Roof Replacement

• Granule loss across the field. Granules are the shingle’s UV shield. Bald patches, and a steady accumulation of granules in the gutters and at the downspout outlets, mean the asphalt underneath is now aging in direct sunlight.
• Exposed mat. Once you can see the black fiberglass mat through the surface, that area of shingle is finished. It will curl, crack, and shed.
• Multiple leaks in unrelated places. One leak is a failed component. Leaks at the chimney, a valley, and a pipe boot in the same season is a roof telling you its whole generation of flashings and boots has aged out together.
• Age against material life. Three-tab shingles generally run about twenty to twenty-five years and architectural laminates about twenty-five to thirty in a mild climate — and hail country plus 100-degree summers shortens both. A roof at the end of that window is spending money, not saving it.
• Widespread hail bruising. Bruising scattered across several slopes cannot be spot-repaired, because the fractures are in the mat everywhere the stones landed.
• Brittleness. If shingles crack when they are lifted rather than flexing, the roof can no longer be worked on without damaging it further.
• Sagging or spongy decking. A deck that gives underfoot means the sheathing has taken on moisture, and that is only fixable with the shingles off.

• Tear-off to the deck. Every layer comes off — shingles, underlayment, old flashings, and old drip edge — so nothing failed is left buried.
• Deck inspection and sheathing replacement. With the deck exposed, rotted, delaminated, or water-damaged sheathing gets cut out and replaced, and inadequate fastening gets corrected.
• Ice-and-water shield at eaves and valleys. A self-adhering membrane that seals around fasteners, placed where water backs up or concentrates — the eaves, the valleys, and around penetrations.
• Synthetic underlayment over the field. Synthetic sheets are stronger, lighter, and far more tear-resistant than felt, and they hold up better if weather arrives before the roof is loaded.
• Starter course at eaves and rakes. A purpose-made starter strip puts adhesive exactly where the first course needs it and seals the rake edge, which is where wind gets its first grip on a roof.
• Drip edge. Metal at the eave and rake that carries water off the deck edge and into the gutter instead of behind the fascia. It is code, and it is routinely omitted on cheap roofs.
• New flashings throughout. New pipe boots, new step flashing at every wall, new counterflashing, new valley metal, and kickout flashing where a roof edge dies into a wall above a gutter.
• Balanced ridge ventilation. Continuous ridge exhaust matched to adequate soffit intake, so the attic actually moves air.
• Ridge cap. Purpose-made hip and ridge cap, not field shingles cut down, so the most wind-exposed line on the roof is covered with material rated for it.

Installing a second layer of shingles over the first is cheaper on the day and expensive for the rest of the roof’s life. It hides the deck, so rot, delamination, and bad fastening go unseen and unfixed. It doubles the dead load on framing that was designed for one layer. The new shingles telegraph the ridges and irregularities of the old ones, so the roof looks lumpy within a season. It traps heat between the layers and cooks the new shingles from below, shortening their life. Flashings frequently get reused instead of replaced, which leaves the actual leak points untouched. And the eventual tear-off costs more because there are two layers to remove.

Attic ventilation is not an accessory. It works as a pair: intake low at the soffits and exhaust high at the ridge, roughly balanced so air enters at the bottom and leaves at the top. Install ridge vent without adequate intake and the vent pulls conditioned air out of the house instead. Get it wrong and superheated attic air bakes the shingles from underneath and winter moisture condenses on the deck. Mixing vent types on one attic — ridge vent plus powered fans plus gable vents — can short-circuit the airflow so that the ridge vent becomes an intake.

Material is delivered ahead of or at the start of the day, and driveways, landscaping, HVAC condensers, and pool equipment are protected before anything comes off. Tear-off runs in sections so no part of the deck sits open longer than it needs to. Exposed sheathing is inspected and repaired as it appears, then dried in, then loaded and installed. At the end, the site gets swept and run with rolling magnets for nails — driveway, lawn, and beds — and the job is walked with you.

Most single-family replacements are a one-day or two-day job, though complexity, steep pitch, tile or slate, deck damage, and weather all move that. Weather is the honest variable: no reputable crew opens a deck into an incoming storm, so a firm start date sometimes moves by a day.