Your roof is one of the most important aspects of home safety in terms of what it offers: Protection from the elements for all seasons. Insulation and air flow. Heating in the winter and cooling in the summer. And of course drainage from water in the form of precipitation like rain or snow.
Replacing a shingled roof is an expensive repair that shouldn’t happen very often and is one that shouldn’t be done simply with cost in mind. So when you choose the cheapest option you can find to reshingle your roof, you often get what you pay for.
Roofing is a competitive business and many roofers take shortcuts to offer low prices. Low cost roofers often lay new shingles over bare wood rather than using an approved overlay of around 0.5mm in thickness and skimp on materials like venting to keep costs down which voids the shingle warranty.
Having had a roof reshingled in the recent past and having researched many roofers and witnessed actual homes having roof work done, here’s what I’ve learned about the home roofing business.
The true cost of cheap roof shingling
Cheap roofing companies often have transient, seasonal and possibly untrained staff who additionally may not have proper liability insurance and who don’t use proper safety equipment which may leave you the customer open to liability if they get hurt working on your roof.
Having interviewed and done business with several roofing companies personally and additionally witnessed many neighbor’s houses being reshingled often by cheap roofing companies I noticed the following across the board:
No roof underlayment used
Every last one of the roofing companies I’ve seen doing work laid shingles over bare wood rather than using an approved underlayment which immediately voids the warranty of any major roof shingle
manufacturer. A roof must be properly prepared with a waterproof weather shield underlay that typically adheres to the wooden roof structure before the roof shingles are applied over top. The underlayment is usually around 0.5mm – 0.6mm thick and protects in the case where water or moisture sneaks underneath the shingle or a shingle(s) is damaged.
The addition of underlayment is an extra cost and is also time-consuming since it means covering the entire wooden surface of the roof with it. But if you lay shingles over a bare wood roof, your shingle warranty is immediately voided. Having said that, roofing shingle manufacturers are renowned for denying warranty claims with a variety of excuses but you should still use an underlayment for your roof’s long term protection.
Lack of proper or any underlayment is typically an automatic voiding of a roof shingle warranty.
Lack of roof venting
Proper roof venting is an important and usually overlooked aspect of your roof. Cheap roofers – even some of the more expensive ones – often don’t bother adding enough vents. It’s often laziness but also when you sell a roof on a low price, you try to keep it as cheap as you can. Many of the worst roofing jobs I’ve seen are brand new homes that are built quickly where roofers cut corners with no underlayment and lack of venting because they know most home buyers don’t know better.
In a typical gable roof – a roof with a high peak at the top – hot air especially during the summer rises and escapes through the venting in the roof and often the soffits. But many (most?) shingle roofs are under vented so hot air can’t escape as quickly as it should.
If air can’t escape quickly enough, it overheats your attic which makes the top floor of house of your hotter and harder to keep cool. It also heats the roof shingles to the point where it can prematurely age them. If you see roof shingles curling, that’s usually a sign of lack of venting as is over heating in the attic.
Lack of venting is typically a reason for denying a roof shingle warranty claim.
No safety equipment used by staff
If a roofer slips and falls off your roof and injures themselves or dies, can you be held accountable since it happened on your roof and property? It depends how litigious an area you live in.
The only times I’ve seen a roofing company have staff hook themselves up to safety equipment was the roofing company I used on my roof – they weren’t cheap either – and my neighbors who also used a more expensive company.
At a minimum, check with your chosen roofing company to show you that they carry liability and other insurance to protect their workers.
Improper fastening of roof shingles
Although I can’t say I noticed this personally, I spoke with our roofer and he brought it up. Roof shingles need to be fastened with nails or other fasteners that are suggested/approved by the shingle manufacturer of proper length, placement and amount.
Often roofing companies with poorly trained staff don’t properly fasten the shingles and this can not only affect the quality of the work but the validity of your warranty.
Improper fastening is typically a reason for denying a roof shingle warranty claim.
Lack of ice damming protection
What is ice damming?
Ice damming occurs in winter in cold temperature environments who get significant snow. Snow settles and builds up on the roof of your house. The attic is warm from the heat inside the house and when outside and inside temperatures pick up, the roof snow melts and the water rolls down towards the gutters and then refreezes and dams up at the bottom of the roof nearest the eavestroughs. The water has nowhere to go so it seeps under the shingles and enters the roof structure and leads to a leak.
Many municipalities have thus added regulations that a certain amount of ice dam protection – up to 6′ of extra ice dam protection in some jurisdictions – are a must-have when reshingling a roof.
This is a special waterproof underlay that is different from the underlay used on the rest of the roof mentioned above that specifically protects against frozen snow water causing a leak from an ice dam.
Cheap roofers may not necessarily avoid using ice damming protection if they must by law, but rest assured they’ll use as little as possible and the cheapest material they can get away with when they can.
Roof shingle warranties aren’t as good as they sound
Have you ever seen a long warranty for a particular product and consider how ridiculous it is? Think a 25 year warranty on a bed mattress. Who keeps a bed mattress for 25 years? No one does. That’s why bed mattress manufacturers offer a 25 year warranty. A mattress should be replaced every 6-8 years. The bed mattress manufacturers tell you that themselves.
While you can easily spend $5,000 – $12,000 or more to reshingle your roof, you may be comforted by a lifetime, 50 year, or 100% warranty that you are offered on the shingles used. So you believe that you’re covered in the case where the roof fails after several or more years or you have some complaint that needs to be addressed.
Roof warranties are notoriously overstated and aren’t what they appear to be for a number of possible reasons.
- Roof shingle warranties typically only cover manufacturing defects. If the shingle was incorrectly made, the shingle company may honor the warranty. Maybe. But if the roof damage is regular wear and tear or due to some other reason, the claim may be denied.
- Roof shingle warranties typically only include the cost of the shingles. Not the cost of labor. Not the cost of nails. Not the cost of the underlayment. These are huge costs that add up that aren’t covered.
- The warranty is usually on a depreciating scale. If you try to make a claim say 10 years after the roof was shingled, you may only receive a fraction of the original cost of the shingles – if anything – since the warranty value decreases each year as the shingles age.
- Roofing contractors open up and go out of business regularly, especially smaller ones who compete on low price. You go cheap, you get cheap. It’s hard to get free repair work done on your roof if the company is no longer in business.
- Warranties can also be denied for “Act of God” type situations like hurricanes, hail storms and other weather-related events.
- You may simply be denied a claim for many of the reasons mentioned above ie. no underlayment used, improper use of nails, lack of venting, etc. Shingle manufacturers are well-known for denying warranty claims.
How cheap roofing companies cut corners
Low price roofers often have super low prices because they cut corners to save money and do lower quality work than they should. Specifically, you may find the following with a low-priced roofer:
- Lack of training for their staff.
- Lack of liability insurance and safety equipment for their staff.
- Failure to properly prepare the roof before reshingling which can immediately void the warranty offered by the shingle manufacturer.
- Failure to meet minimum local regulations in terms of following laws regarding ice dam protection.
- Incorrect use of flashing and other important aspects of roof protection.
- No explanation of the importance of roof venting which prematurely ages your shingles and causes you to either fix or replace the roof earlier than you should have to and probably voids your shingle warranty too.
One of the biggest problems with roofing that I’ve seen is not only lack of venting but improper use of the vents themselves. Many new homes are built using smaller capacity bathroom vents in place of proper air vents. Even when proper vents are used, they only ventilate a very small part of the roof.
Getting a new roof installed versus reshingling your roof
People often speak colloquially about getting their roof done or getting a new roof and things of that nature. In fact there is a legal difference between getting a new roof and simply putting new shingles on your roof.
The roof of your home typically includes parts like the ridge, attic, saddle, valley, eaves membrane, eaves soffit, drip edge, flashing, valley flashing, plumbing vent, static vent, underlying membrane and shingles.
When you get your roof done you are really only getting (at most) the vents, underlying membrane and shingles replaced. And if you go with a cheap roofing company, chances are they’ll skip the underlying membrane and put the minimum number of vents in as required by law.
Roofing contractors generally refer to roof work in one of two ways:
Reroofing shingles
In the past, roofers would simply put new shingles over top of the old ones. It saved on work since they didn’t have to remove and dispose of old shingles and was quicker. But it makes the total weight on top of the roof much heavier which could be a problem for older houses and if there was an issue with the old shingles like surface irregularities, you’re just masking the problem.
These days, you want a roofer who pulls off all old shingles and replaces them rather than covering them up. In many jurisdictions it’s not even allowed to simply reroof and cover up old shingles. It’s an old, outdated way of roofing.
Roof shingle replacement
This involves removing all old shingles from the roof and replacing them with brand new shingles. This is the proper way of reshingling a roof. An approved underlay should be laid and fastened to the bare wooden roof structure first before the addition of the shingles and ice dam protection should be added as required by local regulations. Cheap roofing companies usually skip the underlay part which will likely immediately void your shingle warranty.
Repairing damaged or missing roof shingles
What happens if you have several shingles that are worn out or get ripped off during a heavy storm? It happens. In this case, you may not be at the point of having to reshingle the entire roof.
The best thing to do is to contact a roofing company and get them to replace the shingle(s) that was torn off. When you lose a shingle(s) you lose protection on that part of the roof which can lead to a leak and subsequent water damage on the actual roof structure, possibly into your house.
Water of course deals well with gravity and follows the path of least resistance. So water will roll downwards towards the ground, through the roof system and insulation, down your walls and eventually somewhere into the house where you notice it.
I’ve experienced this when we noticed water damage on a bedroom closet ceiling but not until it made its way to the closet door and warped and ruined the wooden frame.
If your current shingles are at least several years old already, you will probably not get a 100% match as the existing shingles will have experienced color wear and fading whereas the new shingles will of course be brand new. But it’s better than expensive water damage.
Depending on how many shingles need to be replaced expect to pay $100 – $600 for the replacement of several or more missing or damaged shingles. A roofing job will have a minimum cost since it needs to be worth a roofer’s time and effort to show up considering reshingling an entire roof may net them $5,000 – $12,000 depending on roof size.
Water damage on roof shingles
One common reason for prematurely aged and damaged roof shingles is from gutter downspouts that drain directly onto the roof shingles. This is a poor and lazy home design but many builders do it because they don’t care and because the effects of the damage caused won’t be noticed by the homeowners for years.
We experienced this personally. Part of the reason we had to get our roof reshingled is because of one drainspout from the top floor that drained directly onto the lower part of the roof near the garage. Over time these shingles deteriorated and we eventually got a leak into the garage.
When a downspout from the eavestrough drains directly onto the roof shingles, it creates a dedicated flow of water that runs across the same shingles every time it rains. Over time, this leads to prematurely worn shingles which can lead to roof leaks and eventual entire roof shingle replacement.
A well-designed eavestrough will drain directly into the gutters or will have a drainpipe extension into the gutter to prevent this. A roofer can also install an aluminum shield underneath the drain spout so that water that does drain onto the shingles is dispersed to lessen the effect.
Something to consider when you sell your home
For completeness and for legal protection, if you’re selling your home and want to draw attention to the roof work you had done, mentioning that the roof was reshingled is legally safer and more accurate than saying you replaced the roof. You didn’t replace the roof, you just reshingled the existing roof structure.
As mentioned above the actual roof structure is comprised of many parts that are not replaced in any way when reshingling. Reshingling simply means ripping the old shingles off and putting new ones on in their place.
Final thoughts on reshingling your roof
- If you go with the cheapest roofing company you can find, you may regret the choice down the line years later if not before when shingles start aging and wear and tear kicks in.
- Typically the best time to get a roof reshingled is in the warmer months May – September when the sun can help the shingles adhere to the roof surface and when the chance of precipitation is low.
- Get missing shingles replaced as quickly as possible when you first notice them.
- Pay attention to downspouts that drain directly onto the shingles as the constant, dedicated flow of water will prematurely damage them. Smart roofers will extend the downspout or at least put a protective plate on those shingles to properly disperse water.
- Asphalt shingles disintegrate over time and the bead residue empties into your gutters and downspouts which can block them from draining water.