Whole Roof Replacement - Your Recent Experience

NBF

Member
For the last few weeks I've been poring over ads of roofing companies and have yet to pull the trigger. It's a scary though I tell you when you have to take out a loan to replace your roof. I've had about three estimates that run from $17,500 to $21,000 and then a paltry $39,000 from Long Roofing!

Can you please pass on your real-life experience of who you went with and how much you paid? I am looking at about 36 squares and want 50-year shingles so I don't have to worry about the wear and tear of my roof. Of course any bad hail or wind storm could undue everything that gets done, but I just don't want to worry about having to replace it when I'm 100 years old!

I would really appreciate your thoughts and experiences!

NBF
 

tuffenuff2

Active Member
We had a great experience with G.H.Clark jr. Prince Frederick. We had an insurance inspector come out as we had lost some shingles . He said we also had hail damage and they would pay for the damaged back half and we paid for the front. The total cost was $7400 for 30 year shingles on a standard two storey 2000sq ft house with two car garage.
 

glhs837

Power with Control
Wow, that seems really high. 3600 square feet is a lot of roof. Pretty complex. lots of angles and dormers? Six years ago, my 36x36 house with attached 24x24 sunroom, both decent pitch cost a bit under 10K. Do they plan a complete sheathing tearoff? I would really look at the 30 year unless you are 20 years old.
 
Sounds very expensive. Are you having the plywood done too, or just the shingles?

I had 2 roofs done by Bob Green, 30 year shingles, each about 32' x 28', with all new gutters, downspouts and gutter guards. If I remember right, it was about $6-7K. They did a great job.
 

glhs837

Power with Control
Ah, got it. Those 50 year shingles are $78 bucks a fraking bundle. Thats $240 bucks a square..... Wow, over 8.5K in shingles. At home store prices. Add in a pros markup, and you are over 10K just for shingles, no nails, or any of the other little things.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/GAF-Timber...inated-Architectural-Roof-Shingles/1000219687

Dropping down to 30 year shingles brings your shingle cost down to a bit over 4K. Also look hard at ice dam prevention/mitigation, that's one of those high markup add-ons that most people dont really need if the roof is properly designed.
 

PeoplesElbow

Well-Known Member
The advantage of the 50 year shingles is that they simply look better because they hide waviness in your roof if you have any.

CertainTeed 3 tab shingles will last all of 30 years, they may not look good the last 10 but will give you a leak free roof for 30 years.

Usually the failure of a roof is not so much the singles but the seams, flashing, etc.
 

Goldenhawk

Well-Known Member
That is a freaking big roof. Good luck.

I just had two roofs done, no thanks to the windstorm in March. Some observations:

1) Ice prevention is now MANDATORY in Maryland. Period. At least that's what we were told. In any case, it's worth doing - not terribly expensive but could save big repair bills.
https://dgs.maryland.gov/Documents/ofp/2015RoofingPolicy.pdf
http://americanhomespecialists.com/roofing-code/
R905.1.2 Ice barriers. In areas where there has been a history of ice forming along the eaves causing a backup of water as designated in Table R301.2(1), an ice barrier shall be installed for asphalt shingles, metal roof shingles, mineral-surfaced roll roofing, slate and slate-type shingles, wood shingles and wood shakes. The ice barrier shall consist of not fewer than two layers of underlayment cemented together, or a self-adhering polymer-modified bitumen sheet shall be used in place of normal underlayment and extend from the lowest edges of all roof surfaces to a point not less than 24 inches (610 mm) inside the exterior wall line of the building. On roofs with slope equal to or greater than 8 units vertical in 12 units horizontal, the ice barrier shall also be applied not less than 36 inches (914 mm) measured along the roof slope from the eave edge of the building.

2) 3-tab shingles with long warranty/lifespan are really not "a thing" anymore. Manufacturers are getting away from them fast, as one-tab (36" without gaps) architectural shingles have a much higher wind resistance rating. We were told they're getting harder to buy. If you're after a 30+ year roof, don't do 3-tab shingles; you'll actually pay MORE for them than one-tab architectural shingles, and they won't last as long or be as damage-resistant.

3) We had Southernwood do our two roofs, both of which were also involved with State Farm insurance for the storm damage. One was a bit complex, a Cape Cod with dormers; the other was a stock colonial with no weird angles. The prices were reasonable - about 7K per roof, for removal and replacement (not shingle-over-old-shingles), of which we paid only the deductible. I'm not completely sure why, but we had a horrible time with them getting things done in a timely fashion. The rep had some extended family health problems, and basically dropped us entirely while he sorted it out. I think a better company would have handed the job off to a different rep to avoid delay. As it was, it took until mid August to finally get to the job bid in early April - in the meantime, leaving plywood and tarp on the damaged roof.... Ugh. They also failed to replace the step flashing around a chimney - which was explicitly discussed due to existing leakage in that area (but they did come out and redo it quickly once notified of the problem). On a separate new-build job, they also messed up our gutter work, only adding one 4" downspout for an entire 800 sq ft area (which instantly overflowed in heavy rain) and foolishly routing another downspout onto the new section thus adding to the problem. As with the shingles the gutter fix took darn near forever (several months) to get someone out to do it. But we've had good success with them twice before, which is why we worked with them this time. So I'm not sure what has changed.
 

NBF

Member
glhs837 - your post made me think and I relooked at the shingles. Seems like GAF Timberline American Harvest 33.33-sq ft Midnight Blush Laminated Architectural Roof Shingles come in at a little over $37 and are also considered 50-year shingles...about 1/2 of the $78 shingles. Lowe's told me the difference between the two is the higher cost shingle is "impact resistant". So, 108 bundles will cost $4042 - 10% military discount. Not too bad. I'm going back to these companies and asking if they carry these shingles and what the price would be. It doesn't seem as though any of these companies are too happy about breaking down their costs as line items...I need clarity, fidelity and a better price! Thanks for everyone's information. It has really helped. NBF
 

NBF

Member
So, based on this my house should be around $16,000 or so with 30-year shingles. Monello, what company did you go with and what was the outcome? Did you have go get on their butts like Goldenhawk had to?
 

NBF

Member
Matt, I can appreciate that price, BUT...can you follow GAF roofing specifications and do all of the work as shown at https://www.gaf.com/en-us/for-professionals/installation-video-collection? Can your company also follow all the required codes? Will your company come in and tear the roof down to the decking and rebuild my roof better than it originally was for that price? Please provide a listing of architectural shingles that you guys use. I am just about to get out of my seat and visit Lowe's and Home Depot for their prices. I would be interested in also seeing what your customers have said about your work. Show me...The iron is hot so the time to strike is now.
 

Monello

Smarter than the average bear
PREMO Member
So, based on this my house should be around $16,000 or so with 30-year shingles. Monello, what company did you go with and what was the outcome? Did you have go get on their butts like Goldenhawk had to?

My house in question is located in NE Florida. I had my property management company take care of the details. I was just putting my experience out there so that you'd have a baseline for comparison.
 

mdff21

Active Member
We just did our 2100 sq. ft roof with metal. Cost for material and labor with snow guards was $6250.00. Roof was put on in less than 8 hours by 4 guys.
 

spr1975wshs

Mostly settled in...
Ad Free Experience
Patron
As a long time Lowe's employee, I am sorry to urge you to very carefully check out reviews online before contracting with them.
The stores no longer have local control over most installs. There is a central office in Indianapolis.

That being said, I have seen very few negative reviews about our local installs, and our local estimator has been at it several years.

Here's a link to the highest rated Architectural grade shingles, which Lowe's sells.
https://www.lowes.com/pl/Architectu...s/4294524358?refinement=4294515705,1362617603
 

NBF

Member
spr1975wshs, thank you for the advice. Can you please tell me why these shingles cost so much per bundle "Item # 787514 Model # 0464479
GAF Timberline American Harvest 33.33-sq ft Midnight Blush Laminated Architectural Roof Shingles"? Are these one tab or three tab and are they 50-year shingles? I appreciate the information. Do you think it it cheaper to find a roofer myself or go through Lowe's as a middle man? I mean, if the local stores do not have much control over the local contractors, why add Lowe's to the mix? NBF
 

NBF

Member
I thought I'd like to go with metal also, but heard it was really expensive. What are some of the pros and cons to replacing an asphalt roof with a metal one? I've heard they can get banged up pretty bad during a hail storm. Some of the colors are pretty good looking, but how noisy is it when it rains? When a bird or animal is on your roof, can you hear their claws scratching the metal? One old man that was a sharecropper in Louisiana once told me to shoot all the pigeons I wanted and to give them to him for food as they scared him at night while he tried to sleep. NBF
 
When a bird or animal is on your roof, can you hear their claws scratching the metal? One old man that was a sharecropper in Louisiana once told me to shoot all the pigeons I wanted and to give them to him for food as they scared him at night while he tried to sleep. NBF

Rod Rugg.... that you?
 

OldHillcrestGuy

Well-Known Member
Had roof shingles replaced 6 years ago. I can tell you who not to use, it's a company named Power, they are not local but are nationwide. Locally they are out of Beltsville and have space's at all the local home shows here in SoMd. Cost me around $21,000 for a 44x26 split foyer and a 24x24 garage. Two different sales people came out at different times and inspected the roof to see what we needed, one even went in the attic, my concern was some of my plywood, I knew from looking at it that some needed to be replaced. The contract included I think 8 sheets. The day came for replacement after removing most of the shingles the head guy of the crew knocked on the door and said we have a problem. Current roof had 3/8's plywood and they don't use that anymore. they use 1/2 and that all the plywood on the house had to be replace. $$$$. OH did my beloved wife go off on the big honcho, they should have known that the plywood was 3/8 after inspecting from the attic and with the age of the house (36-38 yrs old). We went round and round with them and finally, settled on paying the labor and they paid what the extra wood cost. I think that's how it played out. I would never go with or recommend them to anyone. The roof looks great and has the 50yr shingles and the ice shield.
My hood has had probably over 20 roofs replaced because of a hail storm last spring that clobbered the Northern part of St. Mary's, just about all were done by New Look. I haven't heard any complaints about them.
 
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