Hey guys,
I’m getting ready to replace an 8 year old asphalt shingle roof(cheap shingles from builder) and am getting conflicting advice. One friend says to completely strip the roof and start from scratch. Another friend says I’d be crazy not to just add a layer on top of the current roof. There is only one layer of shingles on the house now. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
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Strip it. There is no advantage to leaving the old shingles down. Get four or five of your buddies together and rip it off on a friday afternoonevening and shingle it in on Saturday. Grill some t-bones saturday nite and youll still have some friends. I have been doing exterior construction for ten years and get in on fifty or sixty roofs a year from new const. to 5 layer wood and asphalt tear-offs. Lay- overs are always a band aid, they dont have the life span, and they dont lay as flat as a single layer.
Also, use the Elk brand of shingles with their Z-Ridge acc. cap, never had a callback in ten years of putting them on. Cant say the same for Certainteed or Tamko
Edited 7/6/2006 11:36 pm ET by woody1777
An important factor is the condition of the existing shingles. If they are all still laying flat, then an overlay is doable.
If the existing shingles have begun to curl, then they should be stripped.
One of the arguments for stripping is so the sheathing can be inspected and problems corrected. But if this was done 8 years ago, it may be OK to not strip now.
On the other hand, if the shingles were cheap, then probably the install was too. So who knows how much moisture has been getting to the sheathing.
How good a shingle are you putting on? How long do you want the new roof to last? In theory, a layover won't give the same life as a non-layover.
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.
I would remove the shingles. You get to see the condition of the plywood. Don't know how much roof you have. What will this cost you, a day and a dumpster ? Think weight. Is the house in snow country. Do you plan on being there 20 + years. Ever remove a two layered roof. It's a bear. Well, maybe you'll be rich then and you can hire someone to do it.
Edited 7/6/2006 11:47 pm ET by handygman
Leaving the old shingles underneath will cut the life of the new shingles by up to half of their normal expected lifespan. Taking 1/3rd off the shingle life rating on the shingles is a pretty good bet for the actual replacement time over old shingles.
A couple of things I would consider:
Why did the shingles last only 8 years, are they really that poor of quality or is there another reason they have failed? Does the house/roof have proper ventilation? Were they installed correctly? What is the mode of failure? (just curious)
I don't like to recover, if the roof needs to be replaced I would rather tear off one layer and inspect the deck, install new shingles and flash everything right.
Also if you are going to be in the house for a long time, the next time you have to reroof, you (or the next roofer) will be thankful there is only one layer of shingles to strip.
Hey there HANDSFUL'''
Like most posts, I would definately do a tear off no questions asked.
But...., I disagree with the question of "are you going to live there long",being the deciding factor of a tear off or a reroof.DO IT RIGHT and tear it off, like said before"few buds, few t-bones, lots of cold, I mean cold BEERS and away you go
Good Luck
The Jamar Hammer
Hey everybody,
Thanks for all the feedback. The reason the shingles only lasted 8 years is hail damage,AND they were cheap shingles put on the house when it was built 8 years ago. Insurance is paying for this so I have the money to do it right. I just wanted to make sure there really was a difference since roofs are not my forte, I'm a custom millwork guy. Again, thanks for all your advice. It has really helped a lot.
Many shingle manufacturers do not warranty their product if it's installed over old shingles. Just another reason to do it right.