Remove Old Roof Or Not

Besides being tripping hazards they can work through and damage the new shingles.

Remove old roof or not.

Skylight and chimney flashings are often worth saving if they re in good condition. When contemplating a new roof many people hope to simply do a shingle over and avoid the extra cost and mess of tearing off the existing roof and starting from scratch. Install a course along the snapped line then install succeeding courses using a guide or a snapped line. Work from the top bottom and sides to save back muscles.

Find a pre screened local roofing contractor. Once it s out of the way pull any nails and remove any shingles and underlayment that are underneath. Call for free estimates from roofing pros now. You re better off removing the old roof.

Before making a final decision to tear off or recover check that local building codes are being followed. But if the current roof is curling this isn t possible. Your roof leaks when it rains if your roof is leaking it s usually better to get rid of the old roof so you can find the source of the problems and fix them. Remove the old shingles with tear off shovels.

Not only will the existing layer provide a secondary back up roof for the new shingles but it will also save the cost and inconvenience of removing and disposing or recycling the old shingles. It s clearly easier and cheaper to leave the old shingles in place but there s some special prep work involved with a re roof removing vents ridge caps and misshapen shingles among other things and you still have to replace or add new flashing which sometimes can be tricky over old roofing. Clean the roof with a push broom and remove or pound in any remaining fasteners. It doesn t matter where you start or stop.

Be careful not to damage the flashing. In addition removing the old shingles will. Putting a new roof over a leaking roof won t remove the leaks. By placing shingles on top of a damaged roof you ll affect the way the roof looks.

In fact the only pro to a shingle over is it s cheaper and cleaner. If you re keeping the old metal flashing carefully remove nails and bend it upward off the shingles with a pry bar. What to do if the old roof is not straight if the existing roof has wavy horizontal lines you can take out the waves by snapping a horizontal line 1 2 inch below the shingle bottoms of one course. Although it sounds like a good idea we can assure you the cons heavily outweigh the pros.

More difficult to check deck when you tear off the old roof you get a look at what s underneath.