What a shame! I don't know that I'd bend the nails over though. The next time the roof is replaced, it's liable to rip big chunks out of the wood when they rip off the old roof.

I think that what you will want to do is clip the nails off even with the ceiling. Actually, I'd have the roofers do it. (Idiots!!)

It's a thirty year roof so I will probably be dead or in the old folks home before it's done again. I asked about cutting them off but the roofer said you can't. I will ask the boss when I call. Idiots is right!

I would make them replace that section, pulling all the nails out carefully, and then putting new roofing down with shorter nails. If they can carefully, remove that section of shingles, they may be able to reuse them, but, if they cant, it should be fixed at their expense. Once the nails are out, fill in the nail holes, and repaint it. Seems, no one cares about doing a good job these day, unfortunately. Good Luck to you

I hope you have not paid in full?
Roofers are notably a bad lot.....the lowest and dumbest of the construction business.....so don't expect them to know anything. It's the big boss who will have to make sure it's as promised.....
I really hope you owe them money....because that's the only way you will get it made right!!
Linda C

I have a vacation home where short nails were called for in a roofing job. Fortunately my roofers where aware and did use the correct nails.

One roofer who we got quotes from said he once made the mistake of using long nails. The owner made him put in a new, tongue in groove wood ceiling that mimicked the original just below it. I think you are justified in getting an aesthetically pleasing ceiling replacement.

Pam, I agree with Linda. I had numerous roofing issues with my new installation. I documented with pictures, protested in front of the office, talked on the phone to the owner. He just laughed at me. Then when the 25 year roof leaked after only 6 years, he laughed at me again saying it was time for a new roof anyway.

I hope you can work it out, stay strong!

I still owe them two thirds of the cost. I will be interested to hear what their response is. I wish I had thought of it in advance but of course it is THEIR job to know these things, not mine. It is a very reputable roofing company, but roofing is bound to be a huge mess. I won't judge the rest of it until they are done, although from what I can tell it looks good (except the porch).

They did do a good job of protecting my gardens, although one of them wrapped a thin extension cord around the geraniums in a window box!

They mailed me a letter in advance about how to prepare for the job -- moving stuff out of the way and covering the attic, etc. I had already been through a roofing job once so I knew to prepare for a mess.

It is THEIR job to know how to do it right. DO NOT pay them till they correct the mistake at their expense. If you give them a pass they will do it again to someone else. Make them accountable, YOU are paying them with your hard earned dollars to do a good job and should accept nothing else from them.

I'm so sorry, Dedtired! I vividly remember your ceiling! You posted pics after you painted it, and I love the color...so yummy, so gorgeous!

Are these the roofers you found on Angie's List? Grrhh! No matter, You'll make sure they resolve the issue. You'll write them a bad review and give them a poor grade otherwise, and I'd tell them that!

There was no reason on earth you should have suspected that nails would appear in your ceiling. That's bad on so many levels. (It's also very bad Feng Shui to have jagged, pointy objects like nails shooting out at you overhead.)

Good luck, and keep us posted.

Idiots is right, Oh my word. I hope you get the response from the head honcho you're expecting, but if not don't take his response laying down. Let him know you will not go away, threaten bad reviews on Angie's lists, a call to the local news station, reporting them to the BBB and bad reviews on every website that asks for them, facebook, yelp, yellow pages and so on. In THIS economy I can almost guarantee they're scraping for work and won't want the bad press.

I'm so sorry. I understand at least some percentage of your pain. We had our roof redone a few years ago and there were just the tips of nails showing under our not nearly as pretty as yours back porch. After they finished, it looks like some sort of torture device with incredibly long nails everywhere! And some time later, I realized that one of our recreational vehicles had a windshield completely broken from what I can guess was something they dropped (it was in a protected area on the side of the house and was out of use for the season). Not to mention the mess of roofing nails and debris we are still finding all over our property years later. In your case, they obviously ruined something you worked very hard on. Since you've seen it now, I hope you are able to contact the company and ask them to correct their mistake. I hope it goes well and they resolve the problem.

Do not pay them another penny until it's repaired. It's their fault and they should repair it at their expense. At the same time, have them replace the plywood with the type wood that you have in your porch ceiling. You may have to find and buy the planks so that you know it is a correct match.
There are NO excuses to justify what they did.

We've been thru 'roofing hell' before and we took them to small claims. One of the problems we had were all the nails that came thru the roof in the attic area, which was also a usable storage area. The judge just looked at our photos, shook his head and ruled in our favor.
I would mention small claims if the owner starts hemming and hawing.

Oh, and yes, there is a tool that can clip the nails but don't settle for that as a repair.

Oh ded, I am so sorry. No one needs these extra stressors. I would definitely ask them to redo with shorter nails in that area. I really, really hope they fix this for you. You are justified in withholding the sum equal to what it will take to make it right, imho.

(Cyn, is there an echo in here? LOL)

Anyway they finished the job. The roof on the house and garage look great and they did an excellent job of cleaning up and only squashed on flower, which is a miracle.

They really swept up and went over the entire lawn with a magnet device looking for nails.

I talked it over with some neighbors and they said to ask for a reduction in the price and hire someone else to put up a new ceiling. My friend put a beadboard plywood on hers and it looks good. Of course it all has to be primed and painted. I really would rather not tear off and reroof the porch now that it is done.

Except for the porch roof, it appears to be a good job. I got their name from a neighbor who really liked them and I also checked them out on Angie;s List where they got good grades.

I'll call in the morning and see what they say. They have been very responsive so far. I'll keep you posted! Thanks for your sympathy and advice. It helps.

That sounds like a good solution. Sorry about the echo-if I had said anything really important, it might have needed repeating. As is, not so much! :) Not sure how that happened.

Thank you all for your commiserations and advice. It really helps to hear it! I talked to the roofing company and they are sending someone out to look at it today or Monday to see what can be done. They have been easy to reach and quick to communicate by phone and email throughout.

Stinky, interesting about the Feng Shui. I already have a little mirror on the front of my house to reflect bad karma back to my awful across the street neighbors.

There are nails sticking into the attic as well but I expected that. It had long nails sticking out before. Long nails are better for securing the shingles. I have some storage in my attic but not much. I just checked up there to see how much debris fell in and there is a fair amount but almost all on the sheets of plastic I spread out in advance.

Of course the real test of the roof will be in the first hard rainstorm.

I'll tell you what they do for me. All my conversations with them have been pleasant -- no yelling or demands. Hope it stays that way.

Yikes, ded - I read this yesterday and aksed my DH about it - he's in the remodeling business. He said that was a huge oversight on their part - duh!- and that it's an issue for THEIR insurance company to cover full replacement, done by another company as you should not have them do the tear off or re-roof. His recommendation was to get a lawyer right away but I understand if that seems like more work than you want to get into. It's just that their suggested solution is not the right fix. What a pain and something you certainly should not have to deal with at all. They messed up big time in not seeing it before starting but the actual roofers who were replacing bad sections knew immediately and should have halted the job.

No, they have not made an offer or suggestion yet. Sorry if that wasn't clear. The fellow came out to look at it when I was not here this afternoon and left a voice mail, but we haven't connected yet.

If this was a porch on the front of a house rather than a small screen porch, I'd be screaming bloody murder. As it is, I am trying to stay calm until I hear from them.

Um, if your porch ceiling is the actual roofing deck, then there really isn't a proper way to do the job without a bit of the roofing nails coming through. Now, if it had an installed ceiling on top of the rafters here where the joists weren't visible, then the nails are ridiculously long.

I've lived in the house for 38 years, and the house is 65 years old. This is the third roof on that porch since I've lived here (one was on when I moved in and I had it reshingled once before) and this is the first time that the nails poked through. The first two roofers had the sense to use shorter nails.

I don't know ehere you live, but you may want to check building codes in your state or municipality. Many states now require one and a half inch nails instead of one inch nails, which used to be the building code standard most everywhere (and still is, some places). In Florida, as in other states where hurricanes and tornados cause property damage, the nail length is mandated for loss mitigation. In fact, insurance companies are doing site checks of their insured houses right now in Florida. If your roof doesn't have the longer nails--- whether it is a new roof or no---- and the proper nailing pattern, the premiums are going up. People whose roofs conform to the newer standards are getting a premium reduction. Citizens insurance is checking every house they cover in Florida, and there are other companies sending inspectors out as well. These inspectors take photographs of the nailing pattern and measure the length of the nails that come through the sheathing. Obviously, clipping off the nails at the sheathing level would be the worst thing to do, please ignore that suggestion!

Finally, plywood is the usual and customary material for sheathing / decking and if you wanted to match your existing deck material, in this case planks, that should have been specified in the contract, along with the type of shingles any any stack pipes, ridge vents or any other items they installed. I wouldnt have expected them to match something unusual and more expensive without specifying it and charging more.

Yes, it's a shame that your beautiful ceiling was ruined, but the appearance of the underside of a roof structure is not normally something a roofing company would ever even see. I think all these comments about roofing companies and roofers are mean spirited and just ....vulgar.

The roofers were careful and professional and I really don't have anything bad to say about them except that I wish they had given more thought to the appearance of my porch ceiling. They were polite to me, no loud radios blasting Howard Stern (I've had that before), totally respectful of my gardens. If they were cursing and swearing, I wouldn't know because they spoke to each other in Russian, but they seemed like nice guys.

I live in Philadelphia where hurricanes are rarely an issue, although we did have one last year, along with an earthquake. The roofers had to get a permit from the township so I am pretty sure they adhered to local requirements. The company has been around a long time and is family owned. I have confidence in them and their work.

So, when I finally talk to them, it will be interesting to hear what they say. I appreciate all the feedback and ideas -- and support!

Right now it may not seem like a big issue BUT what if suddenly you find yourself in the position where you needed to sell the house because of some unforeseen circumstances? Those nails poking out on that small screened porch might become a huge issue for folks looking to buy. Don't be so nice.

I just read this thread and I am so sorry you have to go through this. But I agree with Carol, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Pretend this is your front porch!!

Update: The roofing company called back and has offered to either tear off the new roof of the porch and reroof using shorter nails or clip off the tips of the nails so they are flush with the ceiling. No matter what, it's going to have to be repainted. The company has been very responsive.

Of course I spent one day this weekend cleaning up the porch, vacuuming every nook and cranny and setting up the furniture. Guess that was a waste of time! It's also pouring rain so I can't sit out there anyway.

Carol, I did think of that -- how awful it would be if it were a front porch. Again -- many thanks. It helps to talk these things over with others.

I said, "Oh no!" when I read this. I remember when you painted that porch ceiling. Doesn't it make you so frustrated with workmen sometimes? When the guy who remodeled my kitchen came to fix some beadboard on the ceiling that had sagged, he started to hammer away on nails and was putting black marks (from the hammer strikes) all over MY blue ceiling. I literally kicked him in the butt! Told him to at least get a rag or something and put over the hammer head, I gave him a dish towel. Hammer still drove in the nails, just no black marks. They just don't think sometimes.

Glad you are getting results and sounds like things will work out.

Thanks. I only wish I had been home when this was happening and I would have stopped him before he drove the second nail!

Schoolhouse, that is why I love when my husband works on our house. He may not always know entirely what he's doing but at least he uses a lot of care to preserve what we have. He always covers nails with a cloth before hammering and I used to think it was over kill.

I heard back from the roofing company. They are going to take off the new shingles from the porch roof, put on new shingles using shorter nails, fix the plywood so it matches the planks in the rest of the ceiling, spackle the holes and repaint the entire ceiling.

I'm happy!

So glad they are making it right, rather than some slap dash solution.

Wow, that is great!!! Now...even though you know they're intentions are in the right place and they want to make it right, do you and them a favor and keep a serious eye on the project. You know, just to make sure they get it right the first time.

Fantastic!

Yay! What a great outcome.

I was thinking about you last weekend. I was on a historic home tour, and we were in a marvelous bungalow, and I looked through the window at the beautiful, generous eaves (such a lovely feature on a bungalow)... which were full of protruding nails. All the eaves had the nails, and you could see them from every room of the house. Just awful.

Lukki, you can bet I will be watching them this time. One nail tip and I will be yelling STOP NOW.

Gosh, Xantippe, the home owner's heart must have sunk when that happened. I wonder if they bought it that way?

My porch is just off the living room and when the porch door is open you can see the ceiling from both the living room and kitchen, not just when you are sitting on the porch.

Most of you need to understand manufactures requirements. Roofing nails MUST penetrate 1/4 Inch thur the decking. You will have no warranty if wind blows your roof off or insurance due to improper installation. I would have made you sign a warranty waiver knowing you were voiding your warranty. So when this takes place you will be complaining he used the wrong nails. It is not the roofers fault your house was built with the roof decking as the ceiling. Know your facts people before you talk trash about something you know nothing about.

Steve- the post is THREE years old!!!!!

Whew! At least NOW you can stop your trash-talkin'. **big grin**