Shingle Roofs: Re-roofing pros and cons

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Roofing Encyclopaedia: Tips For Repair, Maintenance And Replacement

Hello there! I'm glad you dropped by. As the manager of a body corporate agency, I deal with a range of problems every day. Unwanted pests and burst drains are everyday occurrences. Sometimes, there are more unusual situations. Once, I had to deal with a tenant who was keeping a horse in his fourth-story unit! The most common problems I face are related to roofs as poorly-maintained roofs can cause leaks, fires and flying debris. Since I am always encouraging body corporates to maintain, repair or replace roofs before major hassles occur, I have become a bit of a roofing encyclopaedia. I can speak with reasonable knowledge about the best materials, techniques and tradespeople in the industry. I thought others out there might be seeking information about roofing repairs and benefit from my know-how. I hope these entries prove helpful. May you always stay dry!

Shingle Roofs: Re-roofing pros and cons

13 July 2015
 Categories: , Blog


For many shingle roof owners, you may want to know what to do with your roof once some of the shingles start getting old and worn. Some owners decide to replace the whole roof, but is this really necessary?

Laying old shingles on new ones is also an option worth considering and in this case, the new shingles are placed over the old ones. This is also called re-roofing. So you may wonder, what's the best option to use?

Advantages of re-roofing

Cost

This is an obvious benefit of re-roofing. Re-roofing takes away the costs of tearing away the old shingles and saves you the labour of prepping it for removal. Replacing a roof needs you to remove the vents, check the flashing and remove it if need be, remove the ridge and get rid of the caps. You'll need to have enough labour and prepare well for the process.

Simply layering your old roof also has the element of convenience. You will save a lot of time and you won't have to make such great plans and dedicate a lot of time to it.

Demerits of re-roofing

Only for asphalt

So why don't many owners do this? Well, it's simple first, it can only be done on asphalt shingles. Wood or slate layering can cause the underneath layer to wear out a lot faster. You also cannot mix up different layers of these roofs such as asphalt and over cedar. This simply increases the rate of wear and tear because of the incompatibility of the different roofs.

Increased weight

This is a no-brainer but adding an extra layer of shingles doubles up the weight. More probable than not, your roof was only designed to carry a single roof layer so you need to ensure that your roof structure is able to properly handle such weights. There's also the weight after it snows that needs to be considered else your roof is exposed to the risk of crumbling down. Two layers should be the minimum number but if your house is old and you doubt the power of your roof, stick to one.

Not good for a bad roof

Layering could work if your roof is not in a very bad condition, otherwise you'll be spraying cologne on a corpse. You'll have to get rid of the flashing and take care of the dents and misshaped shingles and this process can also be fairly expensive.

In the end, you'll have to replace both the layers if the roof is in poor condition, which will cost much more than replacing one. Contact a company such as Ultimate Roofing and Guttering with any questions or concerns you have.