Roofing Question

My neighbor had a new roof installed. There were two rows of asphalt shingles on the roof, which is maximum allowed in our area (Upstate N.Y.)

Rather than have a complete tear off, the workers removed the top layer of shingles, put felt paper down and then the new shingles.

It looks great and no leaks.

My question is has anyone had their roof done this way, and any regrets?

Thank you.

Bob

Reply to
Bob
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Being a general contractor, if you asked me to remove just the top layer of shingles, I would charge you twice as much for doing it, due to how much more difficult it is to remove just one layer. I would never do that. If you are going to remove shingles, remove them all. You can inspect the decking for damage while it is all off.

Reply to
Robert Allison

re: ...the workers removed the top layer of shingles

2 questions - How? and Why?
Reply to
DerbyDad03

If he had any bad wood they did not find it, it was a dumb idea.

Reply to
ransley

Not a great idea. It saves on dump fees, a bit, but it isn't any easier to remove one layer so it won't cost less, the new shingles won't last as long as if they were put on a freshly cleaned deck, and, as High Pockets Allison said, the stripped roof allows you to inspect the roof sheathing and correct problems before they become major problems.

R
Reply to
RicodJour

Mine has two, maybe 3 layers on it. It's a bad idea no matter how you look at it. It's cheaper up front maybe, but when it comes time to re-do it, you'll more than double the cost since removing shingles is more time consuming than putting new stuff down.

Reply to
Bob M.

He's gonna have a big expense in 10-15 years when the roof needs replacing.

Reply to
HeyBub

I think the OP is simply trolling to see if this is a good idea for him to do. No real roofer would do that. It would sure be a lot easier to just remove both layers than to screw around trying to unstick the old top layer from the dryrotted base layer.

Reply to
do_see

Robert Allison wrote in news:YZ_4j.5579$o_6.1359@trnddc08:

When I did mine this summer I found a lot of sheathing with no spacers on the long end. Explained some of the buckling in areas. Ran a sawblade down the sides.

Hope it was the right thing to do??? Seemed to make sense at the time.

Reply to
Red Green

"Bob" wrote

Bob if you are serious and not just checking covertly to see if you can get away with that as a DIY job, here's the flaws.

  1. If it leaked before, there is damaged wood. It may not have been 'bad' but it's there. It's going to cost *much more* on down the road. Bad wood will cause a sway in the roof and it will get worse. Looking at structural damage there.
  2. If the roof has any sway in it now, it will get worse and be a much larger job, plus the wood in the ceilings along the bottom of the attic will start to go as well as the upper parts that hold the roof up. Once that happens, you are looking at 10,000$ or more at the minimum.
  3. Getting it properly done (remove all the shingles and have them inspect the wood) costs *far less*.

I had to have mine done a cheaper way due to lack of money. I had the backside of the house done, then later the front. The front needed only one panel replaced (over garage) but the back needed 7 or 8 plus we had them redo the panels on a few spots they said were 'ok, but it would be smart to do those too as they were between ones being replaced'. 70$ per sheet was all the extra cost as we did it EARLY ENOUGH before there were leaks. Since that was 7 years and 5 years ago respective, the price is probably higher now but we are good and got away with only 4,000$ or so for the whole job. It would have been better to do both at the same time as we had to have the top part '^' done twice that way but we used a very standard shingle so matching was not a problem.

History of house showed it had had 2nd layer applied over origional roof shingles. Estimate was that was about 10 years prior. Roughly 25 years after house was built. Longer than normal on the first roof to last but sometimes you luck up.

We are now watching our neighbors get jobs done but they are paying far more, as in 10,000-25,000$ due to structural damage. See, they werent 'leaking in any obvious way so ignored the sways developing'. They are having to have structural timbers replaced now and are real sorry they didnt have a proper job done in the past before it got that bad.

Oh, I'm not a roofer by any means but I believe the ones we used were very good, and that they were upfront and honest. You'll see some roofers here and you can check this with them. Our cost was lower partly because it was several years ago, and partly because the same contractor package dealed other things like residing the house into the price (so each was discounted due to volume of work).

Reply to
Cshenk

If that saw blade was attached to a saw, then it would help with the expansion and buckling. If it was just a saw blade, probably wouldn't do much. ;-)

It was the right thing to do. I'll bet that you are on 24" centers on your rafters or trusses, right?

Reply to
Robert Allison

Robert Allison wrote in news:_ee5j.7699$o_6.2943@trnddc08:

Dammit! Well, maybe I can do it from the attic side now.

You got it. 24" trusses on main roof and garage. Rafters on shed roof areas and a piece of an L leg.

Until this project, I had only done a few small rectangular roof sections. This house was 25 square. 2 story L shaped main roof with 2 valleys and a chimney I had to reflash. Then two car garage 25' deep. Porch roof with shed wall at top and step flashing on one side. Two new Anderson windows went in here too. Oh and replace rotten OSB under the windows under vinyl siding. Other side of porch roof had valley to garage. Ah then the family room shed style roof with two skylights and lower chimney that also needed reflashing. It had step flashing on one side with the garage as well. All new 8" drip edge (very Northeast) and sticky-ass WSU at vallys and heated eaves.

This was a real roof. Got a new roofing nailer out of it anyway. Pretty beat to shit now though...

Reply to
Red Green

They only start getting pretty when they get beat up. Then they have character.

Reply to
Robert Allison

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