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Should You Repair or Replace Your Roof in Bridgewater, NJ?

Should You Repair or Replace Your Roof in Bridgewater, NJ?

As a homeowner it is essential to your financial balance to make the most informed decisions about the roofing of your home to ensure its optimal performance and your confidence in its service.

Making an informed decision will allow you to anticipate future repairs and replacements and make good decisions now that lead to overall savings and the greatest values for your investments. This is true for all roofs, but the very large or complex roofing structures stand the most to gain from intelligent roofing Bridgewater NJ practices. In these situations, many of the most critical decisions you will make will be done before you even call the contractor or select your first shingle.

The first big decision to make is whether you should buy a replacement or simply repair the old roof. If you want to get a new roof you will then have to choose whether to lay the new roof on the old one, or have the entire roof replaced. There will be important considerations to make either way.

A New Roof—Cheaper in the Long Term?

Replacing a shingle or two that have come loose in the wind or because of a fallen tree limb is a simple DIY project and doesn’t cost a lot of cash either. Of course you will need to make sure you have the same type of shingle, may be some of the original batch that were left over. Without a suitable replacement the difference in shingle types will cause problems for the roof below.

Still if your repair work can preserve the life of your roof for another decade or longer than that’s great. If you will plan on selling the house within the next few years, you will want to contact your roofing Bridgewater NJ provider and make sure you have the exact match for those shingles as roof damage is a bad sign to any home buyer.

If the damage to your roof is more pervasive, but still restricted to one side or corner of the roof, partial reroofing may be the best solution for you. This will cost much less than having the entire roof replaced furthermore, it will be easier to blend the shingles over an extensive area that will be less noticeable.

Ironically, partial reroofing jobs are more expensive per square (a square is a 100 sq. ft. area 10ft. X10ft.). Partial reroofing projects can also provoke their own set of issues. For example, if the roof already has been overlaid a couple times, all of the layers will need to be removed to continue with reroofing. This may increase the costs of labor and disposal and you may be left with a roof that is slightly lopsided at the ridges. These obvious discrepancies will not be easily hidden either.

With this in mind, there are some good reasons for considering going ahead with the entire roofing replacement even if only a portion of the roof needs repairs. This will certainly be cheaper than replacing the roof in halves.

Tear Off or Roof Over?

If you have decided to replace the roof, you will then need to choose between roofing over the existing roof or tearing off the old one and replacing it completely. Here too, the choice is between saving some cash now and risking larger replacements in the future. Or making a larger investment now an ensuring a reduced risk of expenses forthcoming.

If you have roofed over once already, the decision is no longer yours. Under the International Residential Code (R907.3) no roofing materials may be applied to roofing materials that have received two or more layers of any type of materials. This is partially due to the structural issues placed on the roofing structure by added materials. While you may lift a shingle and feel it fairly light, consider how many are up there. The weight of a single layer of roofing shingles can weigh as much as two SUVs.

If your roof is only a single layer of shingles you have more options for adding another layer and reducing the costs of reroofing. Still, there are some good reasons that having the older layer torn off and applying a new layer could be the cheaper option. If the region you live in is very windy, the second layer may not stay attached to the shingles as well as the first layer is to the deck. Furthermore, removing the entire layer of shingles will allow you to make a good inspection of the deck itself and its conditions.

This opportunity to inspect the deck is actually a very important part of roof care. You will be able to detect wood rot before it has a chance to seep inside and begin damage that is only addressed through very costly repair work of the roofs inner structure. The conditions of roofing nails and sheathing can also be checked at this point. If annular nails and screws come loose they can do so in the middle of a dramatic wind storm the rips the sheathing free and can cause severe damage quickly. Once our roof has a brand new roofing material you will also be able to consider an additional shield membrane along the eaves if you live in a colder region. This can only be applied to the clean deck and can provide protection from water and ice damage caused by ice damming.

A new roof is a big expense and one that should be carefully planned. Choosing a reliable roofing Bridgewater NJ plan is the best way to gain peace of mind in a powerful storm. In the long run, a good job will pay back cash saved from repairs that aren’t needed.

 

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