The Washington Post - 14.03.2020

THE WASHINGTON POST

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SATURDAy, MARCH 14, 2020

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solution and b onds to the s teel n ails.

Mechanical g alvanizing happens when

steel nails are tumbled in a large drum with

zinc d ust, g lass b eads and a chemical. The

zinc d ust is h ammered onto the s teel nails.

My o wn asphalt s hingle roof had n ails that

had one o f these two galvanizing processes

and many of t hem had r usted after just 10

years.

When I was doing research for “ Roofing

Ripoff,” I discovered copper i ons bond w ith

sun-damaged asphalt molecules. When t he

copper locks onto the asphalt, t he asphalt

molecules are unable t o bond t o nearby

ones. This keeps t he a sphalt supple for

many years, preventing the s hingles from

curling and losing ceramic g ranules.

I recommend a pplying a thin 1 2-inch-

wide copper strip up a t the t op of the roof

that’s blind nailed on new roof

installations. The ultraviolet r ays of t he sun

split off copper i ons a nd t hese a re washed

down the r oof w ith e ach rainfall, where

they grab o nto the a sphalt. Install

affordable t hin copper rolls on e ach s ide o f

your roof and i t’s quite possible your new

asphalt s hingles can last 40 or more y ears,

like they used to. Check out “ Roofing

Ripoff ” f or photos a nd more d etails.

Subscribe to Tim’s free newsletter and listen to

his new podcasts. Go to http://www.AsktheBuilder.com.

make s ure this is the l ast asphalt s hingle

roof I install?

— Maria P., Kalamazoo, Mich.

A: More homeowners l ike you are

replacing t heir asphalt roofs faster t han

they should have to. I was o ne myself. My

asphalt s hingle roof was supposed to last

30 years, but s tarted to fail i n just nine

years or so.

I was so upset that I wrote a book about

why asphalt shingles disintegrated m uch

faster than the shingles I used t o install

decades a go. My b ook, “ Roofing Ripoff,”

addresses the i ssue.

There are big differences in g alvanized

nails. The best ones are hot-dipped

galvanized n ails. B etter yet are ones t hat

are double dipped. In t his process, r egular

steel roofing n ails are dropped into a vat o f

molten z inc. T he nails are immediately

heated u p by t he searing m olten zinc a nd

this c reates a steel/zinc a lloy. T he zinc

coating i s relatively t hick, and it protects

the nails from rusting.

The other methods of galvanizing nails

are mechanical and chemical. T hese two

methods also attach z inc to the steel nail,

but the coating can be q uite thin. Chemical

galvanizing happens when the steel nails

are put into a vat c ontaining a zinc-based

chemical s olution. Electricity i s sent into

the vat a nd the zinc is pulled out o f the

idea? That’s a ll the conduit would have c ost

when the h ouse was b uilt.

I'm a huge fan of p utting all

underground cables and wires inside

conduit. I'm an e ven bigger fan of p utting

these in t renches d eeper than t he National

Electrical C ode minimum depth. Ta ke t his

one step further, I’m a monster fan o f

taking p hotos of the open t renches after

the conduit is installed and v isible. Shoot

photos from many angles s howing future

homeowners where t he conduits and

cables are buried. I print o ut these photos,

put them in a waterproof plastic bag and

tape t he bag to the e lectric panel for

safekeeping.

If you're not a fan o f using conduit, y ou

may change your m ind w hen t hat gardener

in your f amily pierces a buried c able while

digging a hole for t hat new bush or tree.

With t hat in mind, it's a really g ood i dea to

think about w here landscaping might be in

your yard. You may want to route

underground cables a nd wires away f rom

these digging zones of d eath.

Q: It’s t ime f or a new roof o n my h ouse. I’m

going to install asphalt shingles. I decided

to read the installation i nstructions before

talking with roofers. Galvanized r oofing

nails are required. Are there different types

of galvanized nails, and i s one better than

the other? Is t here anything I can do to

Q: Tim, what a re your

thoughts on burying

electric and cable TV l ines?

I can buy approved cable

and wire t hat’s rated for

direct b urial, saving t he cost

of installing it in c onduit. What would you

do a nd why?

— Glenn A ., Columbia, S .C.

A: I didn't build the home I l ive i n. It h as

lots of u nderground b uried cable. L ast

spring all of a sudden o ne of my c ircuit

breakers started tripping, indicating a dead

short.

I traced the cause o f the d ead short to a

small place where a buried cable passed

through a plastic conduit that w as installed

under my d riveway. T he cable was rated for

direct b urial, but the a nnual frost h eave i n

the soil here i n New Hampshire had caused

the cable to rub on t he sharp c ut edge at t he

end of t he c onduit. Eventually the up and

down movement severed the i nsulation

and t he b are wires s horted out in the s oil.

Had the c able b een buried i n conduit all

the way from the h ouse up to the post lamp

at t he end o f my d rive, I would not h ave had

to w aste a day replacing the c able and

installing 70 feet o f new conduit. I was

shaking my h ead t he e ntire t ime digging

the new trench. How could the electrician

or b uilder think saving $30 was a good

Conduit (in deep trenches) is your best friend for buried cable

Ask the

Builder

TIM CARTER

DIY

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