Beginning to shop for a new roof and looking for recommendations on shingles. Currently have architectural shingles but don't know the manufacturer (they were on the house when we bought). Ideally want a good architectural that will stand up to heavy rains/wind. We live in Virginia so its warmer than in PA. Also been contemplating a metal roof but it may be cost prohibitive. My estimate of roof size is 4000-4300 sq ft with the unheated attached garage probably 25% of that. I'm sure when I start speaking with local roofers they tell me more precisely the size. Fair amount of ridges and valleys. We are a single level which contributes to the roof size, if that matters. I'll hang up and listen. Thanks in advance.
OT: Any roofers out there?
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Roof pitch I know...7/12. I remember that from our home inspection. The house is only 23 yrs old. From the looks of the shingles they are original. We knew a new roof would be one of our first large undertakings after moving in.
Yep, they are probably original to the house. Get them stripped (don't shingle over) and get a good 30 year architectural shingle. Shingles actually last their warranty period if properly installed.
That actually is a nice pitch to stand on and shouldn't drive the price up. It doesn't kill your back bending over and you don't need kickers all the way up the roof. I've been out of the business side of things for years and have no idea what a good price per square would be for a tear off in my state or yours. I did my own a few years ago and it kicked my butt! One thing to consider is if you're getting bids is that they are apples to apples. Is there any chimneys or dormers to flash, are they going to use new flashing? etc. I'd also recommend ice and water barrier be laid on all valleys under the shingles, new drip edge, and a good ridge vent and not the old aluminum 8 ft junk.
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Why not shingle over? If the code allows it and it is cheaper and no previous roof concerns, why not?
Thanks Nitt, I've been involved in at least 5 roof projects on our farm...including my own...very good advice.
I would suggest looking at the weather reports over the last several years and seeing if at anytime there has been hail in your area and I bet there was. I would then contact your insurance company and tell them you think you have have hail damage to your roof due to the conditions of your shingles and ask them to get an assessment. They will usually have a roofing company do it along with an inspector - there is a good chance they will find damage and the insurance company will pay for a new roof and not apply a deductible- got mine for free about 5 years ago that way.
You're correct on that but if not they pro rate the warranty off off the new ones they want you to buy.
code does allow it- I've just never considered it best practice
for one thing, you don't get many chances to make sure your roof decking is in good shape, you also get to replace flashing which is as old as the old shingles were
I've torn off a roof that had 3 layers over cedar shakes. They come off in 3"x3" pieces. Horrible. That's why guys over bid old tear offs.
My roofer is 300/sq tear off reinstalled and 30 a sq wind and water You can go with a synthetic felt now like Tiger Paw for about $15 a square
I got these installed by a certified GAF installer for around $400 per square. That was all in, removal, disposal, install all new drip edge, flashing, pipe flashing, vents, ridge vent, underlayment, ice shield — all top of the line GAF products. I had other quotes 5-20% higher.
https://www.gaf.com/en-us/products/timberline-hdz-shingles
https://www.gaf.com/en-us/products/timberline-hdz-shingles
There are quite a few things to consider, almost too much to explain in a post like this. I'll cover some of it for you.
In my area I charge $290/sq for a single story, one layer tear off. This covers only labor and materials. No disposal, permits, or any damaged/rotten sheathing underneath.
My area has really cold winters so Ice dam protection is required 24" past inside wall of the dwelling. If your area doesn't require it, it may be cheaper.
This also covers only standard architectural shingles. I recommend Owens Corning Duration myself, but have and will install any brand of equal pricing.
If you can afford it though, I recommend using one of the Class 4 rated shingles. Malarkey Legacy, Duration Flex, etc. They are thicker and will not only last longer, they withstand higher winds and impacts.
Also, if you don't already have a company picked out, contact your local Shingle/Siding wholesale companies and ask for some references. In my experience they know and prefer to deal with contractors who know what they are doing.
Hope this helps a little.
Edit: Duration carries a 130 MPH wind warranty. After reading your post again I thought this may be worth adding.
In my area I charge $290/sq for a single story, one layer tear off. This covers only labor and materials. No disposal, permits, or any damaged/rotten sheathing underneath.
My area has really cold winters so Ice dam protection is required 24" past inside wall of the dwelling. If your area doesn't require it, it may be cheaper.
This also covers only standard architectural shingles. I recommend Owens Corning Duration myself, but have and will install any brand of equal pricing.
If you can afford it though, I recommend using one of the Class 4 rated shingles. Malarkey Legacy, Duration Flex, etc. They are thicker and will not only last longer, they withstand higher winds and impacts.
Also, if you don't already have a company picked out, contact your local Shingle/Siding wholesale companies and ask for some references. In my experience they know and prefer to deal with contractors who know what they are doing.
Hope this helps a little.
Edit: Duration carries a 130 MPH wind warranty. After reading your post again I thought this may be worth adding.
I see alot of guys using ice and water barrier on the entire roof in NEPA. I guess that would prevent a leak around a misplaced nail head for a while until the the contractor warranty is up?
probably until the shingle warranty is up, too- it's good stuff, we did all roofs with it in New England
The GAF Timberline HDZ shingles carry a no maximum wind speed warranty.
“WindProven™ Limited Wind Warranty: When installed with the required combination of GAF Accessories, Timberline® HDZ™ Shingles are eligible for an industry first: a wind warranty with no maximum wind speed limitation.”
It really does work but can really drive the cost up. We just usually did eaves and valleys here.
Yeah, it is a regional thing. We had a few really bad winters with ice dams and that convinced me that it was cheap insurance- but our winters were a lot tougher than the mid Atlantic region.
We've used Ice and water on entire roofs as well if they are low pitch (4/12 or less)
Nail heads rarely leak, at least not significantly. I use synthetic felt on all my roofs, but particularly needed on new construction homes where it may go without shingles for some time. The brand I use has a six month warranty when applied with roofing nails or button nails. Warranty voided when staples are used.
They claim that the nail pushes the felt into the sheathing and seals itself.
I can only speak for myself of course, but I can't imagine many contractors wanting to delay issues in order to clear workmanship warranty time period. Warranties and reputations are completely separate.
One issue I dislike about the idea of Ice and Water on the entire roof, is how difficult it will be to remove those shingles later. We've had so many issues removing shingles that are over I&W (specifically south side) that I now place felt over the I&W in most cases.
Yeah, we install a fair amount of these also. What I like about both of these is how large of an area they give you to nail. As opposed to IKO (Avoid) and others with a 1/2" nailing strip so they can refute the warranty.
That’s why I got a GAF certified installer to do my roof. Much easier to win that battle if they certified the installer.
Certified installers are kind of a gimmick. I'm certified for several brands, and they are glorified rewards programs.
You must use their accessories in most cases which immediately tells me it's about sales.
Right. But the price was right as well. So I didn’t think twice about it.
Owens Corning Oakridge...
The.Best.
i’m on my 22nd year (40yr shingle) and they look absolutely brand new on my southern exposure.... My northern exposure faces Lake Ontario and I have algae growth - but the latest Owens Oakridge has the copper-impregnated shingle that inhibits algae ... wish it was available in 1998
otherwise this stuff is like armor... i get 140” snowfall every season and have to roof-rake my shed-dormer 6-10x each winter .... no worse for the wear (except for my back)
The.Best.
i’m on my 22nd year (40yr shingle) and they look absolutely brand new on my southern exposure.... My northern exposure faces Lake Ontario and I have algae growth - but the latest Owens Oakridge has the copper-impregnated shingle that inhibits algae ... wish it was available in 1998
otherwise this stuff is like armor... i get 140” snowfall every season and have to roof-rake my shed-dormer 6-10x each winter .... no worse for the wear (except for my back)
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Where you at on Ontario? West, mid, or East? Not prying but I love the lake.
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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
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Our new home had original cedar shake shingles on it. They were in terrible condition so once we moved in, the first thing we did was replace the roof. We installed Da Vinci composite shake shingles and love the look. Looks sort of like this:
nail guns do as good a job as hammers- assuming the nail gun is in the right hands
Our new home had original cedar shake shingles on it. They were in terrible condition so once we moved in, the first thing we did was replace the roof. We installed Da Vinci composite shake shingles and love the look. Looks sort of like this:
Not worried about the 110mph wind rating? That seems a bit low for a composite slate or shaker roof?
Maybe, maybe not. I just went through it. Hail damage to a 17 year old roof. Had homes with roof replacements within 2 blocks of me.
Big fight with insurance company. Ended up getting them to pay, but bottom line is for a roof over 15 years old, they are almost certainly going to reject the initial claim. If you win in the end certainly worth it...
I'm in Florida so YMMV in other states where insurance is more reasonable.
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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
Guest
We learned a lesson about homeowners insurance the hard way this spring when buying/selling homes. We had coverage through USAA for years and they have a lot of our business - car loans, home loan, credit cards, bank accounts, car insurance, home owners insurance, umbrella insurance, etc. We're very happy with them and the service. But, when we went to close on our new home, I called them to cancel the policy on our current home and to add one for the new home. Since the price of the new home was above what they cover with a traditional policy, we had to talk about using their partners. After a quick chat/review, we were told our application was rejected because we filed too many claims against our homeowners insurance previously. I was stunned. It is true we filed about four claims in three years, but all of them were related to the roof (this is on a new construction home less than 10 years old). The final claim resulted in a new roof (which was dilapidated due to wind/rain damage). During that time, our premiums never went up, our coverage never changed, and no one said anything about the perils of filing too many claims resulting in us being a 'high risk' client. To that point, I had never heard of the CLUE Report (which is basically the database of homeowner insurance claims and works similarly to a credit report - if you have too many, you're not worth covering, and it stays with you for 3-5 years).
Anyway, after hearing this and only days away from closing (and knowing our purchase of the new home requires us to have insurance), we called every company we could think of to get insurance - and they said the same thing - too high risk, too many claims. Fuming, I wrote a letter to USAA telling them that yes, while we're guilty of filing the claims, we were a) never advised against filing them, b) never had our premiums go up or coverage dropped, and c) had ever heard of CLUE. I also mentioned that the money they've spent in paying homeowners claims (less than $20,000 including the new roof) is small fries compared to what they've made off us. I received a call from a 'client advocate' who said they will personally review our case to see if the wrong decision was made. Ultimately, they sided with their 'statistics' and stood firm. We ended up getting coverage via our lender at the last minute which is fine, but I'll probably move back to USAA in a few years when the previous claims have dropped off the CLUE. Lesson learned. If the damage is less than catastrophic, don't file if you can help it.
I did a few shingle projects in my life. Not for the weary. Feet burning, and drained from heat exhaustion. Quickly decided; no, thank you
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