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‘Roof Leak’ Category Archive


Flat Roof Leak Repair

Friday, September 22nd, 2017

Flat Roof In Minneapolis Leaked for Years and Copper Was the Answer The Problem: Perhaps you have heard it before. There are two types of at roofs: Those that are leaking and those that are about to leak. In fairness to flat roofs, the reality is that there is no truly permanent roof. When at […]


What Really Kills Most Cedar Shake Roofs

Friday, August 18th, 2017

Forget hail damage, animals, moss, rot, ice and wind. The sun is your roof’s main enemy. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times, the purpose of all of the wood on your roof IS NOT to keep water out of your home. Its’ purpose is to protect the tar paper below, […]


Solving Ice Dams in Minneapolis

Friday, July 21st, 2017

Science + Common Sense + Insulation & Ventilation = No Ice Dams Frost Melt Patterns At their most fundamental level, ice dams are the result of the interaction of heat loss and snow on your roof. An experienced Kuhl Thermographer can use photos like these in conjunction with infrared imaging to see the weak points […]


Pressure Washing Damage on Cedar Roof

Friday, July 7th, 2017

Thoughts from an Honest Roofer on Washing Cedar Shake Roofs, Part One. Why Equipment Matters: If your roof is in good enough condition to wash, congratulations. You have the opportunity to add years to its remaining life through occasional maintenance. But it is important to understand that a cedar roof should only be washed using […]


Low Bidding Minneapolis Contractor Wins Again

Friday, June 30th, 2017

Kuhl’s Contracting Six Examples of How the Cheapest Company Costs the Most After being in business this long we have countless examples of crappy work done by other contractors here in the Twin Cities. Sometimes it’s a matter of inexperience while others it is a question of ethics. Either way, it’s a giant buzz kill […]


List of Common Ice Dam Locations on Minneapolis Homes

Friday, June 2nd, 2017

What is an Ice Dam? An ice dam is the ridge of ice that forms at the edge of a roof which prevents melting snow from draining as it should. The water that backs up behind the ice dam can leak into the home and cause damage to walls, doors, ceilings, insulation, and other areas. […]


Minneapolis Ice Dams Warning Signs

Friday, May 26th, 2017

How to Spot Ice Dams on Homes in Minneapolis and Surrounding Areas Thoughts on Ice Dams by Steve Kuhl: Think of it this way. Ice dams normally migrate over time from the the outer most edge of your eave in towards your home. If you have gutters, the ice dam will form there first and […]


Minneapolis Roof Leaks Part One

Friday, May 19th, 2017

Expert Advice on Common Roof Leaks in Minnesota Often times the most difficult thing in resolving a roof leak is to find it in the first place. Roof leaks in Minneapolis present some extra challenges because of the added influence that snow and ice buildup can play. This case study will examine the most common causes […]


Kickout Flashing Installation in Minneapolis

Friday, April 28th, 2017

What is a Kickout Flashing and Why Do I Need One? The Problem: For example you have just had your home inspected and someone says you need kickout flashings. With this in mind what exactly is a kickout flashing and what does it do? Kickout flashings: Required by Minnesota Building Code, the purpose of a kickout […]


Ice Dam Puzzle

Friday, February 24th, 2017

Minneapolis Homeowner Struggled to Find Educated Perspective on Ice Dam Mystery The Problem: Our client had been plagued by ice dams and cold-room-syndrome for many years. Ice dams are a roof problem, so why not call a roofer? The fact is, ice dams are not a roof problem and while one can limit the damage […]


Solve the Mystery Leak

Friday, February 10th, 2017

A Leaking Home Gets Fixed for Good The Backstory: Our clients, homeowners in Eden Prairie, had a mysterious water spot on the ceiling of their dining room. It clearly was related to rain because there was no plumbing in the vicinity and the damage appeared after one of those long, soaking storms. Their original builder […]


Classic Flashing Failure

Friday, January 20th, 2017

A Leaking Home Gets Fixed for Good The Problem: We’ve seen this over and over on Twin Cities’ homes, in particular homes built in the last 30 years in Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Edina, Plymouth, Wayzata, and Bloomington. A bottleneck created by the intersection of the garage roof and the wall of the home. The result […]


Leaf Guard, Gutter Guard, Gutter Helmet

Friday, January 6th, 2017

Gutter Contractor Installed $32,000 of Worthless Copper Gutters… Then Laughed All The Way To The Bank The Problem: Our client had gone ten rounds with the company that installed this gutter debris management system (A). Next stop, lawyers and courts. They decided to cut their losses and hire Kuhl to replace all of their gutters. The […]


Putting the K Back in Copper

Friday, December 23rd, 2016

Fixing a Leaking Chimney, Replacing a Cedar Roof The Problem: This is the community building owned by an exclusive neighborhood association in Orono. For years different roofers were hired to address the leaking chimney (A), only to ultimately fail in their attempts. Their answer, caulk and tar (B). Here is the pesky leak as seen […]


?@%&#! Storm Chasers!

Sunday, December 4th, 2016

One Edina Man’s Story of Dealing with Storm Chasers and His Cedar Shake Roof The Problem: Jerry’s roof was replaced by some storm chasers after a hail storm in 2006. His insurance company agreed to replace the skylight units (1) but refused to pay for the replacement of the curbs and curb flashing (2) because […]


Ugly Chimneys in Eden Prairie

Friday, November 11th, 2016

Clients Chimneys Were Leaking, But at Least They Were Super Ugly The Problem: Our Eden Prairie homeowner needed a new cedar shake roof and two chimneys rebuilt. More than a simple chimney rebuild, these babies needed a redesign (thank you 1970’s). The 12” thick lump of concrete originally installed on top just wasn’t going to […]


Keeping Squirrels Out of Your Roof

Friday, September 2nd, 2016

Animal Damage to Roofs in the Minneapolis Area The Problem: Red Squirrel Scientific Name – Sciurus Vulgaris Unscientific Name – Bastardus Rodentae Size – Body length of about 4 inchs (not including tail) Diet – Nuts, acorns, seeds, and your cedar roof Preferred habitat – Mainly a tree dweller, occasionally a roof dweller This guy […]


Hear. See. Speak. We’ll Tell You What We Find.

Tuesday, August 9th, 2016

Minnetonka Homeowner Hears the Truth from Roof Cleaning Contractor with Integrity The Backstory: It’s not considered bad-mouthing your competition when you don’t name names, right? We were the third company to review this 13 year old cedar shingle roof and provide a cedar cleaning and sealing estimate. By the time I arrived, the client was […]


Animals in Minneapolis Roof Vents, Part One

Friday, July 29th, 2016

How to Keep Birds, Bats, Mice and Squirrels Out of Your Home The Problem: If you have lousy roof vents, don’t feed bad. About 60% of the roofs in Minneapolis that we inspect do. There are three common types of crappy roof vents in Minnesota: Plastic turtle-style (A) Plastic louvered (B) Non-louvered metal vents (C) […]


Roof Snow Removal in Minneapolis

Friday, July 15th, 2016

How Using a Roof Rake Can Make Ice Dam Problems Much, Much Worse The Problem: You learned your lesson in the winter of 2011 with the epic ice dam outbreak that hit Minnesota. You read up that removing snow from your roof will prevent ice dams. Ice dams get their fuel (i.e., water) from the […]


Blending New Cedar Shakes With Old

Friday, June 24th, 2016

Minneapolis Cedar Roof Expert Gives Examples of Cedar Roof Repairs We are often asked about how cedar shake repairs will look compared to the surrounding roof. Here are a bunch of examples of projects where we repaired cedar shake roofs and the differing degrees color variation between new and old cedar materials. If a near […]


Does Sun Cause Ice Dams?

Friday, June 3rd, 2016

Observations From the Experts on the Relationship Between Sun and Ice Dams Experience tells us that all ice dams are created when there is an area of the roof that is above 32 degrees that creates snowmelt which then runs down to an area of the roof that is below 32 degrees. Seems logical enough. […]


Minneapolis Ice Dam Prevention

Friday, May 27th, 2016

Using Insulation and Roofing to Address Chronic Ice Dam Issues in Minnesota How to Prevent Ice Dams In Minnesota Ice dam prevention in Minnesota is a tricky business. So much so that we hesitate to say any home is truly ice dam proof. It’s true that homes built after roof trusses became popular are far […]


Minneapolis Hail Damage Map

Saturday, August 22nd, 2015

Minneapolis area home owners are often surprised at how quickly storm chasers arrive at their door steps after the storm itself has subsided. It’s a safe assumption that strangers will be knocking at your door within an hour after a hail storm passes through your neighborhood. We have to admire the efficiency with which these […]


Cooling Tower Ice Removal – Minneapolis

Wednesday, March 11th, 2015

Ice dam removal in the Twin Cities has been all but non-existent this season. That’s good news for most homeowners! Ice removal on the commercial side of the universe seems to be a more consistent problem year to year and this season was no exception. The calls we typically get involve removing ice from around […]


What causes ice dams: Answer #93

Tuesday, January 13th, 2015

What causes ice dams? Google that question and you will get a lot of answers, the most common of which will be something about heat escaping into the attic, which in turn causes snow to melt on the roof and refreeze on a lower area. Standard stuff. In a broader sense, ice dams are caused […]


How to deal with water leaking into your home

Monday, January 12th, 2015

I’ve been asked many times over the years about how to deal with water leaking into a home. It’s obviously a super stressful situation, so having a few pointers can help. Here is a PDF that shows one technique for managing water leaks into your home (Ice Dam Leaks Minneapoils Water leaking down walls Minnesota […]


Ice Dam Prevention in Minneapolis and St. Paul

Monday, December 22nd, 2014

Ice dam prevention is a bit of a misnomer. Technically, it’s almost impossible to fully prevent ice dams if the conditions are right. Those conditions are: lots of snow, temperatures fluctuating between 10-20 degrees, inadequate insulation and ventilation and air leaks. Let’s not forget about air leaks. We are in fact the only company in […]


Minneapolis ice dam prevention

Thursday, December 18th, 2014

The best solution to ice dams in Minnesota is holistic. Because ice dams in Minneapolis are the result of a complex interaction among many variables, including insulation, ventilation, roofing, home architecture, climate and homeowner lifestyle, the answer to each ice dam problem is always unique to the case. Some ice dam prevention is as simple […]


Chimney leaks in Minneapolis; Part One

Thursday, December 18th, 2014

Chimney leaks in Minneapolis are very, very common. Unlike many areas of the country we deal with the affects of ice and snow, in addition to the normal forces that affect chimney performance such as wind, rain and the sun. I will be writing a few posts about common chimney damage in the coming weeks. […]


Cedar roof types in Minneapolis

Friday, December 12th, 2014

In the past twenty five years I have inspected over 9000 cedar roofs in the Minneapolis-St.Paul area. That’s a lot of climbing. In that time I’ve seen just about every type of cedar roof imaginable as well as all manor of defect and curiosity imaginable. That timeframe has allowed me to observe a number of […]


Insurance companies pay differently

Sunday, August 25th, 2013

Okay, I should be moving on to part 2 of my last post “How to Fight Your Insurance Company” but this info just came in and I couldn’t resist. Something that civilians don’t see in the midst of all of this hail storm madness is that the quality of the work that will be performed […]


Squirrel Damaged Flashings

Wednesday, August 14th, 2013

What is it with squirrels and roofs? They can’t seem to keep their teeth off them. We inspect hundreds of cedar roofs in the Twin Cities area each year. Time after time we find the same types of damage. Lead cap plumbing vent flashings such as the one here (A) are common targets of the […]


Attic Frost: The Other…. Silent Killer

Friday, February 15th, 2013

If you haven’t taken a look in your attic space lately, it might be a good idea to take a quick glance around this winter. Who goes in their attic space in the winter? Come to think of it, who ever goes in their attic space? It’s not usually the most comfortable atmosphere which explains why […]


Versatility of Thermal Imaging: Finding Cat Pee

Thursday, January 31st, 2013

Yesterday I was in a client’s home doing a routine thermal inspection when I started to notice wet spots all over the basement floor. I immediately thought they were leaks coming from plumbing in the ceiling. A quick thermal image of the ceiling ruled that out. After scratching my head for a bit I walked […]


Ice Dam Leak in Minneapolis

Tuesday, December 18th, 2012

Ice dams cause leaks in Minneapolis homes but not usually until later in the ice dam season. I received a call earlier today from a client in Edina with water pouring through her ceiling. The water was coming through a smoke detector (B) and soaking her floor. One interesting but not entirely surprising thing was […]


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