Rain, rain. Call the roofer (and be prepared to wait)
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At Modern Roofing Inc. in Burbank, they couldn’t even talk about it.
“Right now we are very, very busy,” said the woman who answered the phone.
“Usually when it rains we go into leak mode,” said Ruben Ugarte, nephew of the owner of ANR Crown Roofing in Eagle Rock.
In case you’ve been in a closet for the last few days, it has been seriously raining. Today’s storm – the third in three days, but who’s counting? – could leave the area with 1 to 2 inches. Not the best of conditions for a roof in shaky condition.
ANR has two roofers out 24 hours a day in this weather – often going to homes where the owners knew there were problems but put off getting new roofs, Ugarte said. But the economy – combined with everyday procrastination – has left a lot of people hefting buckets to catch the rain in their homes.
“The psychology behind roofing is that people don’t deal with it unless they have a leak on their head. When it dries up, they don’t deal with it. That’s the mentality of Southern Californians because we don’t have that much rain,” Ugarte said.
The recession has contributed too. People are delaying repairs and holding on to their cash. A new roof on a 1,200-square-foot home can cost $6,000 or more, Ugarte said. But in the last two days, ANR has signed four deals; in a good month, they’ll do eight or 10, he said.
“I think people think we can start working when it’s raining, but we can’t,” Ugarte said. It’s dangerous for the workers.
So ANR’s roofers and others are making temporary repairs – a patch or a tarp.
Ugarte said new homes are generally not a problem, but leaks are common if a renovation hasn’t been properly permitted or inspected. “Whenever you have additions that were not properly permitted, you’re going to have problems where the roof meets the wall,” he said.
At Jobe Roofing, on West 48th Street in Los Angeles, office manager Marilyn Escarcega said it’s been a crazy day, with 20 or so calls for service.
“They all want the same day, but not everyone gets that,” she said. In fact, by midafternoon, Jobe was so busy, customers calling today might not see a roofer until Friday. I caught roofer Edvin Cifuentes up on a roof. He’s been busy with older buildings, especially those with flat roofs, he said. The water is supposed to drain, he said, but sometimes it puddles and eventually leaks. But he’s not complaining. If this rain keeps up, and his business stays in such demand, he’ll make a year’s salary in a month.
-- Mary MacVean
