What should I do about my roof?

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Alright, having a house built and I just happened to be down there while the roof was getting shingled. They had about half of the roof done when they realized it was the wrong color (this is when I got to the job site and told them it was wrong). Well they ripped off the shingles and were about to start with the correct ones when I stopped them. Seems they were going to reuse the felt paper which had become nail-ridden and torn up during the tear-off. Guy says they do it all the time and started to put up new shingles. I'm on the phone to the builder telling him whats going on and he says they will stop until it gets inspected. Never happens. By the time the builder gets on site they have most of the roof reshingled. Builder goes up on the roof with the roofing supervisor. Roofing super says its ok but my builder says maybe not. They agree to finish the roof since bad weather was called for soon. Builder re-emphasizes that the roof is warrantied for 15 years and the sub would be responsible for any problems. I ask him who pays for all my possesions that get ruined by a leaking roof? Before he could say my homeowner's insurance, I tell him that I will let insurance know about this situation, especially since its still in construction and easily fixed. They counter with a full tear off with new felt and removal of all previous nails etc. So after reading all of this my question is, is it better to just leave whats up alone and not risk all of the new nail holes, or would it be better to do the tear off and start with new paper and such? I am leaning to the latter but wanted some other opinions. TIA.
 
I'm no Tim Taylor, but I think it should be redone correctly. Otherwise it seems like you will be living with a ticking, uhm, dripping, time bomb above your head.
 
Scary situation.

You should get a re-do, form the get-go but.....

What about the quality of work performed what with the likely upset sub-contractor and maybe the workers?
 
obbop is right, a big "warranty" rework will be performed at lightning speed, and half-arsed performance.

mori is right, it should be done correctly.
 
New (correct) shingles and I would make sure NEW paper.

If they are ticked off about the new paper, have them yell at who ever put the wrong shingles up in the first place...

Sucks to be them...
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Bill
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I say sit down and talk about it. You can adopt the hard line and have them make up the loss somewhere else if you want to. I don't think the contractors are going to lose any real money here when the job is done.

Naturally, this was a compound complication ..none of which is your fault.

Usually, there's no such thing as a warranty on a roof ..at least at any competitive price. The roofing contractor may be out of business in 5 years (operating under another name/banner/whatever). Even if the business is still active, you get the multiple attempts to patch the problem ..consuming lots of time and incurring more consequential damages that you have to recover from the homeowners policy (more hassle/deductibles) etc...etc. No one leaves anything really exposed in terms of liability.

Get the job done right in the most practical manner possible that assures the utmost total integrity to the job.
 
Keep things in perspective - tar paper is the last line of defense, under two layers of shingle, and is not actually required under many local codes (I'm told). When you get to the point of actually needing tar paper to repel water you have much bigger problems to worry about.
 
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Keep things in perspective - tar paper is the last line of defense, under two layers of shingle, and is not actually required under many local codes (I'm told). When you get to the point of actually needing tar paper to repel water you have much bigger problems to worry about.




He's right. If it's going to leak, it will leak right away. I wouldn't worry about it. FWIW I partially reroofed an old shed years ago w/o felt and it never leaked. No moisture problems between shingles and wood either.
 
Thanks for the replies fellas. We are going to do a complete tear-off and reroof with new paper and shingles. I will be able to go up and inspect the entire roofing board with the builder and roofing supervisor for damage prior to new paper and shingling also. My builder has assured me that if there is any damage to the underlayment board, the entire sheet will be replaced. Everyone involved has been very attentive and apologetic. They probably weren't expecting me to be around when this happened. And after realizing I had some experience with construction, figured they'd better do things right and to my satisfaction.

I wasn't too worried about the felt paper as much as I was about putting more nail holes in the OSB board. I realize that the paper is a moisture barrier for the wood and not really to repel incoming water. The problem with what they were doing is the paper was bunched up and folded over in places. Also, nails from the torn off shingles were still on the roof but not hammered down. You can see where it does not allow the new shingles to lay flat and I think wind driven rain can find a way in through these areas. I'll let ya all know how it turns out.
 
I'm in the middle of reroofing my house (myself). This means removing three layers and redecking. While tearing off I could see all the shortcuts taken by the previous roofers... negative overlap of the tar paper, all kinds of slashes in the tar paper, three nails per tile instead of four, 3/8-inch plywood decking (probably code back in 1961).
 
Helped my sister with a roof. Tore the original roof off, 30+ years old, and lo and behold NO tar paper! We only had 2 soft plywoods to replace and this is Seattle rain country. I've replaced more plywood on roofs that were done right. I know it isn't right and the contractor that built her home cheesed out, though I have heard it was common practice. But in light of what I saw I wouldn't have worried too much about the extra nail or staple holes in your felt.
 
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