6 Steps to Roof Maintenance (for the Home that will Turn Into a Rental House)

“Refusal to accept the death of a dream would seem a historical imperative in realizing it.” (Referring to Abraham Lincoln’s long held conviction that he would someday be president.)

–Chris DeRose, Congressman Lincoln

Holy Mackeral! It’s time to prepare the roof for summer.

We can ignore it no longer. It’s time to get up on that roof and get the cooler in working condition (for those of us in the southwest), and to re-coat the entire roof in preparation for the upcoming monsoon season.

the water cooler (a.k.a. “swamp” cooler)

We will eventually turn the home into a rental house, so we must keep the roof in top condition. Later, we need to fix one of our rental house’s roof too.

Water Cooler Issues

This year, the copper tubing broke on my cooler due to cold weather. I used to drain the tubing every year before winter. Then, a friend told me that was a waste of time because it never got cold enough to break the pipes.  Now I have one additional broken pipe, and one less friend.

Just kidding. Actually my friend is only serving time in the  penalty box  — for the next 2 years!

valve attached to new tube

 

copper tube

Fortunately, it’s an easy fix to change the tubing. Here are the steps:

1.) At Ace Hardware, I bought 8 feet of copper tube at $1.29 per foot,

2.) I cut off the old tube, and

3.) I attached the new tube using couplers, also from the aforementioned Ace Hardware Store.

copper tube cutter

Applying Rubberized Roof Coating

Last weekend we tackled this job at our house.

We used 4-5 gallon buckets of Tucson Rubberized Roof Coating. Each 5 gallons covers about 400 sq. ft.

The procedure was:

1.) One day before, wash off the roof with a high powered water spray,

2.) Stir up the paint with electric drill and large paddle stirring attachment,

3.) Place my two sons on roof with rollers and paint, and stand back as they lather it on like shaving cream.

 

“chips off the old block” lathering it on

 

making steady progress

Blog recommendations:

6 Steps to Roof Maintenance (for the Home that will Turn Into a Rental House)

How I Evicted A Problem Tenant in 4 Steps

When to Hire a House Inspector – Radio Interview with Rich Peterson

Getting Rid of Bad Tenants

“Turn your home into a rental” on Mark Wayne Show

7 Reasons to Live in a Fixer-Upper House While You Repair It

6 Steps to Roof Maintenance (for the Home that will Turn Into a Rental House)

Our First Rental House Plunge

10 Most Frequent Problems Found by House Inspectors

5 Steps to Get Your House Ready to Rent by Terry Sprouse

5 Steps to take if your house is flooded

Some perfectly legal ways to maximize your rental profits

Add “Start a Rental House Business” to Your Bucket List

The 5 Rules on How to Lose Money and Get Your Rental Property Trashed by Tenants

Window Repair with #2 Son

Required Roof Maintenance for Fixer Upper Houses

Learn to Repair Your Fixer Upper Houses

How I Got Started In Fixer-Upper Houses

How to learn to operate a fixer upper house business

The Peaceful Warrior and Fixer-Upper Houses

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37 Responses to “6 Steps to Roof Maintenance (for the Home that will Turn Into a Rental House)”

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  4. Iva says:

    It’s great to see that your boys are willing to help you add the rubber coating to your roof. Otherwise, that would be a lot of work for one person to do.

    • Terry says:

      Iva,

      Thank you for your comment. It’s wonderful to have young, enthusiastic boys who like to pitch in.

      If only they would attack their homework with the same vigor.

  5. Harold says:

    Had a blast reading your blog, Terry! I’m a roofing contractor and I always look forward to doing a rubberized coating job so it was a delight seeing your photos of you doing it yourselves! It’s fun to do because you know that it will benefit the roof and the entire house for many a very long time. Hope you and your friends had fun doing it to your roof!

  6. Mike says:

    Keeping your roof in top shape can be hard. A good cleaning each year can make a world of difference. Get your hose out and try to get up on the roof and spray lightly across it just to get any sticks or things that can get stuck. We don’t want anything that can cause shingles to come loose.

  7. Mike says:

    Terry, Can you get me a little more information on the rubberized coating. We are here in St. Louis and have been looking into it.

    • Terry says:

      Mike,

      Rubberized coating is primarily used on flat roofs, like we have here in Tucson. It’s sold everywhere here. Its probably not available in St. Louis because they build pitched roofs there.

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