roof shingles

[cephas]

Need opinions and advice on roof shingles. I am entertaining contractors now, and am being offered various types from the standard asphalt shingle up to the latest and greatest lifetime warranty, designer, laminated shingle.
Live in NWPA where if you don't like the weather wait 15 minutes and it'll change. Any help appreciated, thanks in advance and have a good one!

 

[benjamming]

We are just about to finish up our house. We went with Owens Corning Oakridge Pro A/R 30-year shingles. I really think it's the best value. Hail damage is what kills shingles around here.
We used 30# felt paper. What are you using? I considered Typar Roofwrap but it was too expensive, around here anyway.
Roofing contractor was the most difficult of all contractors to find that did a good job & would actually show up. Check those references & get everything in writing!

 

[Doc8404]

AND, ensure there is a clean-up clause so they don't leave your place trashed.

AND, if they use any sub-contractors, make sure that the prime contractor is resposnbile, in writing, for whatever they do/don't do.

 

[Kestas]

I'm in the middle of replacing my roof. It's a 4 by 12 (walkable) roof. I'm going with GAF Certainteed Timberline Select 40 architectural shingles. It's highly recommended by roofing professionals.

What pitch roof do you have? This will determine which type of shingles you can consider.

Are you taking the old roof off? What shape is it in?

You may want to do some reading on this web site: http://www.roofing.com/index.php

 

[Amkeer]

So you are entertaining contractors? Are you serving wine and cheese or just beer?

Its not so much the shingle that you install its the installer that installs the shingles that you need worry about. I installed Timberline 30 on my home instead of the heavier 40. I made this decision based on the fact that to find a good roofer is like trying to find a needle in a hay stack. Even after getting a few estimates and yelling and screaming it still was not done the way it should have been done. Sure it will not leak and it looks good, but for those, like me that know what to look for, its poopoo. I was not going to do it so I really didn't have a choice.

Look for a strong company with a good warranty.

 

[Sparkman]

Roofing is easy, have you considered doing it yourself?

If you are at all meticulous you will have a difficult time finding someone to do work up to your standards. Plus, you can pay yourself above average wages for the time you spend doing the job and still come out ahead.

 

[TheLoneRanger]

If you only want to do the job once, consider metal roofing. Might be a little noisy in hailstorms

, but it's permanent.

 

[road_rascal]

Quote:

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Roofing is easy, have you considered doing it yourself?

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Yeah, but the tearoff is a b!tch- especially roofs with 2 layers

.

 

[1sttruck]

Heavy roofing paper is recommended, zinc strips if moss a problem in your area. I was looking at metal shingles but it ended up being twice as expensive as asphalt, which is what we ended up with. The cedar shake that we had looked nice but I was starting to loose more and more shingles each year. I'll miss the repairing the shake roof though as the shake makes really good kindling :^)

A couple of friends have standing seam metal roofs and they both leaked in several areas. I'd do metal shingles if cost were no object.

 

[Shannow]

Down here, roofs are cement tiles, terracotta tiles, or sheet iron, with very few and limited exceptions (like old corrugated asbestos sheeting etc).

 

[Sparkman]

Quote:

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Quote:

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Roofing is easy, have you considered doing it yourself?

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Yeah, but the tearoff is a b!tch- especially roofs with 2 layers

.

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A "tear-off" shovel makes relatively quick work of it.

 

[alreadygone]

Ours is an old (1938) farm house with an addition. Six years ago we re-roofed with baked enamel metal sheet roofing. Love it. Have no regrets.

Bob

 

[Bob Woods]

Do it yourself roofing is not always cost effective. A few years ago I had some storm damage on one side of the roof on a rental place, I had to replace about 25% of the roof. I stripped it off, hauled the tearoff to the dump, replaced the tar paper and reshingled, that took me all week, 5 days. On friday morning a crew showed up across the street at a house with the same size roof, tore off the old, replaced the tar paper and reshingled the whole roof and was gone by 3PM and I was still nailing shingles. The money I saved was minimal compared to the time I wasted.

 

[Master ACiD]

why did you only replace 25% of the roof? should of just done the whole thing.

i just went through this with my parents. their house needed a new roof and they were going to hire a company to come in and pull the old roof off and install a new one (and replace some plywood too).

i couldnt get them to go with sheet metal. ever notice nearly all industrial and commercial buildings use sheet metal roof? its more durable than anything else there is and its cheap. hurricanes wont rip it off like they do shakes and shingles.

anyways, i did their entire roof myself. i pulled the shingles off and made big piles of shingles and tar paper out at the road. the grbage men picked it all up. (if you have a contractor re roof youre house they have to rent a roll off dumpster so i am told) so that was money saved right there.

i went to home depot and bought the roofing tar, plywood, drip edge and tin tabs/nails. it took a day just to install the tarpaper and drip edges and replace a few sheets of plywood that were damaged from the old roof leaking.
then i went back to home depot and bought a bunch of shingles. they come in stacks of 30 and are kind of heavy so i bought them in 2 trips with my car and 900lb capacity trailer.

it took a few days to put the shingles down and i went BEYOND the building code by using tintabs and nails to hold the shingles down plus i used slightly more roofing tar than most people do and i put some extra nails in the plywood to hold it down to the rafters better.

all in all i saved my parents a few grand and i made about $45 an hour. plus i only worked on the roof in the mornings and evenings (up to 10:00 at night with some lights on extension cords) because its too hot in the middle of the day to do anything outside espically roofing.

im no house building expert but i tell you roofing isnt complicated, it isnt hard either. you can sent electric lift for a few $$ an hour to power the shigles and tar/tarpaper up to the roof so you dont need to carry it on youre back. and it isnt rocket science.

you have to figure what is youre time worth, and be reaistic about it. how much do you CURRENTLY work per hour? thats what you are currently worth and that is what you should use as a figure. i make nowhere near $45 an hour, so it was definitly worth it for me.

 

[Kestas]

I'm in the process of doing my roof myself - in part - because I need the exercise. Sitting at a computer for most of the day is horrible for my health. And I'd rather save a couple thousand dollars than run around in circles.

 

[cephas]

Thanks for the replies. I should of said that checking out roofers was entertaining. Had a couple of the larger companies from the big town that made me feel like I was watching one of those infomercials on tv. A couple local yokels that I don't think I'd let roof my dog house. The fellow I'm going with is a local that gets all the work he wants just by reputation and word of mouth. I ruled out do it yourself as the top of this old farm house is past my comfort level with heights. Looks like the shingles will be certainteed, final color and style to be determined by boss, uh wife with contractor early next week.

 

[Al]

Make sure you get shingles that are resistant against the "Black Mols" that has surfaced in recent rears. They also install zinc strips. Non't neglect this.