Shingle Roofing (tear off)

[William Deans]

Greetings,

Question Category: Shingle Roofing (tear off)

The question: As I remove the old shingles - how do I get them off the roof without causing safety or property damage issues?

Additional Info: Home is a row home. Three layers of shingles are coming off. Roof size is seven squares. (for half of roof facing the street) The roof is on the third floor. The slope of the roof is 6/12. (I couldn't simply toss them over the back) Neighbor's roofs are the same height. There is a LIGHT WEIGHT aluminum roof on the first floor porch. There is sidewalk in front and beside the porch. Porch is only 4x10 feet. Neighboring porches prevent scaffolding.

Specific concerns: Debris dropped from the 3rd floor will land in a large area including on top of neighbors' porches, on the sidewalk, in the street, and on my porch. Shingle clumps will easily dent or rip through thin metal porch roof. Even if sidewalk was "fenced off" with a caution banner shingles / nails will land in road while road is in use. I might fall of the roof and die - but that isn't really what this posting is about.

Thank you all very much for your time and energy, William

PS: I have tried to provide useful information. If some going back and forth is necessary I will gladly answer any questions you might have.

[Chuck B.]

Can you make or rent some kind of chute to slide them down and into a dumpster?

[Joe Bobst]

You may be better off hiring this part of the job out. A pro roofer will have the equipment to do the job right. Before committing, though, check construction equipment rental places for appropriate chutes, or alternatively, build up your own from 2 x 4 framing and cheap particle board. Whatever, good luck.

Joe

[Greg]

You can make a fairly decent chute with a blue tarp. Wrap it around the dumpster and tie it to the rails. Nail the other end to the edge of the roof and hold the far end out with a couple 2x4s nailed to the roof. It isn't perfect but it will keep most of the junk in the dumpster. The guys who stripped my roof used a garden pitch fork along with the normal flat shovels. They also had a special tool but it really wasn't any better. This is just a miserable job, no matter how you do it. That's why I paid someone to do it but it wasn't cheap. Three layers off and a new roof on was $5600 in wage poor Florida (28 sq, 30yr dimensional over 30lb felt) They did finish the whole thing in 2 days. They had 8 guys on the tear off and dry in (day 1), 3 laid down the metal and shingles(day 2)..

[Tom]

Chute it. Don't take the chance. Tom Work at your leisure!

[ß©©ß]

Dude !!!!

You got two choices.

1. Tear off one shingle at a time, and carry it down the ladder, toss in the dumpster and go back up on the roof for another shingle. This is the preferred method, and you'll never have to connect to an exercise machine for the rest of your life.

1. Tie a very long heavy duty chain around your chimney and attach the ends securely with at least ten one inch thick grade 8, bolts and nuts. Remove the ladder and go in the attic with a sawsall. Use some quality metal cutting blades, and cut all the nails on each rafter, where they attach to the walls. Do this one every rafter. Go back outside and hook the chain to the bumper of your car. Be sure there is no traffic coming, and put the pedal to the metal, burning rubber all the way. When the chain gets taunt, either the whole roof will come off the house, or if you forgot to cut one nail, the bumper will come off your car. So, BE SURE all the nails are cut. The roof will land on your front lawn, or in the street, where it will be easy to remove all the shingles, and much safer too. (unless the roof is in the road and some speeding driver can not stop). OK, now simply remove all the shingles, disassemble the whole roof and take it back up the ladder piece by piece, and reassemble. (WARNING - DO NOT take the shingles back up the ladder, unless you need exercise).

-OR-

Set the whole roof on fire and let it burn up, being sure not to set the whole neighborhood on fire. Then go to Home Depot and buy all new lumber to build a new roof.

Those are your choices, Dude !!!!

Pick one !!!

[Jeff Cochran]

Plywood chute over the porch roof to the dumpster. The blue tarp method mentioned works but occasionally has problems with debris sticking.

Jeff

[William Deans]

Greetings,

Thank you all very much for your input. It appears that everyone thinks I should go with a chute of some kind.

What do you think about this alternate suggestion: The roof is sheethed with 1x12 dimensional lumber. I could removing a couple sections of 1x12 near the bottom of the roof and letting the shingles fall into a tub(s) on top of a drop cloth within the house. The tubs could be carried downstairs once they were in danger of becoming too heavy.

Just an idea, William

PS: For the record I do not have a dumpster. I hire a private trash company to take my garbage and they take up to six 30 gallon trash cans per week. They will take (almost) anything so I plan to dispose of the shingles a few cans at a time. A dumpster would entirely block the sidewalk. I believe it would require an additional permit on top of the roofing permit (which I have obtained) and the cost is substantial ($180.25 for a 2 cubic yard-- which might not even be big enough).

[John Willis]

On Tue, 16 Nov 2004 09:49:44 -0500, "William Deans" scribbled this interesting note:

How much is too heave for you? Forty pounds? Sixty pounds? One hundred pounds? With three layers of roofing to remove, using this method, you will be at it forever. But if this is how you want to do it, good luck!:~)

Compare the cost and time factors. By spending about $300.00 to $400.00 (the cost of buying the materials to make a chute and the rental of the dumpster and the possibility of an additional permit) you will be done with the job in the amount of time it takes to perform the tear-off and install the new roof. The methods you propose with the tubs for trash and throwing away thirty to sixty gallons of debris a week, you will be at this for a month. Possibly two. Remember, that isn't seven squares you have to dispose of, but over twenty!

How much is your time worth? Even if you figured your time at $10.00 per hour (about the going rate around here for help that only picks up and throws away the debris on a little job like yours-kind of a roofer's helper if you will) you will far exceed that three to four hundred dollar figure mentioned.

But as I sometimes suggest, everyone needs a hobby!:~) If you really want to pinch these pennies and it makes you happy to do so, despite all the extra work and time, then that is all anyone could ask.

-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

[John Hines]

The tear off from my 18 square job pretty much filled a roll on/off dumpster. Spading forks, like what is used for turning dirt, is what they used, pull it up, and dump it off the roof.

[Duane Bozarth]

...on how to tear off roof in pita situation...

After reading the thread (including you second posting) my suggestion would be to simply hand this one off to a roofing contractor...the grief you're going to suffer owing to permitting (plus your neighbors dirty looks at best) in such an environment isn't going to be worth it. By yourself you'll be lucky to finish in two weeks whereas they'll be done in at most 3 days from start to finish...

But, if you decide on your own, I think the only practical way is to rent the dumpster and chute it one way or the other. I use a trash service with the dumpsters and in doing the barn roof (roughly 60 sq) I had them bring a second one. We tore off enough to fill the two which was enough area to keep me and the hired hand busy until they came and emptied it (weekly). That was one layer of old wood shingles, no paper. W/ 3 layers of asphalt plus paper, you'll have much more volume of waste per square of roof.

Many of the contractors here simply bring a truck to the site and dump directly into it. Perhaps renting one from your local rent-all place would be an alternative if you can get enough help lined up to finish in a reasonable time frame. The idea of carting off only what you can get in a limited number of trash cans will mean you'll be at this for months at best.