Overview

Roof Tec provides innovative roofing solutions in Washington, USA, serving the Pacific Northwest region roof installation, drone moss treatment, roof repair, gutter cleaning, and roof cleaning. Roof Tec has been operating for over 5 years, setting the highest standards of service and quality.

Roof Tec works with the latest technology to ensure safe, efficient, and cost-effective services. In addition to typical roofing services, Roof Tec now utilizes the Helium Network to monitor roof and attic conditions across Washington state to reduce repair costs to clients and protect installations.

Challenge

For most Americans, our homes represent our largest financial asset. Despite this, our homes are one of the only financial assets that are not actively monitored. We monitor our 401k's, we monitor our cars, and we even monitor our screen time. But when it comes to our home, we assume all is well. Roof Tec exists to not only provide a superior roofing system but to also monitor the adjacent systems that could jeopardize the overall performance and value of your largest financial asset. To ensure customer homes are performing at the highest levels, Roof Tec focuses on three primary conditions that lead to premature failures of a roofing system:

• Tree branch impacts: The Pacific Northwest is known for its redwoods and towering evergreens. Unfortunately during wind storms, these trees can release branches, sailing at terminal velocity into nearby homes. A majority of these impacts go on unnoticed until a leak is spotted and by then, there's already thousands of dollars in water damage.

• Poor attic ventilation: Improper attic ventilation can cause moisture to accumulate in the attic, leading to mold and mildew growth. This often goes undetected for long periods of time. Roof Tec operates in remote areas of Washington with little to no cellular coverage available.

Results Snapshot

• $40,000 Replacement Cost Prevented for Client in Washington.

• Immediate Detection of High-Humidity Conditions.

• Immediate Detection of Storm Damage.

• Enhanced Customer Service.

Solution

To provide additional prevention services for roof-damaging conditions, Roof Tec needed access to real-time data. With limited options for cellular connectivity, Roof Tec began to look for alternatives. Roof Tec initially worked with Verizon Wireless but high data costs and limited network coverage led them to look elsewhere. After weighing alternative networks, Roof Tec eventually settled on the Helium Network to provide coverage for LoRaWAN sensors.

Roof Tec developed a solution utilizing Dragino temperature and humidity sensors and MyDevices dashboards for data management and alerting. These solutions are used to monitor client roof installations, detect events such as leaks or ventilation changes, and protect against storm damage.

“It’s such an obvious thing for us, T-Mobile and Verizon coverage is awful, we basically work in the rainforest. With Helium, we’re getting readings in places where the trees are 200 ft tall.”

—Andrew, Roof Tec

Results

In 2021, shortly after Roof Tec implemented smart roof monitoring using Helium, a hometowner approached the companyName about the buildup of mold in their attic. During inspection, Roof Tec determined that their bathroom shower vent fan was disconnected inside the attic and was blowing humid air into their attic for an unknown period of time. This humidity allowed mold to grow which eventually overtook the entire attic, resulting in a need for roof and insulation replacement. Rooftec sent a quote for replacement of the roof and plywood, and another contractor was responsible for replacing the insulation, all of which was contaminated with mold.

Along with the new roof, Roof Tec installed a humidity sensor next to the bathroom attic fan with alerting for real-time detection of humidity events in case the fan was disconnected again.

Just days later, a 99% humidity alert was received, and Roof Tec was able to quickly send a roofer to investigate. The roofer found that the insulation contractor inadvertently had disconnected the vent duct on their way out of the attic, thereby disconnecting the fan again, and recreating the exact conditions that caused the mold in the previous roof.

Roof Tec reconnected the fan and saved the customer from having to replace their roof and attic again. If undetected, this would have resulted in a $40,000 replacement scenario in the coming years, prevented with Roof Tec’s early detection.

With Helium, Roof Tec is able to provide long-range LoRaWAN coverage and solutions in rural communities deep into the Cascade Mountains where there is little to no coverage from MNOs and providers like AT&T and Verizon.

Real-time monitoring and alerting of humidity events allows Roof Tec to differentiate it's services, with superior mold and mildew prevention.

What's next?

Roof Tec plans to expand these smart roofing solutions to additional geographies by creating an out-of-the-box solution that can be utilized by roofing companies across North America.

“The value of Helium is the ability to monitor our roofs [in very remote areas] and give our customers peace of mind. My analogy is, nobody switches from AT&T to Verizon because of the stock price. They switch for better coverage.”

—Andrew, Roof Tec