We need to roof our home. Tt has an attached barn that already is leaking. We are wondering if it is cheaper to reroof with shingles or go with vinyl or metal roofing. How hard is it to do ourselves? Thank you in advance.
I have reroofed our family home, the garage, and a friends cottage. It is very easy, just hot work...pray for no rain!! If you get the shingles delivered - make sure they deliver them to the top of your house...much easier !!
Belinda
About l5 years ago, my elementary children and I roofed our house with fiberglass shingles. I put the first row along the bottom of the house with the colored part up so the colored rightside up shingle put over the top would stick to the edge.
I did not remove my old shingles because it was the second layer. I would remove them when I shingle again.
The hardest part is keeping the rows straight. I left about an inch so I could adjust for natural errors in the roof line. I kept in touch with the local building supply as I went along.
The mistake I made was using nails too long. I should have had nails about l l/2 to 2 inches. Driving one thru and checking in the attic would have told me what nails to get. I used tin snips to cut the shingles.
I also put tar around the edges to seal the new shingles to the old.
After wards, I put up aluminum siding. I had local males stop by and tell me they would have done their roof or siding but did not have time. I noticed that homes after mine adopted my rows going down the sides of the garage instead of having a strip of mental wrapping the edges.
I think you can do this. If I and my small kids could do ours, you can do yours. Visit several hardware stores, go on line and read about it, visit your library and ask questions of anyone that looks like a builder or roofer. I even called them and asked questions. Some hungup but I learned how to ask my questions to get the info I needed.
If it was me i would use metal roofing it will last much longer the shingles.
I can't speak from personal experience with metal roofing, but one of my neighbors put it on his house several years ago and, even though it is very cost effevtive, he said it was a mistake because when it rains it's very noisey.
When we reshingled our house I picked out the shingles. I bought high end because we live in the plains where the wind can be destructive. Last year we had a storm with 90 MPH wind gusts. When the storm was over I drove around town and several people did have missing shingles or damage to their roofs. We did not, thankfully.
It is just my personal opinion that it is worth the extra money to get the best shingles you can afford. A roof takes a lot of beating, reroofing is expensive and in the end you save money when you buy quality roofing.
I don't know about you, but the sound of rain on a metal roof sounds rather romantic. Of course, I have wood shingles, and it almost never rains here in California, so that is my fantasy.
We recently redid our roof and have the tin roof. We will be using it when we do the rest of the house as well. We have yet to have heard any noise when it rains. I'm in NY and it rains all the time.
I'd go with metal roofing over anything else hands down every time.
My home was built in the late 1880's, and a new tin roof was put on in 1940.
I moved here in 1986. I've had to remove the nails and replace them with screws, which are so much more efficient. I've sealed around the screws, and i've coated the roof with 'CoolSeal". That's all the maintenance this roof has had in 22 years, and i'm going to re-seal the screws and CoolSeal it again this spring.
My mother, on the other hand, built her home in 1972. She is currently on her 3rd shingle roof, and is planning to install metal roofing the next time...
The only drawback to metal roofing at all in my opinion is that some insurance companies raise your premiums if you have it. Flames will burn through a shingled roof, but a metal roof will contain a fire, and pretty much destroy the contents of your home.
Cheri in S.C.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I desperately need my roof repaired. It rains in my house and there is mildew. I am using a tarp now, but am not sure how long that will last. I also have half the money saved. Someone suggested doing half the roof. Is that a good idea?
By E.J.
Sometimes only one half of the roof is in terrible shape. You might solve most of your problems by doing the worst half of the roof. Anyway, I think that half of the roof would be better than doing nothing. You should consult someone who does roof repair in your area.
