Replacing the roof on your home may be necessary at some point along the way. Most roofing products are only good for twenty to thirty years, so working with a roofing contractor to determine the roof's condition is an excellent place to start.
Read on to learn more about roofing inspections and replacement.
Roof Inspections
If you have an asphalt shingle roof on your home, you should expect to replace the roof if it is older than twenty-five years. The condition of the roofing will play a part in the timing of the roof replacement. Still, you should have a roofing contractor inspect the roof for you if you suspect there is damage to the shingles or the underlayment supporting the roofing material.
Standing in your yard and looking up from the ground, you will often be able to see shingles that are curled up or spots where a shingle has come off the roof. These are indications that the shingles are drying out and becoming brittle from years of sun and weather.
If you see any of these conditions, or notice shingles falling off the roof, have the roof inspected by a roofing contractor or inspector to determine what your next course of action should be. In some cases, there may be damage that you can't see until the old roof is removed, but the contractor will do their best to determine all the work that needs doing before the job starts.
Replacing The Roof
If you are replacing the roof on your home, the roofing contractor and crew will strip all the old materials off the roof, exposing the plywood underlayment. This is an excellent time to get a look at the plywood and determine if it needs replacing or not. The wood structure may be pine boards that lay across the roof that support the shingles if the home is older construction.
In some cases, plywood may be installed over the boards as well. In either situation, if the boards or plywood are in good shape, the roofer can put down a vapor barrier over the wood, and the new shingles are installed over that. If the wood is rotted at all, the roofing contractor will replace it with new material before the roof is put on.
The vapor barrier used with most shingle roofs is heavy roofing felt rolled out and stapled to the roof. Once all the felt is in place, the roofing contractor will start installing the shingles at the edge of the roof and work up to the peak. A roof cap made from singles cut in a specific way is then installed over the ridge of the roof to keep water from getting under the new roofing shingles.
For more information, contact a roofing contractor in your area.
