't hear back from him. That was a week ago. What should we do now? We have a contract with him stating his work is under warrantee. Do we take legal action against him, or is there another way to get him over to repair this leak or get our money back? We paid a lot of money for him to fix this leak and it's still not fixed. Has anyone else gone through something like this? What did you do to rectify the repair? Thanks for your time everyone.

A. Here in Oregon , we refer to the state contractors board and file complaints 'on-line', additionally, the state will send you an entire dossier on this contractor and you can see all the dissatisfied costumers he has had in the past. run your situation by the local building inspector and he may need to chastise him as well for not getting a permit. once you are armed with all the paper work from all the agencies involved, and without response from the contractor; you can take it to small claims court for the entire amt of the repair.

A. Go to Home Depot and apply for a card, but first let them know you need a new roof, because this will let them know how much credit you need. Home Depot installs roofing that includes everything for one price.

Q. I have a 1970 double wide mobile home with an original old aluminum roof. Im lookinmg to replace it with a new roof and i know there alot of different types of foam roofs and such but was wondering if anyone knew which new roof is the best that i should put on here. which product/like should i look at.... Thank You alot.

A. Idk

Q. I have found a bank-owned house in Ohio. The bank just cut their price in half from $100,000 to $50,000 after a few heavy rains. The house needs new windows, has many leaks, and the roof needs replacement. What kind of contractor do I need? Residential? General? Should I ask the contractor to come with me to the house to give me an estimate? Thank you in advance for your answers

A. You should have specialty contractors come look at it and give you estimates. A home inspector of the type that service real estate transactions would be most helpful, as well. For about $300 they will tell you everything that needs to be done to make the home code compliant and sale-able. The best part is that they don't do the work, so they are not going to bull**** you. I am a general contractor and generally dislike dealing with other contractors for work i need done on my properties because of the ethics problems in the trades. What I would do is break the job down into phases. Start with the roof. It is most important to keep the rest of the house dry. Find an estimate for just the roof, have it done, then just the plumbing, etc. A good local handyman for the smaller stuff would be perfect. BTW- NEVER pay the final amount before the job (whatever the job is) is 100% complete.

Q. My electrical company was recently involved in a 63 unit residential rehab project where we installed electrical baseboard heaters as a primary source of heat. The owner didn't install any insulation on any of the exterior walls or roof and had installed the cheapest replacement windows he could find. Tenants are know complaining that there is lack of heat and excessively high electrical bills especially when the Temps. fall under 20 degrees F. NEED HELP.

A. Check with your local fire department, many of them have thermo imaging equipment for detecting any heat source that may indicate a hidden fire. Ask them if they could do that service for you & their fee. Some may not do it or may do it & not charge a fee but will accept a donation instead. They may or may not have the equipment to photograph the images too. You could check the Yellow Pages for a home energy auditor and/or home inspector and find a contractor there to fit your needs also.

Q. Some say get estimates and let your insurance handle it and some say find a contractor and let them negotiate with the insurance but what is the best way?

A. Insurance companies rarely "replace" a roof. Let them decide. File a claim and let them tell you what to do next.

Q. The contractor who inspected says my whole roof needs replacement or second layer of roof required. The roof is not done right by the builder and shingles are worn out. How is it possible? Roof should last for 20 to 25 years. Do I need to check with the builder?

A. A few things. How old is the roof or house? Did you have anything in writing regarding warauntees on the structure? Have you connected with homeowners insurance policy holder? The contractor who states you need new or a roof over, is this the same contractor that built the house, or installed the roof in the first place? Where do you live (weather/temp conditions) To begin, certainly you should connect with the builder or roofing contractor who did the job initially, as well as your insurance company. Then you might connect with an attorney? At the very least, before investing thousands in a re-roofing, you might check, or have checked the seal/seals around the dormer. The flashing might be the problem? The "Tar" caulking might be the problem? Also considering less expense, you might have those checked and fixed first, Since you have drywall/water damage anyway, it can't hurt to try other fixes, first. Certainly that's the last thing that should be repaired/replaced. Remember too that water finds "A WAY." and anywhere an actual leak area begins, gravity will assist the water in seeking other areas to invade. Steven Wolf (The Rev.)