Home Insurance and needing a new roof

[Tyson]

Hi all, I have always lived in condo's and apartments most of my life, and am a pretty new house/home owner as of about 18 months ago.  It looks like our home need a new roof sometime soon, but I"m not sure how any of that works with insurance.  Has anyone been through the process of getting a new roof and can give me some guidance on how it works (generally).  I'm in Colorado, if that helps.

[Ktfeehan]

Home insurance will not cover the cost of replacing a roof unless due to a covered event e.g. Hurricane.  To get started you should get quotes from three recommended companies

[brotatochip]

I just went through this and got 7 estimates. 

[Guizmo]

I'm getting the roof in my house replaced in Aurora. There was a big hail storm that hit in June. Perhaps your roof was damaged then. Get quotes from companies and call your insurance to submit a claim.

[Exflyboy]

If your adventurous a new roof is quite within the scope of DIY if you can borrow a nail gun or two plus a compressor and hose..

[Uturn]

Talk to your insurance company.  I was able to get a new policy that had a discount for impact resistant shingles.  It's a big deal in TX, not sure what the hail situation is in CO.  Anyhow, I had to pay an extra $2500 for the upgraded shingles, but it knocked $900/yr off my insurance. 

[Greg]

Usually a new roof is considered either a necessity or a maintenance item by insurance, not something they will help pay for unless there was some sort of incident.

I would recommend metal standing-seam roofing if you can afford it.  It will last 2-3 times as long as a asphalt comp roof and is easy to install if you're a DIYer.

[Bearded Man]

I was just up on my roof yesterday doing some waterproofing...on an 11 year old house. I have two much older houses that I need to do next summer. Thinking of metal roofing for the lifetime benefit of it, but may not keep the houses so not sure if worth the higher cost than asphalt shingles. Doubt I would get my money back out of it.

[COlady]

I'm getting the roof in my house replaced in Aurora. There was a big hail storm that hit in June. Perhaps your roof was damaged then. Get quotes from companies and call your insurance to submit a claim.

We also live in a Denver suburb and got our roof replaced this fall (along with everyone else in our neighborhood). Most likely you have some hail damage so insurance will cover replacement (less your deductible of course). Be sure to use a local company and not one of the companies that follow hail damage around the company.  You might get a recommendation from a neighbor or friend or there is always Yelp.

[Tyson]

We also live in a Denver suburb and got our roof replaced this fall (along with everyone else in our neighborhood). Most likely you have some hail damage so insurance will cover replacement (less your deductible of course). Be sure to use a local company and not one of the companies that follow hail damage around the company.  You might get a recommendation from a neighbor or friend or there is always Yelp.

Yep, hail damage is what's driving this.  Who did you use?

[COlady]

We used a local company but I wouldn't recommend them....they were extremely slow to finish and left a bazillion nails in our grass and driveway.  One of my friends just got her roof replaced a couple weeks ago.  Do you want me to ask her if she liked the company they went with? I wouldn't think you'd want to get it done really soon with winter approaching.

[Tyson]

I don't have a leak, thank goodness, so it'll probably be spring before I get it done.  I'm just in the information gathering mode right now because all of this is so new to me.

[GuitarBrian]

You need to know the actual date of the hail storm.

Then call and ask to submit a claim... If it was a really widespread storm... you might be able to get it qualified as a disaster claim. That is good, it won't count against you in your claim history (only important if you are changing insurance companies or deductible).

An adjuster will come out, he will look at the shingles. And chalk mark the ones that are bad. If he finds enough damaged shingles then it will be covered. Sometimes then will look at each slope, and cover them differently.

You will then get a breakdown of the covered damage. And a check with your deductible taken out. This may not be your entire amount, this may be the Actual Cash Value. Once you sign a contract with an installer... or complete the work yourself. You will get the depreciation recapture check.

They will pay you for your labor to do the work yourself. It a relatively easy job to add a layer of shingles.  While it is EASY technically to remove multiple layers and install all new.... it is a lot of physical labor.

I thought the hardest part would be getting the bundles on the roof... That took 1hr. Removing 1000s of old nails and shingles (4 pickup loads) took 5 days. Although we were constrained by the pickup and runs to the dump... you can get a large dumpster... would cut down on dead time.

I kept good records, with every purchase listed. Total cost was $3,743. ~20 squares of shingles and ~650sf of flat torch down roof.

Base for Flat roof           3 24.8   74.4
APP Tan Bitumen 100sf  7 57.2  400.4
feltbuster                      3 76.5  229.5
Shingles                      85 24   2049.35
Quick start roll               5 15.86  79.3
Drip edge RE22WH     16 4.54    72.64
drip edge RE23WH         9 6.34    57.06
Ridgeglass                     2 54.8  109.72
Vents hard type             2 7.98     15.96
T top vents                    2 12       24
primer                           2 13.81  27.62
Valley Flashing               1 41.4    41.4
flahing brown                 1 12.28  12.28
flashing L 4x4                 1 10.78 10.78
flashing L 3x3                 1 8.78     8.78
torch                              1 30     30
roof jack rubber type       3 6.53    19.59
trowel                            1  4.38     4.38
Nails 1.25                      2  46.72  93.44
204 henry                      2  13.73  27.46
sheeting                         4  21.03  84.12
         
                                  3472.18
With Sales Tax                            3743.01

I found the spreadsheet... thought if you were on this forum... would like real numbers :) Sorry for the screwy columns... first number is quantity, second price paid, third total price.

I opted for the Timberline UltraHD shingles... They were 24.11 per bundle... but, 4 bundles per square instead of the regular 3.


I had 3 quotes done. 7,300 and 8,040 are the two I still have documents for... not sure on the 3... it was higher. Overall, about 50% labor and 50% materials.

Obviously the above is just my experience and your roof will undoubtedly be different. But those are real numbers from last November.


My biggest recommendation would be to get yourself some Lowes 10% off coupons. Either online (eBay) or maybe through the post office. They routinely put them in address change packets. Or where every else you might find them. You need a stack of them. I worked hard to get discounts, every purchase was using a 10% coupon. Some were on sale and 10% off.

They are accepted at Home Depot without question. (For the shingles they did not want to offer both the bulk discount and the 10% off. But some appealing to the manager works. YMMV)

I would not have done the roof myself, except the insurance only covered the front half of the house. So I parlayed the $3700 insurance payment towards the whole roof. Perfectly legal, as the insurance paid me for my labor, and I bought materials with it :)

I am confident that I did as good or better job than a crew would have done.

As others have mentioned... you can look into metal roofing. This would have required that I pull a building permit and have it inspected before and then after. Otherwise I would have done that, 100%. It is faster to install... lasts longer and is on par with the cost I spent on shingles. No building permit was required if I didn't change roof material types.

[Tyson]

Wow, that's really great info - thank you!

I am leaning toward a metal roof, it just seems like a better solution than shingles.

[Fishindude]

A little education on metal roofing. 
Profiles, gauges, etc. vary but there are two primary types of metal roofing "Screw Down", and "Standing Seam".

Screw Down:
a. Typically 36" wide corrugated sheets with 5/8" ribs on approx. 9" centers.
b. You lay it over the deck and underlayment, then run screws with weatherseal washers through the panels, into the structure to hold it in place.
c. This is pole barn stuff, and is now seeing extensive use re-roofing homes.
d. It's inexpensive, goes down quick but has some inherent design flaws, Lots of screws punching through the panels being the main one.
e. The open rib corrugations are plugged with foam fillers which aren't the greatest long term solution.
f. This roof type can be a real bear to install at hips and valleys.

Standing Seam:
a. Typically 12" to 18" wide flat sheets with a vertical rib / seam between each panel.
b. A special "clip" is concealed in the panel joint to hold the roofing down to the structure.  No penetrations through the panels. 
c. The panel to panel joint is typically seamed or crimped.
d. These systems are far superior, typically cost more and most run of the mill roofers don't install them because they don't have the tools or understand the details.
e. The flat "pan" profile of these panels makes flashing details at hips, valleys, etc. much better and more watertight.

General:
a. Screw down will probably work fine for something at least 4/12 slope in a simple gable configuration.  If you have a bunch of hips, valleys, dormers, slope changes, etc. stay away from it.
b. None of these roof should be installed directly over shingles.   Shingles should be stripped, a new vapor barrier installed, then the metal roof placed on a smooth, flat surface.
c. Even the cheapest metal roof will cost you at least double the cost of a good shingle roof.   A good standing seam roof might be $800 per square installed.   
d. Paint finish is critical so it doesn't chalk & fade.  You want Kynar paint, not silicone polyester.
e. Ask about warranty.   Some of the better systems can provide 10-20 year leak free guarantees.
f. Leaks often occur at penetrations through the metal; vent stacks, chimneys, etc.   The devil is in the details at these penetrations.