How disruptive is it to get a new roof?

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It looks like we're finally going to move on getting our roof replaced. We got a credit towards the cost of the house because the previous owners acknowledged that the roof was in bad shape and needed to be replaced -- that was 3 years ago. No specific leaks or anything but a lot of moss and it generally looks its age. (Which I forget, but more than 20 years old I think.)

We're in the earliest stages so I have a million-billion questions, but my first one is -- how disruptive is the process? Can you live more or less normally in your house as they replace the roof? I don't care about them actively working on it during the day when I'm at home (unironic reason #782 that being deaf can be useful), but I'm concerned about disruption in terms of my 6-year-old daughter.

Any info appreciated, thanks.

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soz- We just had our roof replaced a few months ago. Except for some banging, it really was not terrible. There was really no disruption at all, as far as the inside of the house was concerned.

You might want to explain to the Sozlet what is happening. Maybe the roofer can give her a small piece of the tile for her to keep.

In my house, we had a skylight replaced when the roof was installed. If you are doing anything like that, make sure that the roofers clean up the attic where stuff may have fallen in during the installation.

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If it's asphalt shingles they could be in and out in a day. What I've experienced is that a large dumpster and the roofing materials show up late in the day before the crew is scheduled to arrive. Around 7:00 am the tearing off of old shingles begins and by 7:00 pm they are gone and you have a new roof.

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WOW! That would be great. It's currently asphalt shingles but we're not certain yet what we'll replace them with. (Probably asphalt shingles.)

7:00 AM is a bit early but really not bad at all -- she currently wakes up at 7:30.

Good point about the attic, Phoenix. Brings me to another question -- do they thoroughly clean up after themselves in the yard, or do they just kind of grab the main things? Do I have to steel myself for losing some plants?

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You'll all want to stay out of the yard during the removal process, because I can recall huge pieces of roofing being thrown and dropped from the roof onto the lawn (and my azaelias) as they never actually hit their aim into the dumpster.
Added to that, the men and their language, the ladders and equipment.

Other than the outside activity, the noise inside was unbearable, but you've covered that.

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No, they use the dumpster to haul away all the debris. You will tend to find roofing nails here and there for awhile.

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happycat wrote:

You'll all want to stay out of the yard during the removal process, because I can recall huge pieces of roofing being thrown and dropped from the roof onto the lawn (and my azaelias) as they never actually hit their aim into the dumpster.
Added to that, the men and their language, the ladders and equipment.

Other than the outside activity, the noise inside was unbearable, but you've covered that.

heh, the language --- our crew only spoke Polish. Whatever they were saying, it wasn't understandable.

soz, we had two new roofs in five years from two different roofers. Neither time was a big hassle. Just a lot of noise for one day.

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Soz- They are supposed to clean up after themselves, and they will, if they are a decent company. After the fact, we did find a few old attachments on the lawn, but no big deal.

In my case, it took about 1 1/2 days. The only time that you have to worry about the attic, is if you have a skylight, or if they have to replace rotted plywood. Then the top of the house will be open. They close it up pretty quickly.

As far as plants are concerned, they are pretty careful, but you have to expect that there might be some minor mishaps. The roofing stuff is HEAVY!

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JPB wrote:

happycat wrote:
You'll all want to stay out of the yard during the removal process, because I can recall huge pieces of roofing being thrown and dropped from the roof onto the lawn (and my azaelias) as they never actually hit their aim into the dumpster.
Added to that, the men and their language, the ladders and equipment.

Other than the outside activity, the noise inside was unbearable, but you've covered that.

heh, the language --- our crew only spoke Polish. Whatever they were saying, it wasn't understandable.

soz, we had two new roofs in five years from two different roofers. Neither time was a big hassle. Just a lot of noise for one day.

Polish! that's rare! I would've liked that....I'm Polish. Not that I'd understand what they said....but it would've been cool to hear. Very Happy

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When MIL got her roof redone, the only REAL bothersome thing was that Bean was still in the napping stage and could not because of the noise .

We were still able to do everything as usual.
It was loud at times, but never consistant, and never really annoying.

The yard was covered with debris, and we were asked to not go outside unless we needed to, and then make sure to wear shoes because of nails and other sharp pieces of metal in the yard.

It took them 3 days ( it rained one day and they had to stop, so what should have been two turned into three)

They went around and picked up everything they could see, then took a really high powered magned to the ground and got ... I would say about 80% of the nails and other pieces of metal off the ground.

Since MIL doesnt care to have a green thumb, there was no danger to plans, but some of the grass took a bit of damage.
Nothing that didnt grow back with in the next year though. And nothing really horrible.
Mostly just holes from the ladder, and dropping tools off the roof.

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Save some money and time.
The existing roof material does not always have to be removed.
Architectural asphalt shingles can be installed over a single layer of old asphalt shingles.
The manufacture will fully warranty this type of installation.

You do not want more than 3 layers of shingles.

What type of ventilation do you have?
Full length ridge vents work best...

HTH Very Happy

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We have too many layers already -- I think more than 3. I'm fairly certain that everything will need to be ripped up.

Basically, the house has two parts. There is the original, very old part -- built in the 20's. That part has a sad roof with a lot of layers (asphalt shingles). Then an addition was built in the 90's -- that is also asphalt shingles, but I don't think anything has been done to it since it was first built. That part of the roof seems basically fine, but we're having roofing people come out and give quotes and we'll find out more then. We're sure we have to re-do the old part, not sure about the new part. The shingles are already slightly different colors in those two areas, I'm not too worried about exact matching throughout the whole roof.

No idea about ventilation, something to look into.

I'm definitely a bit worried about my yard...! But it seems like the whole thing would take much less time than I'd expected, I was thinking more like a week. 1-3 days isn't bad at all.

Thanks for your feedback so far, much appreciated!

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Quote:

do they thoroughly clean up after themselves in the yard, or do they just kind of grab the main things? Do I have to steel myself for losing some plants?

You should consider having a cleanup clause in your contract or description of works document.

Ie acme roofing company warrant to leave the yard and environs in similar condition to prior to start date. Take photos of your yard and house prior to work starting.

Ask where they will dispose of surplus products. Is this a legal disposal point? Is paint invoved? where will brushes and rollers be cleaned. paint down the drains is not good and even less so out in the street.

Ask the company about plants. It may be easier to dig them up or cut them well back and get them out of the way.

Remember everything that happens during the job is your responsibility unless the contractor accepts responsibility in writing.

as we dont have asphalt type of roofing here in Aust. i googled and came up with this site.
http://www.roofhelp.com/choices/asphaltshingles/

I'd recommend a thorough study of all the pages and links you will then be able to ask questions which make it sound like you know all about the job.

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From my only roofing experience (outside of helping my boyfriend re-do his mothers roof in college), I have two words for ya:

Chalk Line.

Make sure they do one. If they don't, video the results. This can be quite humorous for otherwise stuffy small calims court judges. Very Happy

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Just an added thought here, when we had a new roof put on we had the roofer install a few turbine vents (4) which added about $150 total to the roofing bill. Well worth it imo.

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Soz
Rule number one when replacing your roof: Lots of dust and debries will come into your house. Cover your furniture and stuff with plastic sheets to reduce the cleanup.

As part of my job in California, I sued a well known roofing material manufacturer on the East Coast and won for fraudulent content information. It forced the roofing industry to provide accuarate information about the factory weight, dry weight and wet weight of roofing material. I also forced the company to list all of the components of the material. I discovered that they had deleted the anti-mold zinc content and replaced it with copper, a material that was not compatible with aluminum gutters and caused them to fail. They had to replace the roofs on 187 homes and/or replace the aluminum gutters with copper gutters and downspouts. They chose to replace the gutters. They stopped selling their product in California but, as far as I know, are still selling to the faulty material in other states---unless they have learned their lesson.

Existing roofing should always be removed before reroofing. A house is built to hold a certain roof weight and care must be taken not to exceed the limit. This is especially important in earthquake country and heavy snow and high wind country. Long life roofs are considerably heavier than shorter life roofs.

Its also important to carefully read both the manufacturer warranty as well as the contractor warranty. It makes a big difference when things go wrong.

BBB

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dyslexia wrote:

Just an added thought here, when we had a new roof put on we had the roofer install a few turbine vents (4) which added about $150 total to the roofing bill. Well worth it imo.

Make sure there are inlet vents at eve level.

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JPB, why did you have the roof done twice in 5 years?

different houses?

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Re: Soz
This is just the kind of info I was going for, thanks so much and keep it coming!

BumbleBeeBoogie wrote:

Rule number one when replacing your roof: Lots of dust and debries will come into your house. Cover your furniture and stuff with plastic sheets to reduce the cleanup.

OK wait, that's one thing that I was worried about and that other people seem to be indicating won't be an issue. Lots of dust and debris IN the house? From where? (I.e, through the roof itself or just because it will be in the air, in terms of windows and doors and stuff?)

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Re: Soz

sozobe wrote:

This is just the kind of info I was going for, thanks so much and keep it coming!

BumbleBeeBoogie wrote:
Rule number one when replacing your roof: Lots of dust and debries will come into your house. Cover your furniture and stuff with plastic sheets to reduce the cleanup.

OK wait, that's one thing that I was worried about and that other people seem to be indicating won't be an issue. Lots of dust and debris IN the house? From where? (I.e, through the roof itself or just because it will be in the air, in terms of windows and doors and stuff?)

It depends on your roof's structure. If you have a layer of plywood under the roofing material, you won't get as much dust. If, when the old roof is removed, and there is no plywood under-roof, the house's open roof frame will allow dust onto your attic floor-room ceiling. If you store anything in the attic, it will get covered with dust and debris.

BBB

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How disruptive is it to get a new roof?

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