Can I do the roof myself?

Hi All, I just had a roofer give me a quote of 6k to redo our flat brownstone roof. He said it was essentially a matter of painting it with a heavy duty “ten year” product. This seems like something I can do myself, no?

Or is this an area that I should really hire a professional for?

Thank you!
Rebecca

blauprint9

in Roofing 4 years and 5 months ago

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stevecym | 4 years and 5 months ago

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the guys in this nabe who paint roofs are here for 3 hours and charge like 600. no flashing cement. that is why i do my own. if op thinks she (?) can do it, more power to her. but make sure it only needs what say dork or jjq describes and go for it.

hkapstein | 4 years and 5 months ago

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6k is about right for a new roof ply, but way too much for painting a roof. But I wouldn’t consider painting the roof to be “redoing” a roof, if that is what is necessary. You probably could paint your own roof, but wouldn’t choose to if you got a competitive quote on that.

stevecym | 4 years and 5 months ago

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i cannot make sense of the 6 k figure myself.

the aluminum paint is cheap when compared to other paints (at least when compared to the paints i use in my business) but goes on thick so the coverage is not the same as with what we think of as paint. 6k sounds like a new roof??

i like what dork and jjq are saying as they sound most reasonable.

i will add, i maintain my own roof and yes, the last time i did this i ran around and filled any problem areas with flashing cement as jjq is saying his people did and i have to say, the timing came out about the same as well.

if this is patching open seems and coating you can do this yourself so long as you passed first grade finger painting. the hardest thing seems to be keeping the mess from following you down the hatch and into the house. i did my roof over two days and left the stuff with paint on it

if you move to do this yourself, i would read the temperature requirements for application as they were very specific (50 degrees? and rising. 40 degrees and rising?). the “and rising” part made me take care to follow it as we don’t usually see instructions written that way. in other words, they do not want us doing this at 40 or 50 degrees and we hit a three week cold snap and it does not harden for two weeks.

jjq | 4 years and 5 months ago

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edit for above: “aluminum paint IS expensive”

jjq | 4 years and 5 months ago

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I had a roof company come out and do my 1000 sqft roof for $1250. The job took two 4-5 hour days for two guys. The first 5-hour day they caulked, flashed and “tarred” what they thought we’re problem areas especially around skylight and parapet and basic cracks…. It dried overnight.

Then the second day they “painted” the whole roof with aluminum based paint.

I always think about a job in terms of $/hour Plus materials.

2 guys at 10 hours, equals 20 hours. Call it $250 materials (may actually be more, that aluminum paint isn’t expensive) and we’re in at a reasonable $50/hr per person for the job. I always think that’s about the “right” number for semi-skilled work. WITH a written guarantee where the owner/main guy basically sit still in the truck and takes his cut.

yudashasom | 4 years and 5 months ago

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Assuming you are talking about a coating, and not a new layer… yes, you can do this yourself. No special skills are necessary. If you can paint with a roller, you can apply a silver or white roof.

$6k is nuts

dorkofwindsor | 4 years and 5 months ago

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is this simply for a coating of Gaco, Gardner-Gibson, Henry white silicone based coating, then yes you can do it yourself. You need to wash the roof with TSP etc and make sure you get proper coverage per the manufacturer recommendations. Between manufacturer instructions and YouTube it is not a problem.

Here is a comparison, if slightly biased towards one competitor:
https://www.armorgarage.com/roof-coating-comparison-chart.html

allyslope | 4 years and 5 months ago

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If you think this is a bit too expensive get 2-3 written detailed estimates including material & amount of time to complete the work etc to be safe. Reading your post is unclear if they are just painting it or waterproofing.

hkapstein | 4 years and 5 months ago

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No, a proper roof job is not something you can do yourself. Special knowledge and skills are needed to properly waterproof everything. 6k is a good price, but the roof should not be “painted”. There are liquid applied roof membranes, but you need to make sure you’re getting a proper roof for that price and not a patch up job.