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Insurance Won’t Save You: Smarter Roof Strategy for Real Estate Investors

By February 25, 2026Texas Real Estate Pros

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Show Summary

In this conversation, Mike Smith, owner of Roof Rejuvenators of Southeast Texas, discusses the importance of roof rejuvenation, the factors affecting roof lifespan, and the benefits of maintaining roofs in Texas. He explains how modern roofing materials have changed, leading to shorter lifespans, and emphasizes the need for proactive maintenance. The discussion also covers the role of insurance in roof care and the impact of weather conditions on roofing materials. Mike shares insights into the commercial applications of roof rejuvenation and how it can benefit property investors.

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    Investor Fuel Show Transcript:

    Mike Smith (00:00)
    insurance companies have a due diligence to make money. They’re a corporation. They’re looking for every reason not to pay a claim. You get a wreck in a car, they’re looking for every reason to put a used, you know, used parts on your car versus new parts because

    You know, you’re a number on a sheet. You’re not their mom. You’re not their sister. You’re not their cousin or their son. Like you’re just another number and they’re going to try to get through as cheap as they can so that they can show the profits that they need to show. You own that house. You want to be able to do what’s right for your house to protect your home, protect your family and you live there.

    Dylan Silver (02:10)
    Hey folks, welcome back to the show. Today’s guest, Mike Smith, is the owner of Roof Rejuvenators of Southeast Texas. You can find him online at rrsetx.com or on Facebook or TikTok as well. Mike, thank you for taking the time today.

    Mike Smith (02:26)
    Thank you, Dylan. Man, I really appreciate you very much.

    Dylan Silver (02:29)
    Absolutely. Now, this is going to be a different podcast for me because we’re going to be talking specifically about ⁓ roofs and enabling them to really have the longest lifespan because in Texas, that’s a big deal. It’s one of the biggest rehab ⁓ figures that people take in when they’re investing or when they’re owning a home,

    Mike Smith (02:49)
    Yes. Yes. So one of the things we’ve been trying to do is gain a little bit more popularity or a better understanding. There’s some companies that have some good products, companies that have some bad products on the roof rejuvenation topic. I’ve been doing this since January of 2023. What I’ve learned in my years of experience and nobody really wants to talk about a roof. There’s a lot more interesting things sometimes, but

    you know, around 1995 to 2005 roofs were built with a lot better quality than what we have today. And you could buy a roof and you would get pretty close to 30 years of life out of it. And up until today’s time, you would buy a roof and it would be classified as a 30 year roof. And then you have a problem with your roof and a roofer comes and looks at it and it’s like, Hey, your roof’s bad. And you’re like, okay, roof’s bad, replace it. There hasn’t been a lot of conversation about how old was the roof? How long did it last?

    Dylan Silver (03:26)
    Yeah.

    Mike Smith (03:48)
    And what I’m seeing today, because I’m asking a lot of questions, how long have you had your house? How old is your roof? You know, how long do you plan on living in your home? Let’s come up with the right product for what you’re doing. ⁓ I’ve come across roofs, 12 years old, 13 years old, and they’re just absolutely smoked. 50 % of the rock is missing. But if a roofer comes and knocks on your door, he’s not asking those questions. Hey, your roof’s bad? Yeah, here, let me give you a quote. You need a roof. Like no questions asked. They don’t want to dig into it.

    Dylan Silver (04:18)
    I’d like to ask you a specific question about this lifespan. Why, I mean, this seems like a very important thing and a 30 year mortgage, you want to have a roof, right? Why are these roofs not lasting as well?

    Mike Smith (04:21)
    Yes.

    Yeah.

    Well, you know, years ago, the shingles were thicker. There was more tar. There was more material in the end of the shingle itself that would help hold it together over time. Because they’re using less material within the shingle, the sun dries it out faster. So, ⁓ you know, the asphalt shingle has ⁓ fiberglass in it, a little bit of tar. The tar helps hold the rock on. The sun, the heat, everything beats that tar down real fast.

    And then as it loses the rock on the top of it, once it starts popping off, the rock protects the tar from the sunlight and UV rays get into the shingle. Then as soon as it can get to it, it starts degrading even faster. It dries it out quicker. The oil is able to evaporate out of it faster. so the first rejuvenation products that come out was originally designed around the design of treating your asphalt roads.

    Asphalt roads, asphalt shingles, it still has a similarity there. So keep that tar hydrated, keep it tacky, it’ll help hold the rock on it. But that oily environment also, ⁓ with it rehydrated, it creates an environment where the algae won’t grow. ⁓ East side of Texas, humidity, moisture, rain, everything that we get, the black algae streaking is really, really popular in our climate.

    Dylan Silver (06:14)
    Right.

    Mike Smith (06:39)
    And this isn’t just a Texas thing. This is all across the United States, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, up the East Coast. The service has really gained a lot of popularity in the Northern part of the United States. There’s dealers in Canada, even in Alaska. But as the shingles dry out, it allows that algae to start forming. Everybody knows to clean your roof. Shingle manufacturers approve it. You can hit it with bleach.

    Dylan Silver (07:01)
    Right.

    Mike Smith (07:07)
    and the bleach you got to it a little strong. You run the risk of messing with your vinyl siding, killing landscape. ⁓ I’ve went and given quotes to people for the rejuvenation and they just had someone come in and do a soft wash and they’d lost $20,000 in landscaping because the bleach killed everything. ⁓

    Dylan Silver (07:27)
    that’s a hazard, right? I would

    like to ask you specifically about when the right time to do this is. So, I mean, if we’re talking like almost half, right, the lifespan of these newer roofs, right, people might think, well, gosh, if I’m getting a new home, you know, maybe this is something I just punt, you know, to 15 years down the line, or maybe this is something I handle like right now. When is the right time to look at, you know, protecting your roof? Is it when you…

    Mike Smith (07:48)
    Yeah.

    Dylan Silver (07:53)
    get the roof? it when it’s brand new? Do you apply some type of protective to it then? Or is it maybe a couple years down the line when you notice some wear?

    Mike Smith (08:00)
    That’s really, really good question. So the theory is that we’re trying to restore the oils and the shingles and bring it back to like it was when it’s new. We’re not putting a seal or a coating that’s gonna block moisture from getting into it. We’re trying to restore to the natural waterproofing aspects and what the shingle was made for. So ⁓ right around five years to 10 years is a perfect window to do a treatment. ⁓

    Of course, we do the inspection and we look at it. And I have not found a roof that’s old or younger than 10 years old that I was not able to treat. But I have seen them in that 12 to 13 year margin that they had already lost so much rock that it was, I couldn’t really put a warranty on it. I could guarantee that I was gonna add some life to it, but we did put a full five year warranty on it. It’s not pro rated like some of the competitors.

    Dylan Silver (08:50)
    Now, when people are talking specifically about, know, do I get a whole new roof? Do I do some type of roof rejuvenation? Is rock loss? That’s the biggest factor is, hey, how much has already deteriorated? And is it not so much like necessarily even the age of the roof?

    Mike Smith (09:08)
    The rock loss is one of the biggest qualifiers on doing the rejuvenation. Like I say, the rock is what keeps the sun from being able to dry the oils out of the shingles. It protects it from the sunlight. Insurance companies, and this is a part of my model, ⁓ I’m trying to help you make that roof last as long as I can, help you maintain the insurance. I can’t control what the insurance does, but we all know that insurance is looking for rock loss. ⁓

    And then some of them are actually looking at the black algae. If they see too much black algae, if they see too much rock loss, those are automatic, you know, situations there where they’re going to say, your roof’s bad, you need to replace it. And once they say that, you get a letter, you’ve got too much rock loss, you really can’t hardly fight them to get them to turn around and say, okay, well, you can keep that roof.

    Dylan Silver (10:34)
    So I’m thinking for most people, if they are financed their home, they’re going to have some type of homeowners insurance on the home. it’s is this something that typically people are coming out of pocket for is insurance covering roof rejuvenation?

    Mike Smith (10:40)
    Yeah.

    And okay, I like how you asked that question too. Insurance doesn’t want to maintain your house. They’re warrant or guaranteeing or protecting you from a storm, from damage. A tree falls through the roof. And at the early part of the life expectancy of your roof, know, they’re going to do full, you know, replacement cost value. And once it gets to where it’s aged and showing signs of wear, or they might go off of a time stamp, then they go off like a pro rate of the actual cash value.

    If your roof’s in really good condition and they’re inspecting the roof, then you’re going to get more of a replacement cost whenever work has to take place. But let’s look at the warranty on the truck that you drive. You driving down the road is extended warranty, going to put an engine in your truck if you don’t maintain it. And I really don’t think it’s fair that we need to maintain a roof in today’s time, but…

    all the shingle manufacturers, everybody has gone to a lower quality shingle. There’s less material. helps. I don’t know if it’s environmental reasons that they’re going to these lower quality shingles. I don’t know if it’s that they’re looking hard at transportation costs, moving these shingles all over the United States, fuel costs, weight limits. But the truth is this is where we’re at. And now we have technology to help make your roof last longer. ⁓ Part of my mission,

    is being able to do this service and help lower the cost of owning a home. So whether you’re a real estate investor or you’re a homeowner, the rejuvenation product normally runs somewhere around 20, 25 % of what a new roof cost. If we can extend the life of your roof at that low of a cost and put a five-year warranty on it, where you was going to get 15-ish years on what we call a 30-year roof,

    You know, I’m truly giving you a product and a service that’s going to lower the cost of owning a home, whether it’s a rental or whether you’re living there yourself.

    Dylan Silver (12:48)
    Now, I’m sure there’s some folks who are saying, well, I’ll just wait till there’s severe damage on the roof and then I’ll get covered through insurance. Does that actually happen? And then what would you say to those folks?

    Mike Smith (13:00)
    There again, that was…

    I haven’t been through too many insurance claims or enough of them to really put a lot of, know, data and stuff in there. So I’m not the, the professional that can really state much in that area, but

    Dylan Silver (13:09)
    Okay, fair enough.

    Mike Smith (13:18)
    insurance companies have a due diligence to make money. They’re a corporation. They’re looking for every reason not to pay a claim. You get a wreck in a car, they’re looking for every reason to put a used, you know, used parts on your car versus new parts because

    You know, you’re a number on a sheet. You’re not their mom. You’re not their sister. You’re not their cousin or their son. Like you’re just another number and they’re going to try to get through as cheap as they can so that they can show the profits that they need to show. You own that house. You want to be able to do what’s right for your house to protect your home, protect your family and you live there.

    you know, even if y’all kind of doubt, you know, what I do or how my product is, I suggest look

    doing some research. You don’t have to just take my word for

    Dylan Silver (14:06)
    I would like to ask you specifically about some of the inclement weather that we experience in Texas. You know, when it comes to hail or heavy rain and then, you know, varying temperatures from scorching hot to potentially even snow in some parts of Texas, right? What effect does that have on a roof versus some other climates? Like, for instance, would a Texas roof potentially last shorter than roofs in some other markets because of

    Mike Smith (14:12)
    yeah.

    Yes.

    Okay, so the manufacturer that we’re using ⁓ uses PRI, Asphalt Technologies. It’s a company in Florida, third party lab testing to test the product. Now, some of the other shingle or roof rejuvenation companies out there, they’re taking age shingles, treating them and then running them straight through a test. ⁓ Roof Rejuvenate USA is the manufacturer that I’m with and…

    We’re actually taking the shingles, putting them under heat lamps, running them under large vats of water, trying to force a five year age process into a shorter period of time. And then we do different types of testing to prove how well the product’s working. ⁓ They actually take steel balls and impel them at the shingles at, you know, controlled speeds to try to see how much rock beats off the shingles, simulating a hell storm. ⁓

    Dylan Silver (15:28)
    Right.

    Mike Smith (16:11)
    they’re measuring the rock loss in the large volumes of water being washed over the shingles. And the lab testing is phenomenal. It’s coming out really good. So after the five year accelerated where after doing a treatment, they’re showing 53 % less granular rock loss. And we can’t guarantee zero rock is going to fall off the shingle, but we’re cooking it in heat lamps and running large volumes of water over the shingles.

    Dylan Silver (16:30)
    Sure, sure.

    Mike Smith (16:37)
    and we’ve reduced the amount of rock loss compared to untreated 15 year old shingles. And the improvement is 53%, you know, 53 % less rock loss, 23 or 24 % tear resistance. So the shingle actually being able to tear, it takes more energy to tear them. What else?

    Dylan Silver (16:59)
    I would like

    to ask you specifically about the use case for this in the commercial space, maybe in multifamily. I know that there’s a lot of multifamily investors who may be looking at raising capital and doing like a five or sometimes ⁓ faster exit. So a turnaround in these deals. I’m thinking, you know, a roof is going to be one of the most important things. Nat, are you seeing a lot of ⁓ utilization of this in the commercial space or in the multifamily space?

    Mike Smith (17:20)
    yeah.

    In my territory where I’m at, I haven’t done any large multi-unit properties, but the other dealers in our network, I’ve got tons of video footage that’s shared within the dealer network. We’re doing condos, we’re doing big massive apartment complexes, assisted living facilities. We’ve got some pretty good video footage in it. There was one, they recorded almost the whole ⁓ job of doing like a four story big apartment complex in Canada. So that was a…

    I watched a lot of that footage. That was pretty exciting to see how that takes place.

    Dylan Silver (18:00)
    Yeah, you know,

    when we talk specifically about the standpoint of the investor, whether it’s a single family home duplex or a quadplex or, you know, 50 units, 100 units, you’re wanting to protect your asset, right? And not just that, but if there’s issues, then that tends to compound, especially when you’re dealing with, you know, volume. And so I can imagine that investors would be highly interested in

    Mike Smith (18:17)
    .

    Dylan Silver (18:26)
    You know, being able to extend the lifespan of their roof without having to replace it. It’s really a win-win. Now, we are coming up on time here though, Mike. ⁓ Any new projects that you’re working on and then as well, what’s the best way for folks to get in contact with you or your team?

    Mike Smith (18:32)
    Yeah.

    ⁓ New projects, we’ve been just staying pretty steady with the roof rejuvenation. ⁓ I am helping get new dealers on board with the manufacturer and getting signed up for this. If you already have a roofing company or something like that, then this really complements where you’re at offering an additional service. But if you want to get in touch with me, get on my website, RR for Roof Rejuvenators, SETX for Southeast Texas. So rrsetx.com.

    ⁓ all my contact information’s on there and I look forward to talking to you. I help you out anyway.

    Dylan Silver (19:13)
    Mike,

    thank you so much for coming on the show today. Thank you for your time.

    Mike Smith (19:17)
    Thank you, Dylan. Appreciate you very much.

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