Newbie about to reroof my house, have some questions

Roofing/Construction Questions
#1

Hello! I’m new here, and want to say first of all I’m sorry for my first post being so long :slight_smile:

I live in Orlando, Florida and have an approximately 1,350 sf house (under air). Add the garage and it’s roughly 1,800 sf under roof. Add the roof slope and I"m not sure but say 2,000 sf of shingles. Just an approximate number. The roof is not an extremely high slope, it is walkable(I’ve been on it).

Currently we have 3 tab shingles, the roof is not leaking but it’s in pretty bad shape. The house was built in 1996. My neighbor and I both want to reroof our houses in the next month or so. His house is basically identical to mine. We both want architectural/laminate shingles as I believe they are called. I will have my wife pick a color but it looks like I can get a “limited lifetime warranty” shingle for about $20/bundle. It looks like a bundle covers about 33.34 sf. So I’m looking at about maybe $1,500 or s o for shingles. I’ll need roofing paper, starter strips, drip edge, nails, vents, etc. I’m at this point very roughly guessing I can do this job myself for about $2,500.

A little background: I’m 26 years old, I work in the commercial masonry industry. I’m not “bragging” but I am pretty handy and knowledgeable and do very good work. If I don’t know how to do something I research it until I can do it or I get help. I’ve worked with a guy helping him finish his roof when I was in college and he taught me a little. I am in no way a pro roofer and don’t claim to be, but, it honestly seems to be very easy. I mean no offense to any professionals. I know it’s not “easy” in terms of labor/work but as far as skill level/complexity it really doesn’t seem that complicated. Especially for a very simple roof like I have. Also, my neighbor is in his 50’s and is also extremely handy.

My neighbor and I intend to reroof both of our house(not at the same time) and help each other out, along with help from other friends. I plan to figure out exactly the SF I have this weekend, along with research how to pull the permit, what code requirements are, etc. I’ve already read through the installation instructions of the shingles I think we will buy and it seems very straight forward. I have a few questions for the pro’s though:

My roof has 1 valley. I don’t want an open valley. My two options are weaved or closed cut. The only one I have don is the closed cut(I’ve only helped on one roof). Both seem pretty simple to me from videos I’ve watched, and I undertand how to do both. Both look, to me, about the same aesthetically. Which is preferred and why?

At the rear of my house I have a gable. When I install the drip edge at the highest point on the gable, what is the preferred method? Do I just cut a straight joint there with two pieces? Or do I somehow lap this joint?

Where the drip edge comes down the gable and meets the flat eave drip edge, whats the preferred way to do this joint? Straight cut? Or lap somehow?

I understand how to cut and lap around vent pipes, but can someone direct me to a good video or step by step to show how to nail the vent and shingles in this area. I can use common sense, but I’d like to have some supporting evidence :slight_smile:

Lastly, I intend to nail by hand(no nail guns). I can afford to buy the gun, but I kind of like the piece of mind knowing I’m not blowing through the shingles. I know it’s going to go a lot slower especially since I don’t have the experience, and i am ok with that. I also intend to use 6 nails per shingle instead of 4. 4 is minimum by code I believe. 4 is acceptable to the manufacturer but 6 gives you a better warranty and it will give me more piece of mind I suppose. I don’t really have a question here I guess, just looking for tips/info/thoughts on me hand nailing and how much it’s really going to slow me down.

I think that’s the only information I’m not 100% clear on.

Thanks in advance!

#2

There’s a bunch of instructional videos on youtube produced by the various manufacturers. $20 a bundle? Sounds like three tabs.

#3

Thanks. I have watched a bunch of videos on youtube but some of these things I couldn’t find.

I noticed on gables some people use a special type of drip with a wide flange(under the shingle) to give a channel for water to run down. Is this needed or is regular drip ok? Even if it’s not needed, is it best to use this?

Yeah $20/bundle, here:

well nevermind I can’t post url’s since I’m new but at lowes they have owen’s corning laminate shingles on sale for $19.50/bdle ($30 original).

There’s a few others on sale at the same price as well.

#4

I noticed this morning looking at the 1 valley on my roof that since it’s so small I may not even have to do any type of special valley. It looks like the way it is done now is they ran the shingles from the left side up under the ridge cap and that’s it.

I want to post a pic to show this but I can’t. How can I post a pic?

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Replace the *'s with .'s. I don’t know how else I can post a picture currently…

#5

In the past 10 years I’ve never seen Owens Cornings for that low of a price. If it’s true, grab them right away! Don’t forget that your going to have to pull a home owner’s permit & rent a container for the debris. Them Bagsters from Home Depot & Lowe’s are pretty good if you load them strategically. You can save a lot of $ doing it yourself. Material costs multiplied by 3 would more than likely by your price if you hired a contractor. Do it now while it’s cold in that area, I ran a commercial crew in Orlando in 1996 & 97. That summer humidity is a killer.

#6

Thanks for the advice!

Yeah my neighbor and I have been discussing this since the end of last year and plan on doing it before it gets hot. So hopefully in the upcoming weeks. Thanks for the advice on the shingles, now I know they really are a good deal.

My only concern is that I won’t be able to get my whole house done in one weekend. I can certainly do half at a time or something like that but then I’ll have a dumpster or bagster sitting for a week or longer. I don’t know if they charge by week/pull/etc. Need to look in to that.

Any input on the questions I asked near the beginning of the thread? Thanks.

I do have a company coming to give me a quote today after work. But I pretty much already know I’ll be doing it myself. Just want to be able to compare costs and see what I’m saving.

#7

I am going to be installing a really nice masonry chimney at my house. I know I am going to do it myself, but I am going to call a few masons first just to see how much I am “saving”. Yes, I know there is lost opportunity cost, they would have the project done in a day, have insurances and I could actually be making money, but I will still waste all their time anyway.

Anywho, I would be surprised to see Lowes selling anything cheaper than I can actually get at a supply house. Usually they are about $15 more per square.

A dumpster, depending where you live can be anywhere from $300 to $1000.00 - I don’t know how it is for homeowners but when I used to use dumpsters they didn’t care how long I had because I usually only had them for a day or two.

Not using a gun and hand nailing is waste of your very precious time. I would bet my life on it that I could install a just as good, if not better roof than you in 1/4 of the time if I used a nail gun and you hand nailed. Nailing is all about the installer, you’d be surprised at some hand nailed jobs I have seen. Open valleys are much better than closed but then again, I am in a different climate. Around here, closed valleys are the first thing to wear out.

Good luck on your project but I still don’t think its cool to waste roofers time and money for no purpose when you know you’re doing it yourself.

#8

Sorry I didn’t mean for it to come off that way. I’m not trying to waste anybody’s time. I don’t know what it will cost so that’s why I’m getting a quote. I want to compare the costs and make a decision on if it’s worth my time or better to pay someone else. I am just pretty sure that it’s going to cost a lot more to pay someone else. But I want to at least get a quote.

I’m an estimator, I know what it’s like to have your time wasted :slight_smile: That’s not what I’m looking to do here.

I understand your questioning the shingle pricing but that’s what I’m seeing on their website. Check it out maybe I’m wrong. I’ll be stopping by there this weekend to double check in store.

Thanks for the feedback about the gun. I have just seen and read a lot of screw ups from nail guns punching through the shingles. I would rather buy a gun for $200 and do it that way(I’ll use it again…never a bad thing to buy good tools). My neighbor and I both have compressors that can run the guns, how do you limit the pressure so the nails don’t punch through? I assume there’s an adjustment on the gun?

Also still looking for feedback to the other questions I asked.

#9

No, you buy the bags for like $30 or $40 bucks each & call when you’re ready for them to be picked up. Do your roof in manageable sections. Don’t take too much on day one until you see how much you can hand bang back. You’re going for quality not quantity. Also make sure all the shingles you get have the same lot # as well. Try grip rite synthetic underlayment instead of 15lb. paper or 30lb. paper. You get more sq. ft. per roll & it’s walkable.

#10

Thanks for the tips.

So when you say it’s walkable, does that mean you shouldn’t walk on the paper? I actually didn’t realize that. Is the grip rite a peel and stick product or does it also nail down?

Ok I do remember the bags now, seeing commercials for them and how you buy them up front then call for pickup. That would work out great for what I’m doing.

#11

[quote=“snrusnak”]Thanks for the tips.

So when you say it’s walkable, does that mean you shouldn’t walk on the paper? I actually didn’t realize that. Is the grip rite a peel and stick product or does it also nail down?

Ok I do remember the bags now, seeing commercials for them and how you buy them up front then call for pickup. That would work out great for what I’m doing.[/quote]

Those bags are more expensive than a dumpster. Yes, the bag itself may only be around $30 but you can only fit two cubic yards (I believe) and it costs around $160 to pick up for each trip out.

#12

I’ll research the best way for me to get rid of the debri…

#13

15LB. paper easily rips from under your feet, it’s junk. You don’t want to end up on your ass, or even worse the ground! 30 lb. is good, but grip rite synthetic is better. Plus the oils in tar paper dry out so fast in the hot Florida sun. Synthetic is nailable just like tar paper. Use plastic cap nails, simplexes, or tin caps to fasten it. I’m not sure of the current Orange County codes requiring how to fasten your underlayments? Or how many fasteners per sq. ft.?

#14

Ok thanks. Yeah I’ll be looking up the code this weekend.

I’ll look in to the synthetic material. I’m not looking to cut corners at all. I do have a friend at work that said he has about 5 rolls of paper he’d give me for free, but I don’t know what weight they are. They are also old, stored in his attic. Not sure if the stuff “goes bad”. If they are 30lb rolls I may consider it. But like I said I don’t mind spending a couple hundred bucks on synthetic stuff if it’s really better.

#15

Ya, if it’s been in his attic awhile it might be all melted together. Once that happens everytime you unroll it, it rips. A real pain in the ass. Is it only one layer? Probably, since it was built in '96. Have you considered a go over? That would save you a lot of $ & labor time.

#16

Why don’t you just get the accurate measurement, call a local roofing consultant, tell them you just want a round about figure to remove X amount of squares of 1-layer on a walkable roof and replace with laminates. Even that is a PIA but it beats flat out wasting other peoples time and you would get a rough number for comparison just the same.

#17

Feel free to roam my site which also features vent installations, along with other details you may want to see.

#18

Good thinking Tinner, there’s a lot more ventilation options available now compared to 1996 when this guys home was built. Proper ventilation will help your shingles last longer, instead of burning out prematurely.

#19

So bob do you mean to rip the shingles off, but leave the old tar paper and go over it with new underlayment? Is there any con to doing this? I noticed a couple “low spots” in the deck when I was up there yesterday. Seems like a couple spots the wood is sagging. Not a lot. I don’t believe the roof is leaking, but maybe it is slightly and the wood is damaged. Will only be able to tell once the work is done I guess. We have no water leaking in the house, and I’ve been in the attic many times and can’t see any evidence of a leak anywhere.

I did some more accurate estimating today and came up with:

2,303 SF of shingle/underlayment area(includes 10% waste which I assume is what I should use for an estimate).

110 LF ridge caps (includes 5% waste)

194 LF drip edge and fascia board (includes 5% waste)

203 LF starter strip shingles (includes 10% waste)

12 LF of valley (not sure what product to use here)

I met with the estimator yesterday and he gave me a rough verbal quote of $6,200.00 for a shingle brand I’ve never heard of (I think it was IKO or something like that). He said about another $600 or so for owen’s corning or similar. This included everything except the fascia board. This was based on using tar paper(I’m thinking if I do it myself I’ll go with the better synthetic stuff).

Honestly when I got up on the roof it’s much steeper than I realized lol. I thought it was a 4" in 12" slope but it’s a 6" in 12" slope. Made me question if I am up for the job or not. But unfortunately I just can’t afford over $6,000 to reroof my house. I am going to have to do it myself.

So is a ridge vent not enough? Should I add a few of those rectangular vents as well?

And thanks tinner I found some helpful videos on your sites.

#20

Well this sucks, I was just going to price the job out since I have accurate quantities now and the shingles listed for $19.50/bundle on lowes website are now $30. It said they were on sale through april.