Roofing News

Satellite Dish and Solar Panel Roof Leaks

Satellite Dish and Solar Panel Roof Leaks

Every hole in your roof was made by someone. Most were made by roofers, who flash penetrations for a living. A few were made by a satellite installer with a cordless drill, or a solar crew working to an electrical specification rather than a roofing one. Those few are responsible for a disproportionate share of […]

Starter Strip and Ridge Cap: The Accessories That Matter

Starter Strip and Ridge Cap: The Accessories That Matter

Two components on a shingle roof get substituted more often than any others, and both substitutions are invisible from the ground. Starter strip at the eaves and rakes, and hip and ridge cap along the peaks. The shortcut in both cases is the same: use ordinary field shingles, cut down, instead of the purpose-made product. […]

Red Flags in a Roofing Contract

Red Flags in a Roofing Contract

A roofing contract is usually two or three pages and takes four minutes to read. Most people sign it in the kitchen without reading it, which is understandable and expensive. This is not about spotting outright fraud. It is about the clauses that quietly move risk from the contractor onto you, and which look entirely […]

Do I Need to Be Home? Cars, Pets and Landscaping

Do I Need to Be Home? Cars, Pets and Landscaping

You do not need to be home for a roof replacement. You do need to be reachable, and you need to have done about thirty minutes of preparation the evening before. Here is what actually matters, and why. Why being reachable matters more than being present One decision comes up on most jobs and it […]

How Long Does a Roof Replacement Take?

How Long Does a Roof Replacement Take?

For most single-family homes, the roof itself is a one to two day job. Larger or more complicated roofs run three to five. That is the answer to the question people actually ask. But the roof going on is one stage of a longer process, and the gap between “how long is the work” and […]

Local Roofer vs Storm Chaser: How to Tell the Difference

Local Roofer vs Storm Chaser: How to Tell the Difference

Within days of a significant hail or wind event, the number of roofing companies working a neighborhood multiplies. Some are local firms with more work than usual. Some have driven several states to be there and will be gone within weeks. Telling them apart is not about being suspicious of everyone who knocks. Plenty of […]

Architectural vs 3-Tab Shingles

Architectural vs 3-Tab Shingles

There are two broad categories of asphalt shingle, and the gap between them has widened over the years to the point where the comparison is no longer close. Architectural shingles have become the default for good reasons, and 3-tab has retreated to a narrow set of uses. Here is the difference, why it matters, and […]

Roof Overlay vs Full Tear-Off

Roof Overlay vs Full Tear-Off

An overlay, also called a re-roof or a roof-over, means installing new shingles directly on top of the existing ones. A tear-off means stripping everything back to the bare deck first. An overlay is cheaper, because you skip the labor of removal and the cost of disposal. That is the entire case for it, and […]

The Cost of Waiting: Deferred Roof Maintenance

The Cost of Waiting: Deferred Roof Maintenance

Deferring a roof is one of the most reasonable-sounding financial decisions available, and it is usually the wrong one. Not always: there are situations where waiting is genuinely correct, and we will come to those. But the ordinary case is that the delay costs more than the repair would have. The reason is not that […]

Roof Core Sampling: What It Actually Tells You

Roof Core Sampling: What It Actually Tells You

A core sample is a small cylinder cut out of a commercial roof assembly, all the way down to the deck, then patched. It takes minutes. It is the only way to know with certainty what your roof is actually made of and what condition the layers inside it are in. On a building where […]