Bills for roof collapses still coming in [The Arizona Daily Sun, Flagstaff]
Feb. 3--Across Flagstaff, people in the business of managing properties, insuring them and fixing them have been slammed since the last month's monster snowstorm.
City officials said preliminary figures suggest the storm caused several million dollars in property damage for Flagstaff homes and businesses.
Roofer Jeff Leland is getting 20 to 25 phone calls from customers daily, he said, and he is clearing huge ice dams this week.
For Flagstaff Insurance, claims to date total about $250,000 on four commercial buildings, including about $150,000 at The Lite Company on Fourth Street, said insurance business owner Wes Thew.
It cost $25,000 to shovel snow from the roofs of the Fort Valley Plaza that includes Bashas' on Humphreys Street.
For Pollock Properties, 27 out of the 366 rental units they manage had some damage, or a little more than 7 percent.
OUTSIDE CREWS AT WALMART
Days after the storm, crews from a Colorado-based company were on the roofs of the local Sam's Club and Walmart clearing snow.
Anna Taylor, a spokeswoman for the retailer, said it is company policy to work with a select group of contractors after major storms instead of turning to local contractors.
"WalMart has relationships with local and national suppliers that provide numerous services to our stores and clubs," Taylor said. "In the instance of snow removal, we work with companies that specialize not only in snow removal but also in commercial roof maintenance."
DEALERSHIPS DIFFER
For the Planet Nissan dealership, owner Scott Baugh got two quotes for clearing snow off his roof at the Flagstaff Auto Mall: $20,000 and $9,000.
Concerned about why the two estimates were so different, Baugh climbed up on the roof himself the morning after the roofs at Bookmans and the Jay Lively ice rink collapsed.
Finding less than six inches of snow on the roof, Baugh and a few employees cleared the roof off instead of paying a contractor.
Next door, the general manager of Findlay Toyota said he spent roughly $2,500 to get crews on his roof immediately after the storm.
Robby Findlay said the amount was significantly less than the $8,000 he paid for the same job following the collapses of Hastings bookstore and a Quiznos restaurant slightly more than a year ago.
Lori Pappas with Flagstaff Mall said several mall employees as well as more than a dozen temporary workers spent more than a day shoveling snow from the Flagstaff Mall roof.
SHOVELING FOR NAUGHT
The owners of the Fourth Street Professional Building were removing snow even as it was falling, with people and snowblowers on the roof on Thursday, Jan. 21. When snow turned to rain that night, the building was damaged anyhow, even though they had much of the snow removed.
"I went to the (building) Friday morning to find about 4,000 square feet of office space flooded, affecting eight tenants," said one of the owners, Jeff Oravits. "I estimate our total damage at over $50,000 and still counting."
Their insurers told them they were so busy examining damage from storms elsewhere that it would be a week or two before they made it to Flagstaff; they told him to do whatever he could to keep things from worsening in the meantime.
"It may be time to require much stronger construction for flat roofs in Flagstaff on new construction or require pitched roofs," Oravits said. "I wonder what would happen if we got a storm like we did in 1967."
That storm dumped 84 inches of snow on Flagstaff in eight days. The storm on Jan 18-22, 2010, totaled 54 inches of snow plus about 2 inches of rain.
MORE ADJUSTERS DUE
David Turner, of Farmer's Insurance, said the calls had slowed in the beginning of this week.
"You're still getting people calling in about water running down their walls," he said, but he had no roofs collapse.
He's expecting at least $25,000 or $30,000 in expenses for 10 residential claims and one commercial claim.
Allstate Insurance was bringing more insurance adjusters into the state to handle claims, and said collapsed sheds and carports were the most common problems here.
Thew, of Flagstaff Insurance, noticed one commonality in what cracked and what didn't: Roof slope.
"We didn't have a single problem with a sloped roof. All of our problems were with flat roofs. That should be an eye-opener," he said.
ICE DAMS PERSIST
Leland, the roofer, curses the new battle: "Ice dams," he said. "A foot thick and at least a foot and a half, 2 feet back. I mean, these things weigh 80 pounds."
Costs for clearing them from a home run $200 to $450, he said.
He recommends homeowners clear their roofs whenever they have more than 12 inches of snow, and use heat tape and an ice/water shield that is like rubberized paper.
Beau Sims, lead repair technician at The Lite Company on Fourth Street, arrived to work one day to see about 20 trusses cracked, and some of his hanging lamps closer to the floor as the roof bowed.
"It looks like we're going to need a whole new roof," he said.
Employees moved the store's high-end furniture and lamps out of the way, and into storage.
The snow had drifted up to 7 feet in some places on the roof.
So 25 or 30 people shoveled the roof for three days, after which the snow was moved from the alley by heavy machine.
The business rents its space.
"We've had a lot of people drive by, just random people, expressing their condolences and wishing the best," Sims said.
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