Roofing is one of the most important aspects of a home. The roof is what protects everything you hold dear from the rain, snow, and other elements. When a roof starts to get old, many people look at those shingles and wonder if putting on a new roof themselves will help them save money.
It's very possible to put a new roof on a house yourself, and doing so will save many thousands in labor costs. Roofing is expensive, and so are the man hours needed to put a new lid on your home. If you're considering DIY roofing, here are a couple of tips to get you started.
Self check: Are you ready to roof?
Roofing is very intensive. While nailing up shingles may seem like an easy task, you need to be incredibly physically fit in order to do so. Roofing involves going up and down ladders multiple times, carrying heavy loads, and navigating steep inclines.
There's also a risk of falling, especially if you neglect basic safety gear. You don't want to go up on the roof if you are at risk of falls, or if you are not fit enough to handle long hours of labor. Most roofing companies are booked several weeks out, and you don't want to have the roof opened up and discover it's too much for you to handle.
Check the weather
In order to reroof the house, you will need to strip the old roof off. This means for as long as you need to reroof the house, it will be unprotected from rain. Roofing is primarily a summer project for good reason, you'll need a window of a few days to a week of no rain to safely get the old roof on and a new one on. If you're working alone or with just one or two other people, you may need to plan for more time.
Choose quality materials
Reroofing the house is incredibly difficult work. The last thing you want to do is put a new roof on, enjoy the thrill of success as you descend into your leak free house, only to have the roofing start to decay just a few years after you put it on.
Good materials include those from GAF and TAMKO. These materials have stood the test of time and are among the best available.
Install the roof properly
Remove the entire roof completely before starting on the shingling. While it might seem like a good idea to just uncover part of the roof at a time in case of inclement weather, you won't be able to place some parts of the roof without removing all of it.
Put a good quality felt underlayment down before the shingles, and follow the instructions of your shingling meticulously.
Putting a roof on is difficult but rewarding work. If you are healthy and appropriately cautious, there's no reason why you can't put a roof on yourself. Installing a roof DIY style is guaranteed to save thousands, and give you the same quality or sometimes even better of a job. As long as you're capable of doing the work, there's no reason not to try.
