Learn who is in charge of your attached roof system

By Emma Peterson. 

If your roof is a part of a larger building, it is crucial to know who is responsible for the repairs and maintenance of it. In this podcast, the roofing experts help homeowners and homebuyers learn how to take care of shared roofs.  

In a recent AskARoofer™ podcast episode, hosts Lauren and Megan sat down with Kyle Nurminen to talk about the intricacies of attached roof systems. Kyle has been in commercial roofing for almost 20 years and has worked for three of the top 15 national roofing companies. Currently, he works with Total Roofing Systems and Dynamic Metals, specializing in working with metal roofs. 

In general, an attached roof system is part of a larger structure. Kyle explained that these roofs come in all shapes and sizes, but for the purposes of the episode, he shared, “[An attached roof system] is where if you try to re-roof just one unit, you're going to have an issue with the whole building not being re-roofed at the one time.” Lauren and Megan noted the relevancy of this issue as more condominiums, town homes and duplexes are being built with attached roofs — Lauren’s own condominium has an attached roof system! 

When it comes to responsibility for the roof, Kyle was quick to explain, sharing, “Every community is different. There are homeowner associations (HOAs) that do it all and then there are HOAs and condo associations that have you solely responsible.” With that note, he suggested checking the bylaws of your HOA for details. Kyle also suggested asking specifically about the timeline of the HOA and roofing in the community. Many of these communities are built all at once and it is important to know when that happened. He shared, "When you buy into a community that was all built in two years and all the roofs are now 20 years old, they're all getting ready for a re-roof.” As a homebuyer or homeowner, you must be proactive to ask about how processes related to an attached roof system will work to avoid any surprise costs.  

Listen to the episode or Read the transcript to learn more about attached roof systems.