While laying a new roof over an old roof may be faster, cheaper, and it happens frequently, we refuse to do it. Check out this article we recently read from ProRemodeler.com:

We Always Start Fresh

Cost And Value Issues

Removing rooftop materials isn’t easy or cheap and can easily add $100 to $150 per square to what the mortgage holder pays to replace a roof. On a 20-square rooftop that could add up to be an extra $2k to $3k. Many roofers around the country offer comparable assessments. That added cost comes from more than just worker hours, but rather the materials that are not installed if there are existing shingles (trickle edge, starter strips, flashings, etc.), and also the dumpster charges.

A Clean, Dry Deck

Numerous organizations make remove compulsory basically in view of the issue of producer guarantees. That likewise has clarifying any value effect considerably less complex. “We’ve just completed a few re-covers over the most recent dozen years,” says Bob Kulp, proprietor of Kulp’s of Stratford, in Stratford, Wis. “What’s more, there must be some convincing reason. Either the proprietor was unbelievably tied for cash, or we realized that the building was descending in the not so distant future.”

Obviously, a few property holders know they can spare a package by skirting the detach arrange, which makes one wonder: how do experts react? Kulp says that his organization will “leave employments instead of re-cover a rooftop.” Kulp’s is a GAF Master Elite roofer, with a considerable lot of its rooftops secured by that maker’s Golden Pledge warranty– – which incorporates the cost of introducing the item, and requires a GAF on location review. That sort of guarantee would be voided if the new rooftop isn’t introduced onto decking.

Greg Olsen, general administrator at Krumwiede Roofing, in Bensenville, Ill., takes note of that shingle-overs for his organization are uncommon. He’s just completed one in late memory, and that was for a mortgage holder who was moving. The reason again comes down to the producer guarantee. “We as a rule clarify the guarantee side of it and they’ll begin to comprehend why,” Olsen says. “I utilize my own particular home for a case.”

A point that Olsen makes to mortgage holders is that not exclusively can the maker not guarantee the rooftop, but rather repairing a shingled-over rooftop is significantly harder in light of the fact that “you must go down through the layers and develop it back to fix it.” What property holders likewise need to comprehend, he says, is that a producer’s guarantee, for example, CertainTeed’s Five Star guarantee—great against surrenders for a long time—requires that the shingles be introduced utilizing certain other organization items, and every last bit of it on “a perfect, dry deck.”

Start Fresh

Shingling over an existing roof is perfectly permissible by building code in most areas of the country, and most roofers consider it a common industry practice. But for companies like Exterior Medics, in Springfield, Va., the reason to insist on tear-off as a matter of policy is building science.

When you roof over, explains co-owner Mark Watson, the “benefits and advancements of the building industry, such as ice-and-water shield, drip edge, proper ventilation,” are not incorporated into the new roof. By “starting fresh,” Watson explains, all those elements, such as “breathable membranes,” are integrated into a system that enables products like a 50-year shingle to perform at their best. For Exterior Medics, the idea is to sell “not your next roof but your last roof.”

The company also has an answer for homeowners who insist that a nail over is all they want, because they’re moving and don’t care one way or another. Watson asks them: “When you go to sell, and the home inspector comes back and says you have two layers of roofing with evidence of deteriorating plywood and leaks, doesn’t that give someone buying the home a lot of leverage?” It does. Conversely a new roof, properly installed, is an attraction to buyers, and can be incorporated into the asking price.

For many roofers, explaining tear-off and price differences is about the best possible roof. “If you’re buying a roof that’s shingled over and it fails in ten years, there’s nothing we can do about it,” Weiner says. “You need underlayment, ice-and-water, flashing, and starter strip. If it’s not a system, you’re not getting a proper roof on your home.”