Roofing News

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 […]

Attic Intake Ventilation and Why Balance Matters

Attic Intake Ventilation and Why Balance Matters

When an attic runs hot, or the sheathing shows condensation staining, or ice dams keep forming, the usual response is to add more exhaust. More often than not the exhaust was never the problem. The intake was. Air cannot leave a space it cannot enter. This is the half of attic ventilation that gets ignored, […]

Ridge Vent vs Box Vent vs Turbine vs Powered Fan

Ridge Vent vs Box Vent vs Turbine vs Powered Fan

Every attic needs to exhaust air, and there are four common ways to do it. They are not interchangeable, they should not be combined, and the wrong choice does more than waste money, it can actively pull conditioned air out of your house. This is the exhaust half of the subject. The intake half matters […]

High Nailing: The Defect That Voids Shingle Warranties

High Nailing: The Defect That Voids Shingle Warranties

There is a narrow band across every asphalt shingle where the nails are supposed to go. It is marked on the shingle. Put the nails above it and the roof looks completely normal, passes a casual glance, and will shed shingles in a wind event years later. This is called high nailing, and it is […]

Roof Valleys: Open, Closed-Cut or Woven?

Roof Valleys: Open, Closed-Cut or Woven?

A valley is where two roof planes meet and drain into each other. It handles more water than any other part of the roof, it concentrates that water into a narrow channel, and it is where a great many roofs begin to leak. There are three ways to build one. They are not equivalent, the […]

Drip Edge: The Cheap Part That Prevents Expensive Damage

Drip Edge: The Cheap Part That Prevents Expensive Damage

Drip edge is a strip of bent metal that runs along the edges of a roof. It costs very little, it takes a crew almost no time to install, and its absence is responsible for a surprising amount of rotted timber on otherwise sound houses. It is also one of the easiest things for a […]

How to Verify a Roofer’s License and Insurance

How to Verify a Roofer’s License and Insurance

Anyone can print a business card that says roofing contractor. Verifying that the person standing on your driveway is licensed and actually insured takes about fifteen minutes, costs nothing, and is the single most protective thing you can do before signing anything. Here is the method. It works in any state, which matters because the […]