Whether you’re just having repairs made on the roof of your home or replacing it entirely, just thinking about the situation can get you stressed out. It’s the roof over your head, after all. If you learn what to expect before, during, and after repairs and replacements, however, you’ll be in a better frame of mind as your roofing team moves forward.
Before
Contractors will do an inspection of the roof and then give you an estimate for major repairs and total replacements. For a flat or slightly sloped roof, they might even use drones to get a better sense of what they’re dealing with. Estimates vary based on roof size, amount of damage to the sheathing beneath, and other factors.
Once you’ve decided on a roofing company, you will usually receive a checklist from them of things to do to help you get ready for the repair or replacement. They will ask you to move vehicles out of your driveway, if possible, to get them away from falling debris and to move patio furniture elsewhere for the same reason.
Within the house, you need to take down pictures from the walls and fragile items from shelves so that there is no danger of vibrations from the roofing work above knocking them down. Up in the attic, anything that could be damaged by dust needs to be covered.
During
No, you don’t need to leave your home while the roofers are working, but it will be loud and dusty. Furthermore, after stripping the old shingles away, roofers sometimes discover damage that they couldn’t see during the initial inspection and will have to charge you more for additional work. Just be aware that this possibility exists.
Roofing teams strive to replace the roof in a single day. When an experienced team of at least five roofers are working with a roof with asphalt shingles, this can almost always be accomplished unless the weather turns bad. With metal roofs, however, expect the process to take longer.
After
The contractor will do a final inspection before leaving. Don’t be afraid to ask to do this with them. If you are happy with their work, then keep them in mind in the future for inspections and repairs. You want to extend the life of your new roof as much as possible, and there is no one better to help than the team that put it on.
You likely don’t go through major roof repairs and total replacements very often. The right roofing team, however, has seen it all before. Talk with your contractors before the work begins because building a relationship will go a long way toward helping you get through this loud and dusty process. If you live in St. Santa Barbara, CA or a surrounding area and need roof repair services, make your first call to Action Roofing.
