Roofing?

[Rico]

Anyone know much about roofing or had a new roof put on?  Lynn and I have been looking into this for our house the last couple of weeks.  I've learned quite a bit.  Any suggestions, thoughts or advice would be welcome.

[X]

Anyone know much about roofing or had a new roof put on?  Lynn and I have been looking into this for our house the last couple of weeks.  I've learned quite a bit.  Any suggestions, thoughts or advice would be welcome.

Yeah. Don't do it yourself. I've done some roofing and it's pretty simple work. Even a cave man can do it.

However, the cleanup is not for one man to do alone and the heat was like sitting in a stove ... in hell ... for a few hours.

Here's some of the things I've learned since then.

White roof is the way to go. It's more energy efficient.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Green-Homes/Cool-Roof-White-Roof.aspx

You could also go with solar shingles to get greener and I believe that you will get some tax rebates for going solar and getting a new roof in the process.

Either way, if you're going with a new roof, you should be making or saving money in the process

[X]

Here is the credits you could use for a white roof and solar. I also think that you can combnie the two

Roofs (Metal & Asphalt)
Qualified roof products reflect more of the sun's rays, which can lower roof surface temperature by up to 100F, decreasing the amount of heat transferred into your home.
Tax Credit Amount: 10% of the cost, up to $500
Requirements
"Metal roofs with appropriate pigmented coatings" and "asphalt roofs with appropriate cooling granules" that also meet ENERGY STAR requirements.

Tax Credit does NOT include installation costs.


Solar Energy Systems
Tax Credit:
Credit Details: 30% of the cost, up to $500 per .5 kW of power capacity
Expires:
December 31, 2016
Details:
Existing homes & new construction qualify. Must be your principal residence. Rentals and second homes do not qualify.

[billybob476]

I'm terrified of the day I'll have to put a new roof on the house, so I'll be reading this thread too!

[Rico]

I've done a little roofing too, and there is no way I'd even think of doing any of this job myself.  We've had three roofing guys come out so far and gotten some estimates.  Some variety and opinions out there on shingle brand, venting styles, etc.  I've been reading up on things.  A lot comes down to picking the place and the installation - of course.  We have another guy coming out next week.  One guy wouldn't even come out and do an estimate because he said it was "too hot."  Really?  He wouldn't even come in the morning.  One guy was 6 weeks out before he could even do the job.  But we have a couple that seem ok so far.  It's the biggest thing we've ever had done on our house and we want to make sure it goes well.

[moyer777]

We have had two of our homes re-roofed. 

Here in the Pacific Northwest we have either cedar shingles, a very expensive way, metal roofs, again kind of expensive, but most people go with asphalt shingles, either 3 or 5 tab.  Most companies that I worked with guaranteed them from 15 to 25 years, and the actual roofing products are guaranteed as well.

I did the first roof myself with friends, something I wouldn't do again, even though it saved me over half the money.  It was not only hard work, but kind of turned out crooked.. hehehe.  On that house we are currently in, we hired a contractor who did our pretty straight forward roof in two days!  Yeah!  Did all the tear off, clean up and put the roof on in only two days.  So far, we are very happy with it.

I don't know if that helped any, but it's my two cents.

[turtlesrock]

i like the white roof idea. seems like it would work.
always *complete* roofing projects during a really dry period, like in the middle of the summer. otherwise you will need to put tarps over the unfinished parts and it gets all messy :)

[Ktrek]

My only advice Rico would be to make sure the old roof is completely removed and buy good quality shingles that are rated for 30 years. Don't let them build over the old shingles. Insurance companies won't allow it so why should you?

Kevin

[Rico]

No worries on that Kevin, we had no plans to build over the current roof.  We bought our house new about 16 years ago, so we know everything about it.  This will be our first major job done on it.  We have a pretty good vibe from one company so far.  I'm kind of looking forward to getting it done. 

[Feathers]

We generally use tiles or slate (or thatch) over here so if you're all shingled up then anything I might know is largely irrelevant.

Does a roof really last only 16 years?

[Rico]

We generally use tiles or slate (or thatch) over here so if you're all shingled up then anything I might know is largely irrelevant.

Does a roof really last only 16 years?

Age varies a lot.  But you need to keep in mind it's impacted by weather quite a bit.  And we have some pretty extreme weather in the midwest.  Huge temperature ranges and swings over the year, lots of snow, wind, etc.  So all that is a factor.  Lynn and drove around a little today looking at colors in our area of shingles.  Getting it narrowed down.

[Rico]

Here's a pic of our house that I just took today.  If you look closely, you can see where there are some missing shingles and the roof is wearing down.

[Meds]

Is there a room abpve your garage Rico? You do have a bloody nice looking house. I'd have a thatched roof on that, it would look weird but very English ;)

[Rico]

Is there a room abpve your garage Rico? You do have a bloody nice looking house. I'd have a thatched roof on that, it would look weird but very English ;)

Yes, the garage has a lot of storage above it.  Filled with mainly empty collectible boxes and other stuff!

I just played around a bit with the Owens Corning site and did some copy and paste of a possible shingle choice called Teak.  We kind of like this one.

[Bromptonboy]

Some of the older sections of Philadelphia have slate roofs.  These are very expensive to replace, but last a very long time.  I have a 30 year asphalt roof on my house - which we bought new ~11 years ago.  I have done small roofing jobs myself, but wouldn't try to tackle my own roof.  What a pro would do in 2 days would take me 2 weeks!  :)

I like the idea of solar paneling - but we live on a hill top and get some pretty severe wind at times.  A white roof sounds interesting - I'll have to mull that one for a bit.