Hello--

I'm in a quandary and could use some feedback.

Last week I had my roof replaced by a local contracting company that comes highly recommended. The first day the crew started in an afternoon and asked me if the garage was included in the bid...I said yes it was. They replaced the roof that day (it is a detached building). The next day I heard from the crew chief that they got in trouble because the garage roof wasn't included in the bid... I insisted it was. They started working on the house and I finally located my signed contract...low and behold, the garage was included in the bid. First red flag.

In the process I discovered that I had a racoon infestation in the past in my attic, necessitating a complete clean out of the attic before the new roof was put on. Done. Honestly, I hadn't been up there in years and it was a rude awakening. The roof tops the third floor of my house. It is a complete floor with a full stairway. You can stand up everywhere and has been used as a living space in the past. I just parked many boxes of books up there. It was clear that the raccoon had accessed the attic through a worn/rotted spot in the third floor soffit on both sides of the house. I don't know if the raccoon made an opening or capitalized on a weakness but it is clear that was the point of entry. You can see the little paw prints (ugh).

The roof contract clearly stipulated "replace rotted wood where necessary on soffits."

I've stayed home from work and took pictures of the whole process. It is has been fascinating. I thought they were doing a great job.

I noticed that they had not replaced the wood in the soffit area before new vinyl vented soffit was put up. I remarked to the crew chief about it and told him I was concerned because that was the area where the raccoon had entered. He said the roof needed the opening for ventilation (the new vinyl soffit is vented on this entire floor).

This doesn't make sense to me. If the roof needs ventilation, why install vented soffit over wood? Conversely, if you were going to leave wood and then install vented soffit over it, wouldn't you replace any missing wood to make a consistent barrier?

The salesman stopped by and complimented me on my choice of roofing materials (it was very expensive, heavy and beautiful and made for a slow installation). I expressed my concerns to him about the areas that were missing wood with the vinyl soffit placed over the gap and he said not to be concerned..."if they can go through wood they can go through anything..."

Anyway, I wrote to the owner of the company and expressed my concerns. The gutter installation folks came today and I told them not to do anything until I hear back from the owner (no use putting up gutters only to have to take them down to replace the rotted soffit wood). I emailed him, called and texted him today and haven't heard back... He has been very responsive up to this point.

My question is: am I being paranoid that they have cut corners in not replacing the wood in the soffits before putting up the new vented vinyl material? I want to make absolutely sure that there are not points of vulnerability where raccoon can enter the attic and start this mess all over again. I guess I'm concerned that since the crew was operating under the erroneous assumption that they installed a "free" roof on my garage, they may have cut corners in other areas to try to save costs.On the other hand, is it overkill to replace the wood and then cover it with new vented vinyl soffit? Does this compromise the attic ventilation?

Feedback, please? I'll try to attach some pictures of the areas of concern.

Thanks everyone!

Monica