Customer Education

Your new roof is not just the sum of its pieces and parts. The quality of the install is probably the most important part of your new roof. Even the highest quality material performs poorly and may fail prematurely when installed by an inferior roofer. Hiring a qualified roofing contractor is key to ensuring your get a quality roof at the right price! So, what’s the right way to install a new roof? Keep Reading!

Roof Removal – The first step to installing a new roof is protecting your home or business from the tear-off process. This is accomplished by strategically placing plywood sheets and tarps to protect your property. Poor setup may result in damage to your dwelling or landscaping. The roof is then removed with all the debris being placed in a dumpster.

Roof Deck Inspection – An inspection of the roof deck must be performed to discover any rotted wood or other defects. Rotten wood must be replaced! Any loose roof decking must be secured using proper roofing nails. Any nails sticking up from the roof removal process must be removed. The roof deck is then swept free of any remaining debris.

Roof Ventilation – A reputable roofing contractors will have generated a custom ventilation plan for proper ventilation when inspecting your roof. Complicated formulas are used to ensure that inlet and outlet ventilation function together to provide adequate air movement through the attic space. Proper roof ventilation design is best left to professional roofing contractors to avoid costly mistakes. Improper ventilation will lead to serious issues. Mold, wood-rot, roof deck bowing and premature shingle failure are not uncommon. Additional vents or closing of existing vents will occur at this point. If adjustments are made to the roofing deck it must be swept free of debris before proceeding.

Drip edge, Weather Guard and Underlayment– This is where it gets a bit tricky! Drip edge, ice guard, and underlayment must be installed in a specific order to ensure your roof will be leak free and long lasting. This is where your selected roofing contractors experience and knowledge will become very important. Installing these components in the wrong order will greatly reduce your new roofs effectiveness and longevity. Generally, drip edge is installed on the eaves followed by weather guard (aka ice guard and other names) then underlayment and finally drip edge is installed on the rake ends. Underlayment comes in many forms and brands. 15lbs felt paper is often used as it is cheap. 30lbs felt paper is used as an upgrade to 15lbs felt paper. Synthetic is considered high-end and is touted by most roofing manufactures as the best available material.

Shingle and Flashing Installation – When installing shingles, we begin with a starter shingle installed at the eaves. This is something that not all roofing contractors do. We find that this protects your roofs eaves from wind damage (shingle blow up) and creates a better seal. Shingles are then installed with step flashing weaved in to ensure proper water -shedding and prevent water infiltration. All flashings are replaced. This not only prevents leaks but is also mandated by shingle manufacturers. Failure to replace all flashings will void the manufacturer’s warranty. Counter-flashing is installed around all chimneys and masonry walls.

Roof Peaks, Ridges, and Hips – The roof is completed by installing Hip and Ridge cap covering all hips and ridges. Some roofing contractors will use old three-tab roofing shingles to make cheap cap. However, we use shingles that are designed for these areas to provide a much more durable and long-lasting roof.

This is write-up is a simplified example of how a roof is installed. There are many techniques learned over time required for proper roof installation. There also many variations in roofs that can complicate the installation of your new roof. Roof installation is best left to highly trained roofing contractors and their roofing crews.