Yesterday - 20's, 6 inches of snow-over-ice-over-mud built up over the last few weeks.

Today - 46, headed for 50, raining in biblical proportions. Shed/Mudroom roof leaking so bad you can take a shower by stepping out the kitchen door. Fortunately, the ice dam in the corner between the shed roof and the kitchen wall has melted so it's not leaking into the kitchen any more. At the moment.

Whole damn house needs a new roof. Given what I got billed for the garage, I am NOT looking forward to that.

I hate roofing. We had to put a new roof on this past fall. I wanted metal, but our roof has some weird pitch variations to it, and I was concerned that if I tried to do it myself I'd do it wrong and end up spending a bunch on materials only to get leaks. So I tried bidding it out.

I called 5 or 6 places before I could even get anybody to call me back. I told them I didn't need anything fancy...just something that would last and not leak. The best price I could get on a metal roof was $23,000. One a-hole sales type had the balls to show up after I had told him that I couldn't afford the $23,000 quote and spent 2 hours trying to convince me to let his company put a roof on for $38,000. I basically had to throw him out to get him to leave. I paid $70k for the house and just recently got it paid off...no way am I going back into debt for half the value of the house just to put a roof on. I told him all that up front to save everybody time, but he was a thick-headed jackass who apparently didn't understand math.

The best price I could get on a shingle roof installed was $10,000, and most were much higher. Ultimately, my wife, oldest son, and I just shingled it ourselves. It sucked and I was sore for a couple of weeks, but it's done right, it's paid for, and hopefully will last until I'm dead, or at least too old to even consider getting back up there and doing it myself again . We ended up being into it for less than $5k.

I know 2 guys who are roofing workers. One owns a roofing company in my town, the other works for a roofing company in my town. Both are ex cons and felons. Yes, I know that some felons change their ways, but some find legal ways to con people. I found this out when I got quotes to replace one (1) tile that had fallen off the roof and broken in half. It fell from a bay window area and was only around 8 feet off the ground. Two of the quotes I got were for $2,000.00 to replace one (1) tile.

I'll just leave this here...

https://www.hirefelons.org/roofing-jobs-felons/

Roofing Jobs For Felons

If you have a felony conviction, Roofing is one if the easiest fields to get a job. This is because most roofing companies are owner operated small businesses, and they ALMOST NEVER do Background Checks. In fact, most will not even ask you if you were convicted or have a record (more on this below).

What small roofing businesses care about is that you can do the job well, and ideally have a driver license. They also prefer that you don’t drink heavily and don’t do drugs – basically come to work sober and on time. Other than that, they will hire almost anyone! Many roofers will even pay cash, to avoid paying taxes and HIGH workers compensation premiums.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Flash-LB,

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
Given what I got billed for the garage, I am NOT looking forward to that.

Around here, roof replacements start at about $15k for a basic roof on a smaller house, and go up from there.

I got robbed when I had my roof replaced, but the peace of mind I get when it rains OUTSIDE without also raining INSIDE is priceless.

As bad as this sounds, water soaking the insulation and caving in the ceilings, is a lot worse.

Replacing your roof is expensive. It is important as well that the job be done correctly. Here there is typically a Hispanic crew with a bilingual boss on site and an owner that comes by to check on things. You want the felt torn off and all the decking checked for warpage and leaks. You want architechtural shingles since they last longer. You want them to go around with a magnet and get ALL the roofing cleats. My last roof ran 20k. Be there if you can when the job is underway.

October of 2021 I had to replace the HVAC on my house and did the water heater at the same time. Cost for all was 9100 bucks. There went my fantasy of getting a Beretta DT11. This year it was a new roof on the house and garage. Atlas Architectural shingles with a 50 year life span and new leaf guard gutters all the way around the house plus aluminum facing over the soffit fascia so Ill never have to climb a ladder again. Cost for all that was 19,300 dollars. There are times when there is a benefit to living in a large metropolitan area. I'm sure that if I lived out in the boonies that roof would have been much more expensive.

That was really cheap. BTW no arch shingles will last anywhere near fifty years. The wind rating is also bullshit as I have seen 150mph shingles fly off at 75mph. Those are just selling points.{I know you did not say anything about wind rating}.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK]

Around here, roof replacements start at about $15k for a basic roof on a smaller house, and go up from there.

Which is way my first and only house, that I have ever lived in, well this is my first and last. Metal structure next. Tired of it. Roof, foundation, windows, doors, garage door, electrical, plumbing… fuck me I’ve had it!

To this day I will never understand why folks have a composite / fiberglass roof put on their house. About 20 years ago wife and I got tired of a leak we had just above our front door from the screen porch roof. I was young and stupid then... am only one of those now... I put a metal roof on our house... we are good for at least another 50 years. The interesting thing is it is usually a hell of a lot easier to install a metal roof than the standard shingles... at least if you are doing it yourself ...

Lots of cities and HOAs don't allow metal roofs, for whatever reason(s). (Seems to be mainly aesthetic concerns.)

But I agree that, if it's an option, a metal roof is often the better plan. When the current roof on my new house needs replacement in the next 15-20 years, I'm going to look into replacing it with a metal roof, since I now live in a city and subdivision where that's possible.

Another factor in the dearth of metal roofs is that metal roofs are more expensive to install than shingle roofs, especially basic 3-tab shingles. Despite being a better value in the long run, many folks just look at the up-front cost, or are replacing their roofs under an insurance claim and either are required to replace it with a comparable roof or don't have the additional thousands of dollars beyond the insurance payment to cover the extra cost of switching to a metal roof. (Keep in mind that 57% of Americans have less than $1k in savings.)

The cost of metal roofs has gone up but as for the labor to install one, even right, that is a real joke... on most roofs it is so much easier to install metal than the standard 3-tabs it is silly. Then again usually the labor is paying some undocumented person to carry them up and then another one to put them down with a nail gun and if the gun is not set right you are screwed... I've seen whole sections of new roof slide off a house because the roofing nails were going all the way through the shingles. If you ever read the instructions for nailing 3 tab shingles down you will realize that a day laborer using a nail gun is a bad choice.

I work for a commercial roofing company and I needed a new roof.

I bought the materials direct from one of our Suppliers (ABC) and had one of our Subs remove our old roof and install our new 30 yr. dimensional shingle roof.

I live in a small home and I spent just shy of $11k.

We did not solicit bids, but had two companies who were roofing in our neighborhood leave estimates to replace our roof, both of which were estimated to be approx. $15k.

Roofing is expensive.

I would look into a standing seam metal roof.
No more ice dams.
And metal roofs last at least twice as long as shingles.
The snow will slid off. No more shoveling or roof raking.