Roofer Madness

El Nino may be good for a roofer’s business but it can be hard on the conscience.

“People are calling and their ceilings are falling in and their carpet is being ruined and their walls are getting wet,” said Steve Radenbaugh, owner of Bilt-Well Roofing. “You can’t just sit around your house on Sunday while these people’s roofs fall in. They need your help.”

Local building contractors and roofers report a backlog of three weeks or more. Repair requests are running at twice the pace of last year.

As a result, many owners of homes and businesses already battered by El Nino-driven rains will have to make it through some coming storms with plastic sheets, bright blue tarps and buckets of do-it-yourself roof patch.

Bob McConihay, owner of Construction Forensics in Newbury Park said: “The El Nino damage that has already happened is a fraction compared to what people will notice in the coming months.”

Since Los Angeles County was declared a federal disaster area by President Clinton last Thursday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has registered 6,574 requests for assistance.

More than $7.5 million for temporary housing and emergency home repairs has been distributed statewide.

Roof salesman Hugh Jeffries said the storms are fraying nerves as well. “Out of 1,000 calls that we get, I’d say 300 of them don’t just need repairs,” he said, “they need therapy.”

When the cost of this storm season is tallied, much of it will be incremental damage: leaky roofs, rotting drywall, ruined flooring and water-damaged furniture. Los Angeles building and safety inspector David Keim said his office is seeing a huge increase in reports of water damage to homes and businesses. Rainfall troubles, he said, are coming at people from all directions.

“It has ruined interior walls, made electrical wiring unsafe, caused damage to wood studs, damage to carpet, erosion problems in homes and offices where dirt up against the foundation has washed away,” Keim said.

Estelle Dvorin of Woodland Hills said she didn’t take El Nino predictions seriously--not until pounding rains last week created a leak in her bedroom closet.

“The rain just roared, and I said to myself: ‘This isn’t the usual rain I know,’ ” said Dvorin, who has lived her house for 30 years.

But she was lucky. Joe Caponetta, of Caponetta Construction in Canoga Park, checked her roof the day she called, and he was able to patch the leak.

“I really feared the whole ceiling would come down and we’d be facing a small disaster,” Dvorin said. Replacing the entire roof will now wait until spring, with Dvorin keeping her fingers crossed that more water doesn’t find its way inside.

Don Klug of Mackey Construction Inc. in Northridge said that even people who thought they were prepared for El Nino-related storms are finding that sometimes a good roof is not enough.

“Heavy winds are forcing the water through the walls and windows,” Klug said. “Even the best of roofs are going to have some failure when you have high winds and abnormal amounts of rain.”

Some of the shock comes after the roof repairman arrives.

New roofs start at about $3,000. Cracked foundations, a problem caused by Southern California’s expansive soils, can cost a homeowner $10,000 or more. Much storm-related damage is not covered by homeowner’s insurance.

Shirley Looper of Eagle Rock is just glad that she planned ahead.

Looper got on a list for a new roof in November, and then waited more than 10 weeks for her turn. She caught leaks with buckets and pans until her new roof was completed just before the February rains began.

“I would have panicked if I didn’t know they were coming,” said Looper, who has lived in Eagle Rock for 66 years. “Now I can sit back and say, ‘OK, Mother Nature, do your thing.’ I won’t have to get my rowboat out after all.”