Roofing Questions

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Hurricane Irma took about half our asphalt shingles off when she left town.
Insurance only would cover $3500 because they were 20 years old.
New asphalt cost a little over $5,000, metal was twice that.
Being poor and on Social Security, we had asphalt put down.
 
rice paddy daddy said:
Hurricane Irma took about half our asphalt shingles off when she left town.
Insurance only would cover $3500 because they were 20 years old.
New asphalt cost a little over $5,000, metal was twice that.
Being poor and on Social Security, we had asphalt put down.
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You do what you can do, I don't short anyone for not being able to carry out something they can't afford, we've certainly been there over the years, not only that, the cost of almost all building materials has really increased, check out what rolls of 100 and 200 foot Romex copper wire costs, it's enough to give a person a heart attack.
 
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rice paddy daddy said:
Hurricane Irma took about half our asphalt shingles off when she left town.
Insurance only would cover $3500 because they were 20 years old.
New asphalt cost a little over $5,000, metal was twice that.
Being poor and on Social Security, we had asphalt put down.
Click to expand...
Ours was double what it was in 1998, the sales guy looked at our old file so he already had the dims and such :)
 
Irma damaged so many roofs that we had tarps up there for six months until it was our turn.
We did use the best roofing company in the area, though. We’re in Florida, the company is based in Georgia, but they are permitted to work here.
Might have been able to get it done sooner if we wanted to use a lower quality company.
 
A previous homeowner had the right idea by buying quality architectural shingles. Should have hired a professional to install them. Noticed what was used for ridge cap. Pictures from building inspectors report.

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We've been looking at roofing for our new home. Settled on metal roofing. If you want something that doesn't look metallic, check out Decra's stone covered metal. Gives it a distinctive look. However, it you get a lot of snow, not sure it will slide off easy.
 
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I'm starting to plan replacing my house shingles. But I'm troubled by the quality of shingles that I bought at home depot to redo a couple of outbuildings. It seems once again that they don't make them like they used to? The 30 year shingles I bought are not gonna make it 15...
 
Like others have said, it kind of depends on your budget and the area you live in. I roofed through high school and college to pay for everything. My senior year in high school, my parents had a metal roof installed. I was kinda bothered by that as I would have laid the new shingles for them for free. After moving back to Mo after almost 20 years, I seen that my parents roof was still there and not leaking, whereas many of the roofs I did were replaced. So when the time came to put a new roof on our house, we went with metal over the single layer of asphalt. More costly, but it's actually quieter during storms. Good luck.
 
When I built my house and installed the metal roofing in 2016 I priced the materials for both and the cost of the metal roofing and all the necessary trim and screws was about half the price for shingles. That was just the material, I did the install myself. I knew I wanted metal roofing but I got a quote for both. When I ordered the metal I told them the length and they cut it exactly to size. They were able to adjust lengths down to 1/8 inch. All I had to do was drag each piece up the roof, set it in place and screw it down. I did use a very high quality clear silicone sealant on every seem, essentially gluing each piece of metal to the previous piece.

I know some do not like the look of the metal roofing but since I am in a rural neighborhood and wildfires are very possible every year I used metal roofing as siding on 3 sides of my house. It was a pain cutting it out around the windows and doors but fortunately very flew pieces needed more than one cut out so most slid into place with ease, just make sure you get your cuts right because you can't install it upside down. I had that problem only once, well actually twice but it was the same piece I cut wrong both times. Good thing I ordered a few extra sheets. The metal siding is VERY close in color to vinyl siding I used on the front of the house facing the street. There is minimal fire danger in the front, the sides and backyard are the fire concern for my property. I have had a few people ask why I sided with metal and once I explained the fire safety they liked the idea. Since then one other new house in our small neighborhood used metal siding on 2 sides of their house for fire safety.
 
ClemKadiddlehopper said:
Our school has 40 year old wood siding. We are repairing the icky bits and covering the sides with metal as well. It already looks like a warehouse, so that won't change, but it won't rot or need painting anymore. Safer for fire as mentioned. No fire department. Just us.
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At least it didn't look like our high school, it has a Pirate scheme, Glendale Pirates. When the outside was finished the superintendent was patting himself on the back for what had been built and I casually mentioned that all that needs to be done is to put bars on the windows and it would be a prison, I should take some pics and post them, the whole outside covering looks like large stone grandfathers, it's actually gunnite pumped on and stained to look old, the local business that did the work has done a lot of work for Disney and even the business owners' home looks like a castle that's on a ridge just south of Roseburg. A son of one of the Pappas families, Tom Pappas won the decathlon in the 2003 Olympics, so the whole Pappas family is quite industrious, probably starting with the grandfather who taught wrestling. All the family members once lived in a religious compound in the area. I haven't seen any of the family for a number of years. One of the Pappas family members that I knew, one that was in charge of the school project also drove a motorcycle powered rocket looking vehicle at the salt flats, crashed it at 300 mph, survived but walks with a limp. I don't think the religious compound exists any longer, just some interesting history of our area, I don't think there are any Pappas children even attending school any more, time seems to change all things.
 
Asphalt shingles aren't what they used to be. When I was a kid in Central Iowa, most everyone had three tab asphalt, and they held up well. Nowadays, 30 year three tabs might last 10 years. 40 year architectural shingles last 20, if you're lucky or you live in a city where the wind isn't so bad. If you want it to last, you bite the bullet and put on steel.

My pops put on exposed fastener steel at the farm. I didn't think it would look good, but it's surprisingly good from an aesthetic standpoint. It kind of gives an industrial look. It's a light tan color so it doesn't absorb as much heat. He had to seriously reinforce his gutters though. The snow builds and builds, then it all comes off at once and rips the gutters right off the house...
 
Spikedriver said:
Asphalt shingles aren't what they used to be. When I was a kid in Central Iowa, most everyone had three tab asphalt, and they held up well. Nowadays, 30 year three tabs might last 10 years. 40 year architectural shingles last 20, if you're lucky or you live in a city where the wind isn't so bad. If you want it to last, you bite the bullet and put on steel.

My pops put on exposed fastener steel at the farm. I didn't think it would look good, but it's surprisingly good from an aesthetic standpoint. It kind of gives an industrial look. It's a light tan color so it doesn't absorb as much heat. He had to seriously reinforce his gutters though. The snow builds and builds, then it all comes off at once and rips the gutters right off the house...
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I took that into consideration and used a straight edge off the roof and placed the outside edge of my gutters about an inch or two below that line. My roof has a 7/12 pitch so the snow comes off pretty fast and flies right over the edge of the gutter. Just be sure no one is standing on the side of the house an hour or two after the sun rises and warms up the snow/roof/attic.
 
I finally got my issues fixed with some 7.Mil foundation plastic. As long as I can keep a tarp over it,
should be good for a year or two, barring bad wind.
 
We just got a quote for a metal roof to be applied over our over 25 year old shingled roof. We don't have any leaking issues yet, but we want to be proactive instead of reactive. We firgure if we get the metal roof on over the shingles before there is a problem we will be wayyyyy further ahead and it will give us double protection. We will have the soffets and everything done in the same color so as to give the house a new look. It wasn't that much more expensive to include the soffets and trim. Our quote was for about $13 K and we know the contractor who's going to do it and he is close to retirement so we didn't want to wait too long. He told us that our roof was in really good shape but if we put the metal roof on over it, it will outlast us and our kids, (barring a catastrophy). I look at it as an investment since we aren't going anywhere and eventually we will need to replace the shingles if we don't do this.

I think in the long run it will be worth it not to have to worry about the roof. I especially like the idea of protection against fire and also the extra insulation from the elements it will give us. The upgrade to giving the house a new look is just a bonus.

I didn't know that insurance companies prefer the metal roofs. After we get it done, I should call them and let them know about the upgrade.
 
We picked up our metal roof material yesterday, the color is weathered copper, it matches the roof color on our home and wood/battery shed just up the hill. Now if I can just get the storage shed project started I'll be happy, got the pier block holes dug, just need to level the blocks, square up the pressure treated 4"X 4"'s and start the floor joists, this project seems to be taking forever to get off the ground, guess that's what getting older does to me.
 
Is a metal roof going to interfere with your ham radio hobby? This would depend on where your antennas are. I would think that handheld use inside would be nearly impossible. I have no practical experience with this, I'm just musing theoretically.
 
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