My 2nd roofing was laid over first as you can usually do but I had some curling on 1st and contractor suggested somewhat higher grade architectural shingles which hid imperfections. It's over 30 years old now and looks fine and has never leaked but at this age I'm going to replace it which means removal of 1st and 2nd shingles.
The biggest plus is that it allows full inspection of the sheathing to make sure it's not rotted, deteriorated, that it's in good shape and not in need of replacement. Personally, on just about any roof, I'd pay the extra cost for removal. The older the house, if there have been any leaks, any issues, then the more important it becomes.
After you find the shingle you want, ask the contractor to give you some houses near you where they have put them on. Then you can see what they look like on a house and also if the homeowner is around, you can ask them how the contractor did.
It's probably about half labor, half materials. I'd go with one of the architectural grade shingles or better from any of the major shingle manufacturer's, depending on what looks good to you.
By code across most of the colder parts of the country, it goes from the edge of the lower roof until it's 24" past where it meets the heated part of the structure. It's for ice damming and that's the critical area. It's also used in valleys and similar areas, if the roof has them.
Is the roof adequately ventilated? This is the time to make sure it is. Today most pros believe a continuous ridge vent together with soffit vents are the best method. If you have a ridge vent, you can also decide what kind of ridge vent you want use. They range from cheap roll on filter like material, to actual rigid ones. I'd go for the latter because I believe they have more open area to let air flow. If you need any other venting fixed, eg thinking about putting in a bath fan, have a bath fan that is vented to the attic instead of outside, have box vents and want to move to ridge venting, are using power fans and it needs to be replaced, etc, now is the time.
: get several detailed estimates and talk with the contractors about everything - they can be a good resource - or their inability to answer your questions can be a red flag. Sometimes the estimator is more of a salesman - rather than a tradesman ! : don't just consider the shingles - eave starter; flashing; ventilation, repairs - are all important too. : beware of the contractor who can "start next week" .. the good ones are usually busy & booked up . You could visit your local building supply store in advance just to compare and calculate the cost difference of the materials - we were shown 3 grades of shingles - the lowest grade was quite inferior - thin light flimsy - the contractor showed it as a warning
The quality of shingles is often graded by their lifespan. You probabal wouldn't want the cheapest shingles, but if know you'll be moving within a specific number years, then it doesn't makes to buy the most expensive.
That may have been true before we had home inspectors. Some even farm out the roof inspection to a real roofer. They will tell the seller to ask for $15-20K off the price because the roof is a "defect". They generally flag any roof that is more than 20-30% of the life span of the shingles used anyway
Yes, get several estiments. I did not know any roofers several years ago so went to Home Advisor and had 4 companies come out for estiments. For about a 28 square roof, two were close at just under $ 9,000. A third was about $ 12,000 and one was almost $ 20,000. I went with the
2nd highest one around $ 9,000. He seemed to have a quality product and a good lone time warrenty when I bought the better quality of his offerings. While it has only been 3 years, they still look good and have weathered several big wind storms. The singles had a certain numer of nails for each one depending on the pitch of the roof. I noticed the roofers used one more nail per shingle than recommended for my pitch of roof.
I saw a roof being replaced not far from my house while driving home from work. Looked like a good crew so I stopped and got his business card. Called him and had him do my house and garage roofs. Tear-offs. 30 or 40 year "architectural." GAF Timberline. Both roofs are square hip roofs (pyramid). About 28 squares worth of shingles. This was in 2001. Cost $4200. They replaced a couple pieces of sheathing and the power vent. Did a good cleanup job. Think I found only 2 or 3 nails in the grass. Roofs still look like new. BTW, he gave me references and some houses he had done in the neighborhood. And he lived about a mile from me. About 10 years after they did the roof the ridge caps started curling. Looked bad. I got on the roof and found they not only curled, but looked worn, like they were old. I called him twice but never got a response. So I called around and got a few estimates. The guy I picked knew his stuff and told me the ridge caps were - can't remember the name - a different manufacturer and known to fail. In fact there was class action lawsuit that I checked out, but it had expired. The original roofer didn't know they would fail, but he cut a corner. Anyway I paid the guy $900 to replace them all. He used about $500 bucks worth of GAF Timberline caps. I checked the prices. That's why the roof still looks like new.
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