Ok, my roof was damaged by a hail storm a couple of weeks ago. So, I was being a good little homeowners and getting some estimates from local roofing companies. I picked companies that were local and not fly by the night, part of the BBB and Tom Martino's troubleshooter.com referral list.

That being said, the most knowledgable of the group made a request that I thought was odd. He wanted to be present when the insurance adjuster inspected the house. I asked about this and he said this is common so that I would have somebody with roofing knowledge to fight for me. Sounds reasonable, or ami I just being naive?

This is my first homeowners insurance claim and I have heard some stories about being short-changed by the inusrance company and others about being ripped off by roofer. Any tips would be a greatly appreciated!

Shawn

 

Ask around there now what the roofers are getting per Sq and for height. Have that in mind when the insurance guy comes. Had a roof same thing last year. full take off and new shingles $135 sq and $20 a sq for height and pitch.
So $155 a sq. that what insurance paid me. Any bad wood thats on you.


ED

 

Ok, another question. The adjuster is giving me enough to replace 3/4 of my roof. The other 1/4 didn't have enough damage to justify the replacement.
I have 2 layers of shingles up there now. I know they will allow one more layer on my house.

What are the pros and cons of taking off all the shingles to the decking and starting from scratch as a opposed to just adding another layer of shingles?

Thanks again!

 

I don't bother with pros and cons when it comes to tearing off.
Too many cons to list regarding going over the old shingles.

Tear it all off if you want it done correctly.

 

Take it all off. dont put anymore on it. Ask the insurance adjuster how the hell that will look if you cant do all the roof. I think Id call your insurance company. As I said they paid for all of mine and I know some wasnt as bad as in others but you cant just patch a shingle roof. Fight back.


ED

 

Thanks guys. I'm going to call the adjuster back because I found out that many of the homes around me are having their entire roofs totaled. So, I'm feeling a little bad about that since from the street you can see more damage than what they had.

Plus, I was pretty anxious because my first guy to give me a estimate has just been all over me and pretty fishy. He wouldn't give me a hard estimate. The 2nd guy who I'd worked with before is much more laid back and showed me some things about the roof and explained why its best to take it all off like you guys said.

This has just been a whole new, eye opening experience for me.

 

Thats crazy, tell them you will run over one of their cars with a backhoe and replace it all but the engine. This is where you tell them the whole roof needs to be replaced and dont back down. Do not add another layer to the roof, tear off and start fresh.

 

Yes, but I got to be careful of threats with heavy machinery. We already had that happen here a month ago and the destroyed half the town.


We are starting from scratch...and will be hjaving a little talk with the adjuster.

 

Get the whole roof done dont back down . AND GET 3 BIDS FOR THE JOB.

ED

 

A couple more question for everyone.

I've been working on getting my 3 bids. Now I'm getting two kinds of bids. One straight forward contract where they are giving me the bottom line number. The other they are calling either a contigency or insurance bid. Where they aren't giving me a bottom line number. Just saying that they will work with the insurance company???
Why would somebody sign with them without knowing the bottomline number? I'm skepitcal of those guys. Unfortunately that is 2 out of the 3 bids.

2nd question, I've been reading other posts about the different type of vents etc. I have soffit vents and a gable vents in the main house attic. And a turbine vent in the garage. One of the bidders said that they would need to add 6 low profile vents to the main house attic and 2 to the garage (rplacing the turbine) in order to meet the manufactures guidelines. Can this screw up the circulation of the air through the attic?

Thanks again.

 

Seeing the many comments about tearing the roof down to bare wood, I wonder what those commenters would think about the following situation. The existing roof is gravel over built up and has a built in gutter around the edge. The new owner does not like this and fastens 2X4s on top of the gravel, then fastens new plywood sheathing and applies felt (some of it vertically, not horizontally) and asphalt shingles. The city requires a building permit for roof replacement, but the work was done on long holiday weekend and so no permit is obtained, nor are inspections made. Does this new roof fail to conform to Code and if so, where in the Code does it say this? Does it constitute a hazard to surrounding homeowners, ie. a greater risk of being blown off or shaken off in an earthquake (we live less than mile from major fault system which has not had major quake in over 100 years) ..Thanks for your advice.

Roger