What actually happens during a roof replacement

A residential roof replacement is loud, fast and a great deal more disruptive than most people expect right up until it is finished. Knowing the order things happen in makes it much easier to live through, and more usefully, it tells you what you should be seeing at each stage.

Before the crew arrives

Tear-off shakes the whole structure. Things fall off walls, and everything in the attic gets a coating of dust and old shingle grit. A little preparation saves a lot of annoyance.

• Take pictures and mirrors off the walls, particularly on upper floors, and anything sitting on a high shelf.
• Cover or move whatever is stored in the attic. Debris comes through the gaps between decking boards.
• Move vehicles well clear of the house and keep them clear all day. Nails end up in the drive no matter how careful the cleanup is.
• Move patio furniture, grills and potted plants away from the walls and out from under the eaves.
• Plan for pets. The noise is genuinely distressing to most animals, and gates get left open on a work site.
• Agree in advance where the dumpster and the materials are going.

Day one, morning: tear-off

The crew strips the old roof down to the bare decking. It is the loudest part of the job and it happens fast. Everything goes into the dumpster as it comes off, and this is the stage where the house feels like it is under attack.

Roofing over the existing layer is sometimes offered as a cheaper option. It hides exactly the things a replacement is supposed to fix, because nobody ever sees the decking, and it adds a second layer of weight to sheathing nobody has assessed. We tear off.

Day one, midday: the deck inspection

This is the most important half hour of the entire job, and it is the part homeowners most often miss because they have gone out to escape the noise. Do not go out. With the deck exposed, everything that was previously guesswork becomes visible.

The crew walks the deck and marks what has to be replaced: soft or delaminated sheathing, split rafter tails, old nail holes, valleys that were closed over felt with no metal underneath. Decking replacement is the one line item that legitimately cannot be finalized in advance, because until the old roof is off nobody can see what is under it. A good contractor will show you the marked areas and photograph them before covering anything.

Ask to see it. If your contractor is not offering, ask anyway.

Day one, afternoon: dry-in

Once the deck is sound, it gets covered. Synthetic underlayment across the field, and self-adhering ice and water membrane in the valleys, around penetrations and along the eaves where water is most likely to back up.

The roof must be dried in before the crew leaves, every single day, regardless of where that falls in the schedule. An open deck overnight in Oklahoma is not a risk anybody should be taking with your house.

Day two: shingles, flashing and detail

Starter course along the eaves and rakes first, then the field shingles working up the slope, then hip and ridge cap. Along the way come the details that decide whether the roof lasts: new step flashing at walls and chimneys, new pipe boots rather than reused ones, and the ridge vent.

Most roofing complaints are not material defects. They are installation defects, and they live entirely in this stage. Nails driven too high so they miss the nailing strip, nails overdriven through the mat, flashing reused to save an hour, ventilation left short. None of it is visible once the job is done, which is precisely why the warranty on the labor matters.

The final walk

Cleanup is part of the job, not a favor. Magnetic sweep across the drive, the lawn and the beds, more than once, because nails end up further from the house than seems possible. Gutters cleared of debris and granules. Dumpster gone.

• Ask for the photographs of the exposed decking and any repairs made to it.
• Check that the ridge line is straight and the courses are even across each plane.
• Confirm the pipe boots and step flashing are new, not reused and painted.
• Get the labor warranty and the manufacturer's material warranty in writing, and understand that they are two different things.
• Walk the yard and the drive yourself with a magnet if you have one.

Boulevard Roofing Co is a GAF-certified contractor, licensed with the State of Oklahoma under OK CIB #80002439 and fully insured. Every new roof installation carries a lifetime labor warranty, which covers our workmanship for as long as you own the home. Free estimates and free inspections across Oklahoma City and the surrounding areas. Call 405-850-8036.