I need to reroof my house because the shingles look like **** and i have a leak i cant track down. its leaking into a closet below a valley and theres alot of rotten wood there now because of it. I had a friend reshingle the valley and reflash/cap the chimney and it did basically nothing for me so i cant seem to figure out where in the hell its leaking from.

anyway its time for a new roof. I measured it yesterday nd came outwith 30.5 sq in actual space and then another 4 sq for starters and cap. I will need to tear off the old 2 layers of shingles so that sucks too. i can see in the attic i have planks they look like 1by 10s if that matters. do i have to put new plywood down over these or can i just replace the rotted boards i find.
If me and another guy do this how much of a pain in the ass will it be?
one guy said theyd do all the labor for 80$ a sq including tearoff
but then im on the hook for al material

35sq times 80 2900$ which is quite a bit of cash to me right now.

am i in my own world or can me and a freind do this in a reasonable time?
I have 4 valleys and about 6 pipe vents that stick out
its a 4/12 maybe on a 2000sq ft ranch

could i bust it out in a weekend if i started friday evening?

 

Well it will take you at least a day to tear off and replace the rotton wood. You should cut out the old boards and replace them with plywood not a full sheet just the bad sections. Make sure you cut the bad wood out to the middle of a rafter. Once you get the tear off done and wood all replaced you should try to get the felt paper on (That day if possible). Make sure the felt paper stays straight or your shingle rows will eather go up hill or down hill. You will need to pick up some Black Jack to seal up around those pipes. I like to use the tubes of Black Jack for a caulk gun it make for a much easier application. Also you will need sheet metal for those 4 valleys if they done have it now.

Once you get the felt paper on the entire roof you can rest a little easier it should stop small showers if you get any that weekend.

Also make sure you use the same thickness plywood as what the boards are now.

 

how much time am i looking at to reshingle
Ive never done it before but ive seen it done and im decent at other carpentry.

is tearoff a back breaking thing?
does every nail come out with the shingles? or doyou have to pry them out 1 by 1
can you just pound them into the wood?

 

Just for reference: A friend and I did a 35square roof last year, it was a hip roof with a valley. We started after lunch on a sunday and worked till dark, we worked mon, tues and weds from 3pm till dark. Thurs and friday we started between 6 and 6:30am and finish at dark (about 9 pm). Saturday we worked 7-10am putting all the capping on. We did everything the right way, pulled all the nails, nailed the tarpaper down instead of staples and hand nailed it all. Thing that saved us a lot of time was the fact we had a lift to throw all the shingles on the roof. 35 square of 40year shingles is not fun to hump up a ladder.

With your shingle estimate, make sure you include waste for cuts. You will have a lot of cuts with those valleys. Install ALL new boots on the vents. Install all new valleys and make sure you have tarpaper under the valleys.

Other suggestion is to rip off one section at a time and tarpaper it. Don't go nuts and rip the whole roof off before you start to paper it with only 2 guys on the roof. A storm shows up and you are in trouble..

Doing a whole roof is not a typical weekend warrior job. If you are going to roof something this size, make sure its something you can handle. A roofer is not going to be happy getting a call about a job you started and can't complete. We both worked some long hours to get it done. Those 3 days in the week we worked 8 hours at our regular jobs and then roofed another 6 hours. When we figured our time on that job, we both worked around 80 hours that week... 24 was at our normal jobs. So 56 hours each on the roofing..

 

My friend sid wed have 80 man hours in it before it was done so either i need to dedicate and entire week to it or get more people it sounds like.

I think what im going to do is shingle sections of it that i can since i have sections that are easily separated ill tearoff and shingle them and then do the same with the next section and reak it into weekends
then ill jsut have to busyt my horn to do the longer sections in a weekend but it seems thats the way to go about it.

 

Get a couple potato or "pitch" forks and you should be fine. How many layers and are you putting a dumpster up against the house or garage? If you can this will save you a lot of time. Make sure you get roof top delivery too.

Some roofs tear off better than others. A worker and I a couple years ago tore off 25 sq's of 7/12 pitched roof by Noon. My Uncle by himself tore off 20 sq's in 45 minutes. Depending on the time of day, sun, amount of nails, decking, felt, all come into play when tearing off.

On low piched roofs you will be bending over more and on your knees. Make sure to pick up a pair of knee pads and a back brace if needed. I've been roofing for over 10 years and still tear off right next to the grunts every week. I don't have to work hard but if I don't I'll get fat plus what better motivation than to see the boss working his butt off next to you!!!

 

haha nice work staying in there with the hired help. I wasnt going to get a dumpster, i was going to just throw it all in a dump truck and haul it to the dump but a dumpster might not be a terrible idea. how much is it to rent a dumpster?

Im now looking at tearing off half my roof (the east half) and laying dimensional shingles on it and then letting the west half sit till next year or later this year. then i only hve to do 17 sq which i think it alot more managable. The east half is the section thats leaking and its separated by the roof cap so i can just say straight down from there

its 2 layers i need to rip off.

 

Dump truck is the better way if you can move it with you around the house.

 

2 layers ah? Yuk!!! When I bid two layers I bid more for the second layer than the first layer. Double the nails, double the work.

To pull the nails out you may want to try a long handled toothy shovel thingy!

The average dumpster in MN costs $300, my dump fee to dump a whole roof is around $40 with the 14 yard dump trailer. Dump trucks are nice if you can drive around your house but usually that's not an option.

A couple years ago I helped a good friend roof his house with my brother who's dating the fathers daughter. He pulled his dump truck around the house and his three daughters, daughters friend and wife worked side by side with pitch forks and tore off the whole 25 sq house in short order. My brother and I went behind them pulled nails, dried in and shingled.

 

I think ive decided on tearing off and reshingling half the house. The house is perfectly split in the middle by the top roof cap and the east wing of the house is where the leak is. I want to go with a dimensional shingle so i cant relaly just repair the part where the leak is or ill have to use the 3 tabs that are there. If i do half the roof now it sohuld fixthe roof and cost substantially less since its only half. then later on in the year or next year ill do the other half with the same shingles

hows everyone feal about that idea?

 

Works for me, your only loss will be the cap shingles when you do the other side of the roof.

 

Two guys w/out expierience, you should count on 2 days just to tear off, fix rotton wood, and dry in just to be safe. the underlayment will leak in a rain, and even a somewhat calm wind will tear it up if you can't get it shingled right away.

 

i was planning an about 5 guys that didnt know what tehy are doing

me
my gf
my roomate
roomates friend
my gfs dad (knows what hes doing)

my gf will handle cleanup on the ground

these are the people i can count on to show up
in addition i may be able to get a few more people

does this make 1 day tearoff/reshingle possible?

 

I've left new houses papered in for over a weak with no leaks and no blow offs. If you use good felt and enough tax your good to gor for weeks if need be but a tarp over the felt with a chance of rain is a good idea. My father has had new roofs papered in for months with no leaking or blow offs. Like I said good felt and lots of tax!!! If you tear the felt you need to fix it also to ensure no leaking.

 

Hey guys im back. been a while but now half my roof is done. GF actually broke up with me before I started so it ended up being me 1 roomate and my new gf. Started it Friday night and worked on the tear off till saturday evening. Then started shngling while gf kept at the tear off. Finally got it done wednesday. Well half anyway. Im now looking into doing the west half. I am very seriously considering paying a crew to do the tearoff as that was just more work than I want to do. Ican deal with carrying the 30 yr dimensionals up the ladder and doing the reroof but the tearoff takes at least 2 weeks outta me and I do nothing but lay on the couch for 2 weeks after I get it done. What does it cost roughly to have a crew do the tearoff and haul away of 2 layers?

its 17 sq total. I can get all the nails out if they do the tearoff. Part of the roof over my garage is only 1 layer and came off rediculously easy. I could strip that 4 sq area in probably 1 hour on my own. the rest of the house fights you.

 

WELL ITS all done!

I paid a company 480 to do the tear off and haul away. They were pretty clean but were supposed to take out nails and instead just pounded them in. Then they laid felt and ice and water. They did a piss poor job of removing nails and i must have pulled up over 100 while I was shingling. Anyway itsdone and I jsut have to put a cap on it later this week. I hope to never have to do another roofing project. Hell im ight just pay next time.

 

Glad to hear it. By the time the other half is done, the first half you did will be ready to be replaced again.

hehehe

 

Its not that bad to do. You just have to set a pace and stick to it. I take vacation from work and do roofing or framing jobs. Working 12-14 hour days is good for you