How are you supposed to replace the shingles on a house?

The house nextdoor is getting a full redo. It's been taking a few months.

They removed the shingles earlier in the week and put down the underlayment.

And that's how it has sat. I'm assuming they're not going to work over the weekend, but that's just a guess. 

When our roof was redone a few years ago, the entire job took about 10 hours. We have a fairly steep and involved roof, too. I don't go up there--well, not the tall parts. Our roofers also threw a ton of guys at the job--like a dozen or more. 

Since we have some pros here, just wondering what's a normal timeframe for the job. 

Thanks. 

Mine took 1.5 days with a crew of 5 or 6 guys. They were here before 7 am & stayed until it was dark the first day, but probably lost 2-2.5 hours due to a thunderstorm. 2300 sf 2 story with a 2 car garage (attached, but not part of the 2300 sf).

Yeah, one day is typical in my experience. Tear-off, repair, new shingles, done.

I had a crew of 5 do a relatively large (but simple) roof in 7 hours.  I was the schlepp guy - bringing shingles and nails.  the other 4 were pros.

I did a double wide mobile in 3 days, but I had little to no help until day 3. 

And it was 100* so I quit early to chase tail and drink. I was way cooler back then

When I had mine done a few years ago, I used the biggest company in town and they had it down to a science. First, they scheduled like 10 roofs in my neighborhood at the same time. Then, they deployed a bunch of different crews to rotate between the houses. 7am, and the first crew showed up: Command center setup. They put up a few EZ ups, a water station, compressors, etc. in the yard. They were followed by a tear off crew, then a carpentry crew, underlayment and trim crew, shingles crew, etc. There were probably 50 people total involved in the roof, but it meant the entire job got done well in a few hours, and everybody only did the one thing they were trained to do. Seriously impressive operation.

In reply to Tom Suddard :

I think I used the same company. They said that they'd be here at 9:00. At like 9:04, it sounded like a monster was ripping off our roof. A row of dudes, standing shoulder to shoulder and wearing matching shirts, were just marching across the roof and peeling off the old tiles. 

An hour or later, our old roof sat in a pile on the ground.

Like another hour later, that pile was gone. They were like a machine. (Also, they didn't give us the most expensive quote.)

David S. Wallens said:

Like another hour later, that pile was gone. They were like a machine. (Also, they didn't give us the most expensive quote.)

If you're that efficient then you can do it in half the time, charge 80% as much, and still make double the profit of the other guy!

In reply to codrus (Forum Supporter) :

Yup, like Tom noted, all about the efficiency. They even told us that going in: We'd be scheduled along with other houses in the neighborhood so they could coordinate things. 

The house nextdoor, not so much. 

On a remodel they might be waiting for something, I ran a roofing crew back in college; we were the shingle layers in the example Tom gave. No way would we leave a job unfinished if we didn't have to even if we were working till we had flood lights everywhere. Didn't make money if we had to come back.

David S. Wallens said:

The house nextdoor is getting a full redo. It's been taking a few months.

They removed the shingles earlier in the week and put down the underlayment.

And that's how it has sat. I'm assuming they're not going to work over the weekend, but that's just a guess. 

When our roof was redone a few years ago, the entire job took about 10 hours. We have a fairly steep and involved roof, too. I don't go up there--well, not the tall parts. Our roofers also threw a ton of guys at the job--like a dozen or more. 

Since we have some pros here, just wondering what's a normal timeframe for the job. 

Thanks. 

what you just described.....last August ...".When our roof was redone a few years ago, the entire job took about 10 hours. We have a fairly steep and involved roof, too. I don't go up there--well, not the tall parts. Our roofers also threw a ton of guys at the job--like a dozen or more. "

Our experience was a lot like Tom's, except for the multi-house scheduling.  We called a couple of companies, but really wanted to deal with the best-rated one, so it was just a bonus that their quote was not the highest.  On the appointed day we were swarmed by a crew who all seemed to be each other's cousins or something.  (They are now known around here as The Flying Zucchini Brothers.)  They all spoke the same language, but don't ask me what it was – I'm pretty good, but I never laid a glove on it. 

Old roof off, new roof on, the FZB pack up and disappear.  A few hours later, a completely humourless Scandinavian guy drops by.  I mean, this guy last smiled during the Ford administration, and then it was by mistake.  He's the Inspector.  He inspects.  Much to his disappointment (I guess), the FZB appear to have done everything perfectly, or up to his standards, whichever is tougher.  THEN we're entitled to have the company's sign on our lawn.  Not before.

Would definitely buy again, as they say.

Due to the really bad repairs done by companies ( who appear professional with matching shirts etc.) a lot of regulations have been put in place in FL to protect homeowners.   There is a high likelihood that the underlayment & flashing  has to be inspected to make sure it conforms to the 2020 building code updates before shingles can be installed. Also according to the 2020 updates if over 30% of the decking has to be replaced that also may have to be inspected to be sure the proper plywood, nails, etc. were used in correct amounts before they're allowed to put the paper & flashing down. 

There's also a new law preventing companies from doing door to door sales through neighborhoods that went into effect July 1st.   So you're probably not going to see as many instances of multiple jobs being done at the same time in a neighborhood. 

Having grown up working for a small contractor in PA, we were very careful to do it "right."  The weather, supplies, timing, everything.  Then I moved to CA where we could strip a roof and lay some tar paper and then take another lucrative job for a couple weeks and then go back and finish the shingles.  We knew that it wasn't going to rain, and even if it did, tar paper will keep you dry for quite a while.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Tar paper seems to be a thing of the past. Now they all use some type of waterproof membrane. Looks like shiny black rubber or plastic. I was terrified when it started pouring & there were 5 guys running full speed around my roof on what looked like it would be slippery as heck when wet. Thought for sure my homeowners insurance was about to take a second hit for personal injury claim or claims...

The last time my place was re-shingled there was a crew of twelve. They did the house (two story, 2700 sq.ft.) and a separate 600 sq ft garage in about 7 hours. The guys jumping from the house roof across the gap to the garage gave my wife fits.

I was in roofing sales / pm last year after cornonavirus shut weddings down- 

we could do a 100sq roof in a day with ice and water, new flashing etc. I hate two day jobs. A good crew is essential. 

My neighbor had his roof replaced a week ago. Not a big house, but it does have a few dormers and multiple roof areas.  Dumpster and materials arrived the day prior.  A crew arrived early in the AM and by 8AM they had most of the old shingles off.  It was hot AF at the time (100+ heat index), so I'm guessing a lot breaks were taken.  They finished up by 5 PM.  

The roof on my house is over 25 years old, but seems to be holding.  I'm hoping it lasts a year or two longer until I can renovate (knock down and rebuild) the house. 

Update: I see some shingles going up on the roof. But this might be going slowly....

What I typically see around here, Oklahoma, is 2 days. The first day is removing the old roof, bad decking, etc, and getting the new shingles/decking/etc, setup for day 2. 

With the amount of wind and hail we get here in an average year, most roofs never make it to the 20 or 30 year shingle life. So you're typically just out your insurance deductible vs actually paying the entire amount for the roof.

Maybe these guys are getting paid by the hour? 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

My ex's uncle was (retired) a construction manager for a property owner in FL.  Since getting anything done during the Summer heat was practically impossible, they pretty much shut down from June through August. 

With your wallet

Are these asphalt shingles going back on?  I know in Florida that there are other options due to the hurricanes.  Singles in Florida can mean something very different than up further north.  

I actually was thinking that they may have had a supply issue and that could have delayed things? Or were the shingles on site and they just did not put them on?

David S. Wallens said:

Update: I see some shingles going up on the roof. But this might be going slowly....

Perhaps they're going to do a good job?

Might be that they need to do repairs to the soffits, fascia, sub fascia, etc. which is much easier to do after the original drip edges (and therefore shingles) are removed and before the new drip edges are installed.  It's very difficult and costly time wise to remove/replace the fascia and drip edge backing with the old drip edge in place so if work needs to be done it really should be done before new roofing is installed. The underlayment, depending on type, weight, etc. can last from a few weeks to 6 months and keep water from leaking into the building.

Since it's a remodel, there may also be other things that need to be done before the roof install such as replacing or adding skylights, additional plumbing vents, preparations for modern ridge vents, brick chimney repairs, and so on.

New FL building codes specify larger drip edge than was used previously so that may also be an issue because they'd need to replace all of the drip edge if it isn't the newer wide type.

People seem impressed with the "do it in a day" roof replacements however in many cases (here) it's lipstick on a pig. Many roofing companies here in S FL  just try to do as little as possible, as fast as possible,  for max profit while competing with each other. This often results in covering previous damage that isn't profitable to repair as well as enabling further damage to occur later. While there may not be apparent leaking inside the house, and it looks "pretty" when the new roof is installed, if the new roof isn't properly installed it can be leaking into the overhangs causing rot and providing moisture for termites to set up camp till a long dry spell which kills them off. The average homeowner doesn't know much about roofing so if it looks pretty when they're finished it must be good right? This is like restoring a really rusty car by filling big holes with bondo and taking it to Macco. Sure it looks a lot better, but not for long! And the floors are still rusted out.

There is a clause in the roofing contracts that states.   "Client understands and agrees that it is Clients responsibility to monitor moisture content of the property."  So if your soffits rot out in 5-10 years you're out of luck because you didn't monitor as agreed. The roofing contracts are written so that the roofing company isn't responsible for anything. How many of us check the inside of soffits for moisture?

Here's what happens when decking, drip edge, tar paper, and shingles aren't installed properly. To add insult to injury in this case the plywood used for the original decking was 5/8" because the trusses were 24" apart and the roofer that replaced the previously rotted plywood used 1/2" ply for the "repair"(probably charged for 5/8") and the roof got all wavy after several years besides the plywood, fascia, and sub fascia all rotting under the drip edge.

[URL=https://app.photobucket.com/u/NOTATA/a/83944394-df08-49c6-b28a-2b3db87696e7/p/9677f8c4-c688-4c89-ab9b-f997e1c337e1][/URL]