My Roofing Experience

I’ve bombarded this forum with questions for the past few months, so I figured I’d give a little back.

I needed a new roof for my 20X80 attached house. I also have an extension that measures about 11×8\. Fred at Premier Roofing quoted me $4900 for the job, which was $350 less than the other company I called. For that price, I got a Bitumen roof on the main house and the extension as well as two new skylights, a new hatch and a new gutter along the back edge. He also raised the skylights and hatch up a few inches to get them above the layers of roofing that had been applied over the decades. And of course, he flashed the chimneys and vents. The whole job took less than a day.

After they were finished, I noticed that the long edge of the extension was a little sloppy. I showed this to Fred, and he fixed it in about ten minutes. Now it looks great.

Fred guarantees his roofs for ten years. For what it’s worth, it’s rained once since the work was done, and everything I own is still dry.

Overall, I’m satisfied with the whole experience.

DouglasAlan

in Roofers 13 years and 11 months ago

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slopelife | 11 years and 1 month ago

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Putnamdenizen, can you please provide a number for MB Construction? I called the one google turned up and it seems to be disconnected.

brokelin | 13 years and 11 months ago

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yes, there is no reason to take off roof to add a new flat roof if structure is in good condition.  Had Greene roofing do a roof years back, and it held up great.  

I did wonder if there was one hundred plus years of roof on there … likely was, unless they did tear them off in earlier times.

steam_man | 13 years and 11 months ago

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No doubt he got a good deal. It was the good price that got me to thinking in the first place. Anyway it was all just discussion borne of boredom. Stay dry douglasalan!

jameskoster | 13 years and 11 months ago

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Sounds to me like douglasalan got a reasonable deal that he’s happy with.  Full tear-off’s are rare because the older roofing is often ACM, so the cost of the tear-off can be prohibitive.  (ACM = asbestos containing material) I’m giving Fred a call next time a client needs some inexpensive roofing.

kidbklyn | 13 years and 11 months ago

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 I guess that if the wood of the roof was exposed to a great amount of water it would rot and it would have to be repaired. If its condition was sound why would you repair it. Would you it treat like the drive chain of a car and change it at a set mileage or would you treat it like brakes? The roof Greene roofing put in on over 10 years old. During the first year I had a minor problem with a leak caused by a flashing, which the repaired under a 10 year guarantee. Other roofers bid on the roofing job. Not one of them mention tearing off the roof. If your idea were true then many more roofs would have caved in during last years heavy snowfalls because of the extra weight on them. I bet the few that caved in had rotten wood sub roofs and that was the cause. Maybe a roofer can give us a definitive answer.

steam_man | 13 years and 11 months ago

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That sounds like some line they told you. The concern is the substrate (that which the roof is adhering to). In this case the substrate is a ?? year old roof. It is common practice to go up to 3 layers over but I am still not sure the OEM warranty covers a roof laid on top of an old roof.

kidbklyn | 13 years and 11 months ago

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I had roofs done by Premier and Greene roofing. Both said that with a flat roof you could put many layers of roofing on top, because of how the weight is distributed on a flat roof. What was more critical was the condition of the wood beneath the roofing material. A peaked roof is a different matter. I not sure if two or three layers is the maximum amount allowed. Again, this is because of the way the weight is distributed.

steam_man | 13 years and 11 months ago

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I wonder if the manufacturer warranties a roof placed over an old roof. Somehow, I don’t thinks so…

Putnamdenizen | 13 years and 11 months ago

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A concern I had with them was that they recommended just running flashing up and over parapets which were crumbling and listing to one side. In the end I went with MB Construction which did a lot of reconstruction work (rebuild chimney, two parapets), replaced skylingt, hatch, terminated flshing with interlocking copper pieces.  More than twice your price, but a very different job.

DouglasAlan | 13 years and 11 months ago

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No, that doesn’t include removing the old roof. This is a flat roof (with a few degrees grade), and I’m not sure how much that’s done for this type of roof. Basically, they just rolled out 10 to 12 strips of material across the old roof and sealed them with tar and whatnot.

steam_man | 13 years and 11 months ago

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Did that include removing the old roof?