Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Choose shingles

Q: Any advice on what type of shingles to use? I heard to avoid the three in a row and go with Architectural ones? Any other tips? Is that a valid suggestion?

A: Because the materials are not a big portion of roofing cost (for composite roofs, at least), it’s generally best to go with the higher-grade shingles, as they’ll last longer. They’re also a little easier to install without messing up because they’re more robust.
Because they’re built-up to give shadow lines, the architectural ones last really well, and they also tend to hide any roof irregularities better than 3-tab shingles (when we re-shingled our first house, I noticed how many bad shingle jobs there were in my neighborhood).
The downside? Well, they cost more, and they weigh a bit more.
You should also think about color. Lighter colors will keep the attic space a bit cooler.
Finally, though it costs more, if you are re-roofing you will get a far better result if you do a tear-off.

A: So what does a new roof run now-a-days? Our shake roof is nearing it’s probably 20 year lifespan, and I suspect we’ll have to replace it sooner rather than later…
Is there a “per sq foot” price, or is it so unique to each house given the different number/size of surfaces, complexity of joints, steepness, etc that it is impossible to give a rough idea without having someone come out and estimate?

A: I had multiple layers of shake and shingle to remove and dispose of first and that dwarfed the materials+labor cost of the new roof install, so I went ahead and did a nice metal roof.

Q: Question on the metal roof - did you go with shingles or standing seam?

A: Standing seam, because we like the look of it on our house.Dark Brown to contrast the mocha color we went with for house paint (though dark brown contrasts nicely with a wide range of colors).

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