Estimating Ice & Water Shield in Xactimate

For those of you who don't know what ice and water shield is, it is basically a wet suit for your roof.  Ice and water shield is a rubbery membrane that is placed around the perimeter of your roof and also in the roof valleys.  This product started getting popular about 7-8 years ago and it greatly improves a roofs water shedding capabilities.  Ice and water shield will also help prevent ice damming and is a great upgrade to consider adding to your home (if you don't already have it).

In fact, ice and water shield is becoming code in more counties around the United States every year.  When adjusting claims, it is important to know which areas enforce the ice and water shield building code.  Because if a homeowner's insurance policy has the option OL endorsement (ordinance and law) then there is allowance in your insurance policy for your adjuster to bring the damaged portions of the building up to today's building code standards.

As of now, counties who experience an average winter season temperature of 30 degrees Fahrenheit or less, require some sort of ice and water barrier.  But it is important to know that the area where your insurance claim is located in must enforce this building code!  Either the homeowner or the contractor need to provide this paper documentation of code enforcement before the insurance company will be willing to pay for it.

I know... Its a pain in the rear.  You may be asking "But it is code in the entire state, ice and water shield should be included anyway."  While that is true, and I agree 100%; your insurance company will require the town or county to provide some sort of physical documentation proving that this building code is enforced.  The reason for this is because some states will require it as building code, but they will do nothing to enforce it.  For example, when I was adjusting insurance claims in West Virginia, ice and water shield was code in the whole state.  However, nobody ever enforced it, so I was not able to include ice and water shield into any of the structures that did not already have it... :(

You can locate the ice and water shield line item in Xactimate as RFG IWS.



After sketching the roof in Xactimate you can easily calculate the measurements by using this basic formula "(VAL*3) + (P * 2)" this stands for "(Valley * 3) + (Perimeter * 2)".  Building code in most states require that ice and water shield must be installed 2 feet up the warm walls; and there must also be a 3' wide valley lining.  Hence the VAL * 3 variable.  This formula would suffice for a roof with no overhang.  For example, if the roof I am adjusting has a 12" overhang then the formula I would use would be (VAL*3) + (P * 3)   Because this roof has a 12" or 1' overhang, then I would change (P *2) to (P * 3).  If it were a 24" or 2' overhang, then it would be (P * 4).  This will give you the exact SF (square foot) measurement that will be used on the home.  If you want to get fancy and be even more accurate with your measurements; then you will need to use the Pythagorean theorem to calculate the exact amount of ice and water shield to be installed on the roof.

It is also important to note that many contractors are going to request 2 rolls of ice and water shield from you.  They will argue "I will need to purchase 2 rolls of this product due to the overhang being 24" long" (or something along those lines).  Ice and water shield used to be only sold in 3' wide rolls.  However, ice and water shield may now be purchased in 1' wide rolls as well.  There is a company called Grace Construction Products that sells 1' wide rolls called Grace Ice & Water Shield® Strips.  Feel free to direct these contractors to their website! 8-)