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Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: takara159 on January 15, 2014, 02:31:11 PM

Title: New Roof
Post by: takara159 on January 15, 2014, 02:31:11 PM
Good afternoon

So for those of you who don't live in the Seattle area, we had a pretty substantial rain storm last weekend that brought with it horizontal rain and 50mph gusts.  As such my roof took a pounding and we now have a noticeable leak around a window in the bedroom and wet spots on the carpet. We have traced these to possible loose shingles on the roof as there is water running down the joists and in one area we have a damaged piece of plywood.
The roof is the original, no layering and the home is a 99 so the roof is coming to the end of its useful life. It's a 3tab roof and I guess was actually put on with staples which are now a violation of Washington state building code (since 2004).

My question to the community is, do you have any recommendations for hiring a roofing contractor ? What are some of the gotchas , anything I should be looking at as far as new replacement material etc ?

Thanks for any help / suggestions.
Title: Re: New Roof
Post by: Greg on January 15, 2014, 03:04:47 PM
Hi, I'm a design/build contractor in Olympia, and would make a few recommendations.  Ask friends and neighbors who they may have used, a good recommendation is 10x better than a fancy ad.  I'm not familiar with Seattle area roofers any more, so I can't make a suggestion there.

Seriously consider metal standing-seam roofing.  It will be the last roof you put on the house.

If you opt for asphalt shingles again, be sure to remove the old roofing down to the sheathing so it can be repaired as needed.  Use metal valleys, and continuous ridge venting. Use actual plywood for roof sheathing, not OSB, if it's in your budget.

First have a few different companies come out for an evaluation, explaining what happened and see if you could just have certain repairs made.  If not, you will have a few quotes to works with.  If you want to be really careful, make a list of specifications for each company to bid on that includes the preferred type of roofing, the detailing like metal valleys and drip edge, and the complete tear off and ask that sheathing repair be parsed out so that it's a separate price, like per sheet.
Title: Re: New Roof
Post by: theSchmett on January 15, 2014, 03:50:30 PM
Greg I think you win the Internet today. Awesome response.

Can you compare price at all? And value to resale? I have also heard that a metal roof in a hurricane area is an insurance plus, as it is lighter load on the home, and less likely to tear apart piece by piece zipper style.
Title: Re: New Roof
Post by: Tyler on January 15, 2014, 04:05:00 PM
FWIW, according to my neighbors paying for a new roof out of pocket is apparently relatively uncommon in my part of the country (central TX) as the occasional hailstorm takes care of the insurance claim for you and the risk is already baked into your rates.  That depends on your insurance coverage, of course.  So you may check to see if insurance will cover you and what rules & limitations they would have in replacing it.
Title: Re: New Roof
Post by: Greg on January 15, 2014, 05:10:34 PM
When I roofed my garage 10 years ago, the metal was approx. 3x the cost of 3 tab comp.  This was all DIY for me, so no idea on the labor difference.  As a contractor I much prefer working with metal, because it is lighter and pretty much bullet proof.  Comp is yucky and heavy, and easy to F up walking on it, especially when it gets hot (and oh boy does it get hot!).  As long as the detailing is correct, metal is idiot proof, fire proof, long lasting, recycleable and made from 30%+ recycled content.  Also, the runoff can be used for food gardening.

There are even "Energy Star" rated colors available.

Stupidly some HOAs forbid metal, which I find reprehensible.  If it were me I'd forbid comp.
Title: Re: New Roof
Post by: SwordGuy on January 15, 2014, 05:39:28 PM
FWIW, according to my neighbors paying for a new roof out of pocket is apparently relatively uncommon in my part of the country (central TX) as the occasional hailstorm takes care of the insurance claim for you and the risk is already baked into your rates.  That depends on your insurance coverage, of course.  So you may check to see if insurance will cover you and what rules & limitations they would have in replacing it.

Yep, my whole neighborhood got new roofs on their insurance after the last hailstorm.   It's worth a phone call!
Shucks, most of them weren't even leaking!
Title: Re: New Roof
Post by: Thegoblinchief on January 15, 2014, 05:45:35 PM
We went with Owens Corning TruDefinition 50-year architectural shingles with a synthetic underlayment. Spendy but not as expensive as metal. Metal would have been way past our budget.

At least in my area, 3 tabs are never used anymore - it's instantly assumed on resale that your roof is "old", no matter how new it actually is.

If I'd discovered MMM a month later, we would have done the roof ourself and saved a major debt load. Oh well...