Roofing

[Mike50]

Anyways....One roofer I like told me that if he did the entire roof that new gutters were included and that both baths vented into the attic and he would correct those to vent thru roof.

He also told me that that skylights were easy and I can consider that option if wanted.

My main focus is in getting 30 year roof and this will be the last time I ever have to address it in the future.

No one recommends metal here-of 3 guys I've spoken to now.

[Mikey]

No one recommends metal here-of 3 guys I've spoken to now.

May be because they don't do much of it and are uncomfortable with it. My neighbor across the street is a roofing contractor. He just re-reoofed his house and garage with metal, so I got to watch and see how it went.

It went slow. Lots of things the crew were used to no longer applied, and they were pretty frustrated. He did his own house to find out how metal went (it was his first metal job) and he found out the hard way. I think it took a couple of weeks to do, whereas a shingle job would be 3 or 4 days. It looks great, though, and he's pretty happy with the result. I'll ask him what his overall opinion is the next time I see him.

[jadnashua]

A shingle roof rarely lasts the full term of the guarantee, especially if you live where it gets very hot, windy, or you have a lot of trees that might rub or allow moisture to be retained. Most manufacturers' guarantee is prorated, so if you replace it at 20-years, you might get 1/3 of the materials cost at the time it was bought (not 1/3 of new), and no labor.

Most of the metal roofs are guaranteed for, if not life, 50-years, and at least on a few, that's not only materials but labor as well. Course, with anything these days, having a company around that long is a question, too.

If you really don't want to deal with a new roof in say a 30-year timeframe, unless you are very lucky, go with a metal one. Not only will you not have to worry about it, but you'll be saving on heating and cooling for that entire time since the roof will reflect a significant amount of heat away from the roof surface (heat back into the house in the winter, and off of the roof in the summer).

The roofers don't want to deal with them since they can and do last so long, they would not have any replacement/repair jobs and, it's "new" (even though they've been around for decades) - they don't want to buy the new tools and learn the techniques required to do it right - they're afraid of it.