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TOPIC: Warranties

MetalWorks

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I understand MetalWorks has been sold. What is the status of any "lifetime" warranty on their Astonwood products? Who bought them? Will they take over any warranty on MetalWorks products currently installed?
Guest User

6/6/2004
In our experience, there never was a lifetime warranty. We suffered 100% loss last year of a 3 year old roof of theirs and have never been able to even obtain a copy of their warranty, let alone obtain any satisfaction from them. I wish you luck if you have a claim pending.
Guest User

6/6/2004
All concerns regarding particular manufacturers need to be addressed to the manufacturer. The MRA representative from MetalWorks is Marcus Plowright and he can be reached via email at [email protected] I believe. If that does not work, please email direct to me at [email protected] and I will help you get in contact with him.
Guest User

6/6/2004
I followed up with Todds info and was very pleased with the response. I e-mailed Marcus at the address Todd provided and within two hours got a very informative reply. ( Marcus Plowright now has a new e-mail address [email protected]) He stated TAMKO will be honoring past MetalWorks warranties. I can only comment to Elizs that I was given a copy of the warranty by the roofer and they provided how to file the proper paper with MetalWorks to get a numbered warranty. I think I would not have a problem in the future. Maybe Elizs would want to see the TAMKO website to follow up. www.tamko.com. Thanks Todd!
Guest User

6/22/2004
I am looking into a metal/aluminum roof from MetalWorks/Tamco. What happened to your roof ? Prior to problems how dod you like it ? Where was the installation and was the price comperable to asphalt shingles/tile ?? Thanks
Guest User

6/26/2004
Thank you for kindly provided his contact information, I did contact him. That is the first response I have been able to get back from Metalworks. After about a half dozen e-mails and photos and all the information he requested, I have not heard anything back from him since July 2. It appears from my discussions with him that Metalworks denies operations in Canada. Yet somebody is supplying their product to a number of Canadian roofing companies who advertise the Metalworks product, including one locally called The Real Metalworks.
Guest User

7/14/2004
I, too would like to know just what kind of problem eliz had with the metalworks roofing. Could we get an update on what happened to the roof and what has been accomplished so far to get someone to respond to warranty questions.
Guest User

7/17/2004
100% total loss. Stripped off from top to bottom, side to side with a small area of singhles remaining. All the tabs remained on the roof, the shingles "stretched" and tore right off the clips. The installation company is out of business and refuses to talk to me and actually gave me a phony number for their insurance company. Metalworks have not responded to me for over 2 weeks - not since I sent them all the information they requested - photos, the corporate registration information of the installation company and the corporate information on the present company reprsenting them in Nova Scotia. (Metalworks deny any representation here - so how is this company obtaining the Metalworks product and "warranty"?) - I quote from their re-mail to me: "I'm curious about the advertising... someone is using MetalWorks name without the consent of the company. I was in charge of all marketing so I know this to be true. Any details you could provide would be appreciated.". I supplied ALL the corporate registration information and have heard nothing further from them.
Guest User

7/18/2004
Wow, Eliz, sounds like a real disaster! What was the causitive condition(s) of the failure? High wind? how high? Cold temp? Hot temp? Cycling up and down?Snow load? etc. Have you heard of anyone else with this type of failure/problem? I have a one year old metal works roof in the Seattle area and wonder what to consider/expect.
Guest User

7/18/2004
high wind - 155 km per hour (about 90 mph)in early autumn. The shingle roof underneath the Metalworks roof thankfully remained almost intact - a few shingles missing but that was all. I was the only person that lost their entire roofing material in this rural subdivision. My husband and I had installed a "sheet metal" roof on our garage/barn combination by ourselves. It remained completely intact - it is located 30 feet from the house. Most of the neighbours didn't even lose any of their standard asphalt shingles. Have I heard of anyone else with this type of Metalworks roof failure? Yes. Our insurance agency and insurance company advised me that they had other Metalworks roofing loss claims as well as ours.
Guest User

7/19/2004
Thanks Eliz for the info. I have a theory about what went wrong. When they installed my metal works roof they did not nail or screw the eave/starter flashing to the fascia board. I questioned them and they said it was not needed. But if you had the same condition, i.e. no fastener to the fascia board I could see where it would tend to lift up. Once up, it would "unwrap" itself from the clip and then a chain reaction right on up the roof. Once the shingle lifts, the lip holding the next shingle looses its effectiveness. So, do you know whether or not your eave starter was fastened to the fascia board or only to the roof decking? Would really be interested to see if there is a possibiltiy of a major problem if not done per the "steel shingle installation guide" that came with the metal shingles. Part of my problem was the eave starter did not overhang the fascia board by very much. In fact a few gaps have caused the water to get in behind the gutter and run down the fascia board. I have installed an additional piece to close the gap between starter and fascia board. I was told it was my problem because in most areas the overhang was sufficient so it "must be a problem with your gutters and not the roofing product". So, Eliz, I would like some more detail on your exact product and installation please.
Guest User

7/20/2004
If I get the gist of it correctly from your post - the starter strip is the edging strip? If it is, then when you looked upwards to the edge roof, you could see the nails through the side of it so I think that is the fascia??? I think that the roofing material let go at the peak - along the ridge vent. We have these "skirts" for lack of a better term between the 1st and 2nd floors (a "modified" dutch colonial/cape cod style home, common throughout this region). The "skirts" were NOT installed correctly - in fact they were not flashed OR starter strips used at the top of them, just the bottom edge - they were siliconed at the top!!! Yet more of these shingles remained on than remained on the roof. You bet it "unwrapped" itself from the clips - "tore right off the tabs" would probably be more accurate - the clips/tabs "stretched open" and the shingles were "bent open" where they had been installed onto the clips. They were all still remaining installed on the roof. When they open like that, it makes me think "defective product". The product was the Astonwood grey - which was quite a nice looking product (in my opinion, a much nicer looking than the present installation we have).
Guest User

7/20/2004
Eliz, Thanks for the brutal description of what happened. I went back to TAMKO with my MetalWorks warranty validity concern and got this response back the next day. If you are having response problems maybe you can get in touch with Rebecca. "Thank you for contacting TAMKO Roofing Products, Inc. Your warranty is still valid and everything remains the same. Please continue to retain your copy of your warranty. If you do have a warranty question you may contact our warranty department at 1-800-641-4691 or at [email protected] and finally by mail at PO Box 1404 Joplin, MO 64802 ATTN: Warranty Dept. I hope this has answered you questions. If you have any others, please feel free to let me know. Thank you, Rebecca Bartley TAMKO Roofing Products, Inc. " Good luck with your endeavours
Guest User

7/21/2004
That's a large part of my problem - I have NO warranty. It was never provided and has never been available to us despite our requests. I have been talking to Marcus Plowright. I have had no further responses from him since July 2 when I supplied him the information he requested: > if you could forward additional information I'll be able to assist you > in pursuing your contractor. I supplied that information and a lot more. One of his responses was that somebody is using Metalworks name without their permission and they do not advertise in Canada. So I'm out a lot of money. The only reason we went with metal shingles was for the lifetime warranty.
Guest User

7/21/2004
Elizs, Just read your posting with horror - I'm in Ontario and I have a Metalworks brochure in hand. The install company here is called Bil-Den. Metalworks is definitely in Canada. They are giving you the gears.
Guest User

8/5/2004
I think you're right about them giving me the gears. The company in NS is still advertising the product, even though Metalworks says they are not an authorized dealer. Looking at a copy of Metalworks warranty, it is totally worthless anyway. Their warranty only covers the PRODUCT and to a maximum of $250.00 per square. There is no warranty on the installation of the product, and if the installation is deficient, then there is no warranty. No wonder these companies won't give copies of warranties to consumers!!! I would love to see a copy of that brochure!!!
Guest User

8/6/2004
I agree, my Metalworks/TAMKO metal roof product warranty is not worth very much. But that is true with all metal roof products, I am sure. They do, in fact, cover only the product. And they can probably always blame any problem that comes up on the installaltion for which they claim no responsibility. The installing roofer gives a warranty/guarantee for much less time than the touted 50 year life spiel for a metal roof. Usually five or ten years is all you can get out of a roofer. That is sometimes less than you can get for a composition roof! So much for the big advantage to a metal roof. Especially in Eliz's case where the installer flew the coop! The only thing good I can say about my situation was I was given a copy of the MetalWorks warranty by the installer. It looked pretty watered down in reality when I read it. I called MetalWorks to discuss a few items (color holding, hail damage, product defect) and realized most of the warranty was meaningless in actuality. I went ahead with the product anyway, realizing they were all the same. Not worth the paper they are written on. How many metal shingles disintergrate on their own?
Guest User

8/10/2004
Hi, I am a roofing installer in Virginia, and I just have to ask this question: Did you file a claim with your homeowners insurance? I am vaguely familiar with Metalworks and metal shingles in general (I mostly install standing seam metal), but it seams to me that most warranties, even workmanship/weathertightness warranties are voided by sustained winds over 90 mph, and maybe less depending on the type of installation. It seems to me that your homeowners insurance should cover a severe weather incident like this.
Guest User

10/23/2008
Thank you.
Todd Miller
Isaiah Industries, Inc.

10/24/2008