Looking around their neighborhood, this homeowner noticed something strange.

Alex, a homeowner in Northwest Arkansas, recently noticed that some of the homes in their neighborhhod had gutters. But most of them didn't, including theirs. They came to the AskARoofer Experts for some insight into why, asking: 

I live in Northwest Arkansas and noticed recently that my home and most of the homes in my neighborhood do not have gutters. Do you know why this is? We get a decent amount of rain and some snow each year, so it seems relevant (and who likes to get drenched in water falling off the roof when you walk off your porch?) Does it maybe have to do with the fact that most of the homes in the area don't have basements and so we don't need to worry about moving water away from the foundation?

We had multiple experts offer some insights for Alex. This is what Katie Clymer with Armored Roofing had to say:

I can’t speak to Arkansas in general, but it could be that the area doesn’t have a lot of foundation issues and that is normally why gutters are installed; to keep water away from the foundation. Gutters are always a great idea, especially in areas where the soil is expansive and moves quite a bit or the weather goes to extremes of heat them cold. I would recommend speaking with a foundation company if you’re concerned about the water ponding around your home or speak with a local roofing company about installing a gutter system. 

It could also be that the home builder in your area just doesn’t install gutters because it’s something they don’t want to make a choice about. 

I hope this helps you answer your question.

Another one of our experts, Scott Edwards with Mammoth Roofing and Solar, also responded, sharing: 

Great question! Scott from Mammoth Roofing and Solar here... Most of our work is here in Texas, but we have licenses in some other states and in doing a little research, maybe this may help give some insight! The lack of gutters on homes in Northwest Arkansas can be due to a few key factors:

1. Soil and foundation considerations – Since many homes in the area don’t have basements, there’s generally less concern about water seeping down and causing foundation issues. Homes with basements or crawl spaces often require gutters to redirect water away and prevent flooding.
2. Clay-based soil – Northwest Arkansas has a lot of clay-heavy soil, which is less permeable and naturally directs water away from the foundation. In some cases, builders rely on grading (the slope of the yard) to control drainage instead of gutters.
3. Builder cost-saving measures – Many home builders opt not to install gutters as a way to reduce costs, assuming homeowners will add them later if needed.
4. Local building norms – In some areas, gutters are just not as commonly installed unless requested. However, as you mentioned, they can be very beneficial, especially in areas with steady rainfall and snowmelt.

If you’re noticing erosion, water pooling near your foundation or excessive splashback, adding gutters could be a great investment to protect your home and make rainy days a little more comfortable! Let me know if you have any questions — I’d be happy to help.

Continue the conversation in our Forum!

By Anna Lockhart.  

Roofing expert shares valuable insights on commercial roofing materials and their best applications. 

In a recent AskARoofer Minisode, Megan Ellsworth sat down with Katie Koetter Clymer, president of Armored Roofing, to discuss the pros and cons of various commercial roofing materials. The two dived into the most common materials building owners should know and their ideal applications.  

Some of the most common roofing materials seen on commercial buildings are single-ply membrane systems such as TPO and PVC. While many companies are backing away from hot-applied roofs, built up systems and gravel roofs are still commonly used as well. When it comes to the differences in protection these roofs offer, there are various factors to consider in order to decide which material will work best. Katie shared, “It depends on your deck, and what type of deck is on the building. So, we always want to do a sample of an existing roof to see what's there, what type of deck there is, how many layers of roofs, what kinds of roofs were there, so that we know what we're getting into.”  

She continued, “You start with the deck and then you go up to your installation. Does it need to be tapered or not tapered? Do you need to have a cover board or not? How are we going to fasten this system?” Answering these questions can help narrow down the best choices for your building’s roof and how a contractor might best go about installing that system.  

Katie shared that PVC systems are considered the best option for many restaurants as it is a cured product, making it the ideal solution where water and fat solubles are common issues. Building owners should know that most times, not every roof product is going to be a one-size-fits-all. To find the best roofing material for your building, Katie suggests looking into getting a roofing professional to stop by and do an in-person inspection.  

Read the transcript or Listen to the podcast episode to learn about commercial roofing materials and their best uses.  

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Katie Clymerr of Armored Roofing. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

Intro: Hello, everyone. My name is Megan Ellsworth. Welcome back to an AskARoofer mini-sode. I'm so excited. Today we have Katie here, and we're going to be talking about commercial roof materials explained. The 101 of commercial roofing.

Megan Ellsworth: So, hello, Katie, how are you?

Katie Clymer: I'm good. How are you, Megan?

Megan Ellsworth: I'm so good. Excited to see you and have you back on the pod. We've done so many of these recently.

Katie Clymer: Well, I'm glad to be back. I love RoofersCoffeeShop, so it's awesome to be here.

Megan Ellsworth: Yay. Thank you. So can you just tell us a little bit about you and your company, Armored Roofing and then we'll dive into the question?

Katie Clymer: Absolutely. My name is Katie Koetter Clymer. I am president of Armored Roofing company here in Wichita Falls, Texas. We have been in business for 69 years this year, and we have been in this location for, God, forever. I've been in the roofing business for 13 years now, and I'm on the board of RCAT, which is Roofing Contractors Association of Texas and I'm also a member of the National Women in Roofing.

Megan Ellsworth: Amazing. Excited to see you at RCAT coming up in September.

Katie Clymer: Yes, I'm so excited. We just had our summer retreat this last week, and it was awesome. We're recharged, ready to keep going. And we were just talking about the trade show coming up and how exciting it's going to be, and it's going to be jam-packed full of events.

Megan Ellsworth: Yay! Ooh, I'm looking forward to it.

Katie Clymer: Yeah.

Megan Ellsworth: Okay. So commercial roofs, they're big, they're daunting. What are the most common roofing materials that you see on a commercial roof?

Katie Clymer: So we are in Texas, of course, in southern United States. A lot of the materials that we see mainly are single-ply membrane systems, which is TPO, PVC roofs. We see built-up, we see EPDM.

Katie Clymer: A lot of companies are getting away from hot-applied roofs these days. We see some ballasted roofs, just depends how old the building is and if the roof has been updated to the current things and trends that are going on. But normally here we are seeing either... And there's also gravel as well, which is built up. We see gravel or we see TPO, or PVC. Those are kind of the main three that we see in this area.

Megan Ellsworth: Now, between those main three, what are the key differences protection-wise and also just makeup?

Katie Clymer: Yeah, so protection-wise, they offer different things. So the built-up has a hot asphalt ply with gravel, and then you've got your TPO, which has got some type of, I mean, they all have insulation underneath them. It also depends on your deck, and what type of deck is on the building. So we always want to do a sample of an existing roof to see what's there, what type of deck there is, how many layers of roofs, what kinds of roofs were there, so that we know what we're getting into. And at the same time we know what's going to work best for that deck on that roof. There's different options. And then you start from there. So you start with the deck and then you go up to your installation. Does it need to be tapered or not tapered? Do you need to have a cover board or not?

Katie Clymer: And then you kind of go into, "Okay, how are we going to fasten this system?" And that's mainly for our single-plys, single-ply systems. How are we going to fasten this system? Are we going to bond it? Are we going to fasten it, mechanically attached?

Katie Clymer: And then we go into what's going to work best for this. So PVC works best on restaurants, things that hold water or have fat solubles like exhaust fans. Because PVC is a cured product, whereas TPO is an uncured product and so it doesn't work that well on those type of businesses. So we would always stay away from TPO on restaurants especially, because they're going to have those exhaust fans with all of the grease coming off and that TPO is not going to hold up. We also don't really want to put a gravel roof on that either, because gravel's not going to keep it... It's not going to stay clean, it's not going to hold up to all of that that's going on. So it just depends on the type of building that they have.

Katie Clymer: If they have a lot of different penetrations, or curbs or things like that, then it may be something that we want to look at and see, okay, is this... Is A system better than B system? And it's not a one size fits all. And that's where we come in and we take a look.

Katie Clymer: We're not, so a lot of companies and I say a lot, but we have noticed that a good amount of companies don't actually go on site anymore to do inspections or [inaudible 00:04:52]. We are old school in that way.

Megan Ellsworth: Oh.

Katie Clymer: Yeah. They will do a digital view from Google Earth or whatever.

Megan Ellsworth: Got it.

Katie Clymer: Or any software company, that they can find that does those measurings for them. The downfall to those, is that you don't actually get to see what's there. You don't get to do a test, you don't get to see what the deck looks like. And sometimes it's misleading. The measurements are great.

Megan Ellsworth: I can imagine.

Katie Clymer: But the measurements are great, but sometimes it's misleading. And you get there and you're like, "Wow, I didn't see that on that." And so we are always going to go and see the actual building first before we give an estimate. Because there's things that you may not see on a report that you see when you get there and you're like, "Oh man, this is going to cost me a lot of money. I should really put eyes on it first." And that's an old school method, but don't knock it if it's still working, right? And it's kept us from making huge mistakes, and missing huge things that we wouldn't have seen otherwise if we hadn't gone there.

Katie Clymer: Sometimes that means we have to take a trip two and a half hours away. But it's worth it to see what we've put our eyes and hands on what we've got there.

Katie Clymer: It's fun to... I say fun, roofing's fun for me.

Megan Ellsworth: It's fun. It is fun.

Katie Clymer: It is fun. It is fun for me to still continue to learn different things every day. Just this morning I was learning. I was out on a roof an hour away, and I was sitting there and my guys were explaining something new. I was like, "You know what? I learned something new today." And I told them, I said, "Don't ever stop learning. Don't ever stop trying to learn. Because if you do, then what are you doing?"

Megan Ellsworth: Exactly.

Katie Clymer: So even with me in the position I'm in and being here for so long, I still learn every day and I still want to because I just don't see why not. I mean, if I want to learn everything there is to learn and still more. So that's the fun part about doing this.

Megan Ellsworth: Absolutely.

Katie Clymer: You got to make it fun somewhere, right?

Megan Ellsworth: I love that. Yeah, you have to make it fun. And I just love because also a home or building owner wants to hire someone that feels passionate about what they do, and passionate about protecting their property. So I love that.

Katie Clymer: Absolutely.

Megan Ellsworth: Exactly.

Katie Clymer: Yeah. I treat every property like it's mine.

Megan Ellsworth: As you should. I love that. And that's what every customer wants, right?

Megan Ellsworth: So any other factors building owners should consider when they're choosing their roofing material for a commercial property?

Katie Clymer: A lot of the times when we come into a property or a project, the architects have already chosen what type of materials they're going to use. They've specified that they're only wanting ABC companies. And then so I think the owner has a little bit of say in that, as far as what type of system they would like. But a lot of the single ply, I'll talk about the single ply, a lot of the single ply companies are, they're all pretty much even keel. There's not a big difference between one or the other. There's our personal favorites that we like to use, but then they all have the same type of products, the majority of them do.

Katie Clymer: So just really know your roofer. Make sure that your roofer is licensed, if your state has licensing. Find out if your state has licensing. Make sure that they have the insurance to cover if something should happen. Make sure that they have references, make sure that they have some credentials somewhere, something, whether it be with the city, with the state, with the BBB. Anywhere. See that they've been around for a while, and if you can visit their office.

Katie Clymer: Contact their office. Don't just contact a cell phone, but contact an office and see if you get an automated answering or you get an actual person or if you can talk to anybody on the phone through an office line. Those are just basic things that we try to push with commercial owners just to let them know, "Hey, we're here, but even if it's not us, it's going to help you. Here's some things to help you find the right fit for you."

Megan Ellsworth: Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, Katie, thank you so much.

Megan Ellsworth: Everyone out there in the Wichita Falls area go, please contact Armored Roofing if you're in need of any roof repairs or a new roof altogether, they will take care of you. And thanks everyone for listening.

Megan Ellsworth: Katie, I'll see you next time on the next mini-sode.

Outro: Awesome. Thank you so much, Megan.

By Adam Cabrera. 

With a legacy spanning nearly seven decades, Armored Roofing continues to raise the bar for excellence in the roofing industry. 

For the June 2024 Roofer of the Month podcast, we’re shining the spotlight on Armored Roofing based in Wichita Falls, Texas. Family owned and operated, the company has been in business since 1955 and now provides commercial and residential roofing services with a specialty in single ply membrane roof systems. In an interview with Armored Roofing’s president and owner Katie Clymer, podcast host Megan Ellsworth was able to learn more about the company’s leadership and what sets them apart from the rest.  

Though only recently appointed as president, Katie has a long history in roofing and with the family business. “I've been around roofing and Armored Roofing my whole life. I started working with Armored in 2011. In 2022 I became a managing partner and owner, and at the beginning of this year, I became president,” Katie said. “I am following in my father's footsteps.”  

Katie’s father previously owned and operated the company for 30 years and while family owned often means small, Armored Roofing is anything but that. Voluntarily licensed with the Roofing Contractors Association of Texas and licensed with the state of Oklahoma for commercial and residential roofing, Armored Roofing has an extensive service area and a list of credentials that lets customers know the service they receive is going to be high quality.  

“We have credentials like nobody's business, and there's a reason for that because we want people to trust us, trust that we know what we're doing,” Katie explains. “We are not going to go door to door and try to sell you a new roof. We don't cold call you to schedule an appointment. The things that some companies do are not what we do. We are here for the long haul.” 

Armored Roofing isn't just in the business of roofs; they're in the business of building lasting connections and leaving a positive impact on their community. With a legacy spanning nearly seven decades, Armored Roofing continues to set a standard of superior customer service and excellence in the roofing industry. 

Read the transcript or Listen to the podcast to learn more about Armored Roofing and what they are doing to stand out in the roofing industry.