10 replies to this topic

[raymac46]

The houses in my neighborhood are getting close to 15 years old now and the roofs are starting to go bad. They weren't the best quality to start with and many were installed in cold weather. Our roof was curling badly on the south side.
My next door neighbor met a local roofer at a home show. He seemed quite responsible, his pricing was reasonable and he uses good quality materials. My neighbor decided to go with him, and thanks to neighbor's legwork in sourcing him, we did too.
He did a fine job and now we are set with a much better roof.
Well, the roofer now has completed his 9th roof in the 'hood in the past 2 months, and he has another 3 booked. Looks like my neighbor did him quite a favor - not to mention us.

Edited by raymac46, 11 August 2018 - 08:33 AM.

[abarbarian]

Always nice to know that you have a sound roof over your head.

I repaired my sisters roof back in the 80's and did four of her neighbours roofs in the following months. They all said that they had sat and watched me work and were impressed by what they saw so decided to hire me.
I was just trying to raise some loot to go climbing and do me sister a favour and was quite chuffed with the extra work. Especially as it was only my second or third attempt at roofing.

[raymac46]

It's hard work and you need some decent carpentry skills - plus the workplace rules today require safety ropes and harnesses. Not a job for me at my age and with back issues.
The new roof is just so much better than the old one. The original roof had about three feet of black paper around the drip edges and nothing under the shingles. Now we have six feet of special ice shielding on the edges, a rubberized fabric over the rest of the roof under the shingles. Also, the shingles are much heavier grade than before. They are a fiberglass asphalt combination which protects against nails coming loose and is super sticky. According to the specs, the shingles stay in place in winds up to 130 MPH. If that happened the whole roof would be in my backyard with the shingles still applied.

[abarbarian]

raymac46, on 12 August 2018 - 07:36 AM, said:

It's hard work and you need some decent carpentry skills - plus the workplace rules today require safety ropes and harnesses. Not a job for me at my age and with back issues.
The new roof is just so much better than the old one. The original roof had about three feet of black paper around the drip edges and nothing under the shingles. Now we have six feet of special ice shielding on the edges, a rubberized fabric over the rest of the roof under the shingles. Also, the shingles are much heavier grade than before. They are a fiberglass asphalt combination which protects against nails coming loose and is super sticky. According to the specs, the shingles stay in place in winds up to 130 MPH. If that happened the whole roof would be in my backyard with the shingles still applied.

Your roofing sounds much more complicated than ours here in the UK. Then again it has to be as you get much more severe weather. Over here we use slate or clay pantiles mainly with some composite materials aswell. A slate roof should last in excess of at least 50 years here or even longer. The slates if they are decent quality can be relaid and can last indefinitely.
My parents house was built 1886 and we redid the roof in the 1980's.

[raymac46]

Generally in Canada, we use asphalt shingles or in some cases metal. Asphalt is good usually for 20 years and metal can be good for 50 or more. Slate roofing was done in Victorian times but mostly on larger public buildings. Tar and gravel (pitch) roofs are common on industrial buildings with flat roofs.
A big problem here is when snow melts and refreezes along the edge of the roof. Water can then back up under the shingles and get into your attic. The ice shields stop this from happening.

Edited by raymac46, 13 August 2018 - 08:28 AM.

[ebrke]

abarbarian, on 13 August 2018 - 07:32 AM, said:

A slate roof should last in excess of at least 50 years here or even longer. The slates if they are decent quality can be relaid and can last indefinitely.

And as I understand it, the framing of your house has to be a good deal stronger to support the added weight of the slates.

[raymac46]

Yes, you would need solid wood decking under the shingles to support a slate roof. Newer homes use plywood for that.
The longer-term option here is to go with a metal roof but that would be 3X the cost and frankly at my age probably not worth it.

[ebrke]

And wouldn't a metal roof retain heat in summer?

[raymac46]

Metal roofs reflect a lot of heat, and with proper ventilation you'll be OK. A metal roof also radiates heat pretty well when it gets dark. They are actually lighter in weight than asphalt.
The big problem with metal where I live is that snow doesn't stick to it very well - so you get "roof avalanches" in the winter. You need some sort of barrier along the edge of the roof to keep the snow from sliding off.

[abarbarian]

ebrke, on 13 August 2018 - 12:21 PM, said:

abarbarian, on 13 August 2018 - 07:32 AM, said:

A slate roof should last in excess of at least 50 years here or even longer. The slates if they are decent quality can be relaid and can last indefinitely.

And as I understand it, the framing of your house has to be a good deal stronger to support the added weight of the slates.

This represents a typical UK roof slated or pantiled. Our temperatures here are not as severe as yours but we do get very high winds.

[raymac46]

The roof trusses in the UK are considerably heavier than those here in Canada.