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How Many Layers Of Shingles Can Be On A Roof

Slate Tile Roofing Shingles

How to Nail Roof Shingles | Mastering the Roof by GAF

Slate roofing shingles are a stone roofing material that is installed as a shingle. Slate shingles are thin but very heavy when the whole roof is made out of them. Slate has a natural beauty to it that many people appreciate, but the shingles do not really vary in color or looks. Slate roofing shingles cost on average $8 to $14 per square foot or $800 to $1,400 per square to install. Slate tiles are more difficult to install but when done properly they will give you one of the longest-lasting roof options available. Slate shingles come with an expensive price tag, but that does not mean that slate is not a great roof type option if you can afford it. Many people decide slate roofs are worth the cost to install since they will last more than a lifetime from 60 to 150 years.

Your Home: Can A Multiple

Question: If I have more than one layer of roofing on my home, should I be concerned about resale?

The short answer is yes.

Now for the why.

If there is one thing that I love about my industry it is that things are constantly changing. And roofing guidelines are no exception to the rule. When I started my real estate career, I sold homes with three layers of roofing. Sometimes even with composition shingles over wood/shake shingles. It used to be common practice to install one layer of roofing over another.

Well those days are gone. As the years have passed, the insurance guidelines and the city guidelines have changed dramatically. Also, we have learned more about attic ventilation and how multiple layers of roofing actually compromise the life of the roof because of poor ventilation and the extreme temperature changes that we see from summer to winter.

So back to that short answer of yes. We are really talking about two different issues: multiple layers of composition roofing and composition over a wood shingle/shake roof.

In the case of composition over shake shingle, it is virtually impossible to obtain insurance for a home purchase these days. There are only two companies that know of that will offer coverage. And as mentioned earlier, they will only cover the top layer. And in some cases, the buyer will have to pay a higher premium.

Wear A Safety Harness

Use a safety harness system to prevent falls. Wear shoes with soft rubber soles for a good grip and long pants to protect against the skin-scraping shingles. Just to reiterate, working on a roof is dangerous, so be sure to take these precautions:

  • Set roof jacks and a 2×10 about 3 ft. up from the roof edge.
  • Wear a safety harness , which you can buy at safety equipment stores and some roofing and home centers.
  • Wear soft rubber-soled shoes for traction, long pants to protect your legs, work gloves, safety glasses and have the proper roofing tear off tools.

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Should I Put A New Layer Of Shingles On My Roof

When deciding whether or not to put a new layer of shingles on, you must weigh the pros and cons. Additionally, confirm that you only have a single layer of shingles, to begin with, or else you are not a good candidate for this project.

Advantages to adding a new layer of shingles on your roof are:

  • Its more affordable than a full roof replacement.
  • Its a faster process than removing the old roofing material.

Disadvantages to adding a new layer of shingles on your roof are:

  • The shingles youre adding will be much less durable than the old layer theyre covering and, therefore, wont last as long.
  • Second layers trap heat and degrade the first set of shingles more quickly.
  • It adds more weight to the top of your house.
  • It could look sloppy and lumpy.

Regardless of what you decide to do, its important to get an experienced contractors opinion in order to guarantee that the work is done safely and properly.

Subtle Issues To Complicate Things

Roofer used two different batches of shingles ...

When you need shingles for your roof, its best to get several quotes from different roofers. Theyre going to give you the best idea about what is possible with the budget that you have. Because you can often lay other roof types over an intact asphalt shingle layer without issue, it could be cheaper to go that route and avoid a tear-off entirely. But, this is only something your expert can tell you for sure.

Other things to consider when pondering the re-roofing issue include:

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Shingles That Compliment House Trim

From keeping your house weather tight to capping its curb appeal, theres a lot riding on your roof. It has to withstand decades of blazing sun, pounding rains, gusting winds, and in many cases, snow and ice, as it protects you from the elementsall while looking good from the street.

When it comes to maintaining your home, a new roof is one of the biggest-ticket purchases you have to make. While that can be intimidating, experts agree that getting the job done right boils down to a two-part process. First, explore colors and styles by driving around your neighborhood to see how homes similar to yours look with different shingle colors and shapes. Most manufacturers have options in all the basic color families: browns and reds, blues and greens, grays and blacks, and golds and beiges. Then, as with any remodeling job, work with a top-notch contractor. The major shingle manufacturers websites list approved installers by ZIP code, often highlighting those whove passed best-practice training. The quality of the work is key. Asphalt shingles are pretty bulletproof these days, so failures can usually be traced back to poor installation.

Up ahead: what you need to know about choosing and installing an asphalt roof that will protect and enhance your home for years to come.

For a foolproof color scheme, pick a roof that incorporates a shade on the house, like the darker charcoal tones in the architectural shingles here, which tie into the houses trim.

Question : Why Leave Shingles When Installing A Metal Roof

Find a better roofing contractor. The old roofing should be removed, underlayment installed and furring strips screwed down for the metal to be fastened to. Dont let the installer screw the metal to plywood sheathing. It wont hold over time. If the old roof needs to be replaced why leave it there and not make sure there are no underlying problems before covering it over again? Also, the extra weight could be too much for your framing and cause cracking or other structural problems.

· Todd Shell, Angies List

1. Some metal roofing contractors are trying to convince people that you do not need roof wrap under metal roofing presumably so they can get their initial installed cost more competitive with other roofing materials. Dont fall for that metal roofs do leak at times, and without the roof wrap you have nothing to keep the water from saturating and rotting the sheathing and rafters, destroying your entire roof.

2. Also, if your roofing is flat sheet raised seam rather than corrugated, the batts or nailing strips should be discontinuous small gaps are needed every few feet to allow hot air to flow up to the ridge vent , otherwise it just becomes an oven between the roofing and the sheathing, plus the sheathing gets much hotter and makes your entire attic hotter in the summer.

3. It saves having to fill up landfills with old shingles.

· Unknown, Angies List

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Can You Roof A House Yourself

Make no bones about itroofing is hard work. Theres no hiding from the elements. You cant be afraid of heights and you need to be pretty fit. Before committing to this how to roof a house project, try this: Get out a ladder and climb up onto your roof. If you cant walk around on it comfortably, hire a pro. If you passed this first test, go to the lumberyard or home center and throw a bundle of shingles onto your shoulder. Imagine yourself carrying that load up a laddermany, many times.

If youre still feeling positive about this how to roof a house at this point, why not give it a shot? You can skip a lot of heavy lifting by having your roofing supplier hoist the shingles onto the roof. Be sure you spread the load evenly across the length of the roofs peak. However, dont have the shingles delivered to the roof if you still have two layers of old shingles to tear offit could be too much weight for your trusses.

After youve obtained a permit and safely stripped the roof clean, nail drip edge flashing flush along the eave.

Cover the rest of the roof with No. 15 asphalt-saturated felt underlayment . Each layer overlaps the lower one by at least 2 in. Follow this step by nailing drip edge along rakes , on top of the underlayment. As you did with the flashing, always lap upper pieces over lower pieces. The felt keeps the roof deck dry before shingles go on, protects against wind-driven rain as shingles fail and increases fire resistance.

Your Roof Wont Qualify For The Best Material Warranty

Oakridge® and Duration® Series Shingles Nailing Zone Performance | Owens Corning Roofing

Not only will upgrading your shingles lead to a lumpy roof, but you also wont have the opportunity to get the enhanced warranty when nailing over your old roof. All asphalt shingles come out of the package with a material warranty from the manufacturer.

3-tab asphalt shingles come out of the package with a 25-year warranty from the manufacturer. On the other hand, architectural asphalt shingles have a 30-year warranty thats prorated after 10 years .

But when you use all the roofing components from one manufacturer for your roof replacement, you can get the 50-year non-prorated enhanced warranty. Even if you get architectural shingles for your nail-over, you wont be able to get the enhanced warranty.

Your contractors workmanship warranty will still be the same, but youll only have the standard material warranty on your architectural shingles.

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Here’s What You Need To Know

To ensure you get the best possible quality of work done on your home, it’s important to understand the process of a good animal removal and exclusion project. Based on our solid experience, we’ve seen a lot of confusion and lack of information to homeowners with unwanted guests in their home like squirrels, rats, mice, and others. Our website provides you the information you need to guide you and protect your best interests from beginning to end. Quality work is based on experience, quality materials, and quality control. You don’t want to hire a technician. You want to hire an expert!

Communicate With A Professional Technician

For the most effective service, homeowners need to be informed about their pest problem and service. All customers who sign up for service communicate directly with their pest professional for scheduling and information about the pest problem.

For an inspection send us an email here or call 770-928-8000. One of our customer service representatives will contact the local technician to schedule the best time for you. If there are any specific times or information you would like us to know before scheduling please provide it here.

Learn about Bug-Off services, contact your local technician, request an inspection, and more. Connect with Bug-Off and get service, support, and professional advice from Bug-Off Exterminators, Inc.

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Know Your Alternatives: Shingle Recycling

Landfilling your roofing waste is only one way to go. Shingle recycling is becoming increasingly more popular in many areas, and it generally costs a lot less than sending your materials off to the dump. Recycled shingles can be used to create asphalt roads and pavement, and thats several tons of waste youve just diverted from the landfill! Recycling companies are usually more than happy to help you plan your waste removal, and its certainly one way to green up your reroofing project.

Find today’s best prices for your home improvement project.

It’s Not Ideal To Install New Shingles Without Removing The Old Ones But Follow This Pro Advice If You Do

Replace a Wood Shake Shingle Roof

Although placing new roofing over old may be allowed by some codes, roofovers tend to be inferior and wont last as long as a roof installed over stripped sheathing. If you must do a roofover, check with your local building department firstcodes typically require that you strip a roof if there are two or more layers or if existing shingles are curling.

Before beginning, replace or flash over old flashing as follows:

  • Use aviation snips to cut away flashing around plumbing vents.
  • Use a cold chisel to remove chimney counterflashing.
  • Along the eaves, install a new drip-edge over the butt ends of existing shingles.
  • Along the rakes, install a new J-channel drip-edge, which wraps around the old rake flashing and starter courses.
  • Leave the old valley flashing in place, and install new over it.

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Things To Know About Nailing Over Your Current Asphalt Roof

Now that you know that youre only allowed to have 2 layers of asphalt shingles and that its possible to nail over your old roof. Yes, nailing over your old roof will be cheaper than getting a complete roof replacement.

But if your current asphalt roof is a good candidate for a nail-over reroof, there are some things you need to be aware of before jumping right into your project.

Install The Drip Edge

Metal drip edge isnt usually required , but it gives roof edges a nice finished look, prevents shingles from curling over the edge, and keeps water from running directly down your fascia boards.

Before you install the underlayment, fasten the drip edge that covers the fascia on the eaves. The whole length of the fascia is probably not perfectly straight, so dont snap a line just hold the drip edge snug against the fascia and fasten it through the top into the decking with roofing nails. Nail it every couple of feet.

Install the drip edge on the gable ends of the roof after you finish installing your underlayment. Start at the bottom side of the gable, and overlap the sections of drip edge a few inches as you work your way up the roof . Use a tin snips to cut the drip edge to size.

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Can You Have More Than One Layer Of Shingles On A Roof

Helping Families Buying and Selling Real Estate | Licensed Realtor®

A house is more than just four walls and a roof. However, when your roof springs a leak, shingles start to blow away or age has just gotten the best of it, all youre thinking about is that darn roof. You may ask yourself a few very serious questions, like how am I going to pay for this? and what are my least expensive options?

Different Materials Have Different Weights

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Most homes have one of two different kinds of asphalt shingles on their roofs. There are three-tab shingles, a more traditional-looking specimen with a smooth, light-weight look, and architectural shingles, which are thicker and designed to give surfaces a textured appearance. As you might imagine, architectural asphalt shingles weigh much more than their three-tab counterparts.

However, those weights are typically nothing compared to the load from more specialized materials. Clay, slate, and concrete tiles all weigh more than asphalt, many times over. In general, asphalt hits somewhere around 2.5 to 3 pounds per square foot. On the other hand, a load of ¾-inch slate tiles might weigh as much as 26 pounds per square footso thats definitely a drastic difference. You can use a roofing weight calculator, like this one, to figure out how much each material you pull off will weigh.

Keep in mind that some roofs have multiple layers of shingles, so that can affect your weight as well.

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Tear Off The Old Shingles

Its impossible to properly install new flashing and underlayment if you dont tear off the old roof beforehand. When tearing off the existing shingles, be sure to remove all the old nails or pound them flat. Protruding nails will tear holes in your new shingles. If you have movable items near your house and youre worried they might get damaged, relocate them. Invest in a few large tarps to protect your plants and landscaping and to catch the thousands of nails that will rain down off the roof. It can be downright impossible to remove old self-stick ice-and-water underlayment, but its OK if you have to leave it in place. And if at all possible, have the rented trash bin parked close to the house so you can toss in the old shingles right from the roof.

Strip The Roof Start At The Peak Using Roofing Tear Off Tools

Start the tear-off at the section farthest from the trash container. Standing at the peak, use a garden fork or a specially notched roofing tear off shovel to tear away the ridge caps and the top courses of shingles.

Some roofers prefer forks because they don’t get caught on nails, making it easier and faster to remove the shingles. Others like the tear off shovels because they pull out more nails with the shingles. Work the fork under the ridge caps, prying them loose. As they come loose, allow them to slide down to the roof jacks. Or, if they don’t slide down the roof, carry them to the edge of the roof and throw them into the trash container.

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