Roofing advice requested

I'm looking for suggestions & advice on our next roof so I can start planning/saving for a couple years.

When we bought the house in January the inspector said we probably have about 10-years left on the roof, but looking at it I'm a bit skeptical. What do you think?

The roof was re-shingled after Katrina, though there was no serious damage. So that makes it ~11-years old now. We have 6 large oaks that shade & shelter us, so despite the fact we're 1-block from the beach it made it through relatively unscathed.

However, in planning for the future I'd like something more hurricane-resistant. Would steel be a better option? Would the sound of hundreds of acorns hitting the roof be deafening?

How do I differentiate a good roofer from bad? And the same for roofing materials?

Here's a few pics from yesterday:

Are the stained areas anything to worry about? I cleaned the roof almost weekly in the spring & just cleaned it last night, but the house was mostly unoccupied for a year previously.

Any GRM roofers want a job in Biloxi in another year or 2?

Looks like you have another 10 years left, but I'm no roofer. The shingles usually start to curl at the end of their life, at least up where I am. Stain is just stain, as long as it's not compromised roof, it's just stain.

Do you know anything about the shingles? Most have a warranty term stated in years which, while perhaps optimistic, will give an idea of the life expectancy. It looks fine to me, but I'm no roof doctor.

I would be careful about frequent cleaning. It's possible you could do more harm than good. Once or twice a year should be plenty.

Put steel over what you have there. That is, don't take up the shingles, just put the steel roofing over them. It will last forever and not leak.

Steel roofs are really no louder than regular shingled roofs. You still have a bunch of stuff between the steel and your ears. It's not like a bare steel roof in a shed.

In reply to 1988RedT2:

The only reason I cleaned that frequently(and I used a leaf blower fwiw) is everything accumulates in the valleys, and since it's pretty flat - maybe a 4/12 pitch - I was worried about a water dam building up & causing leaks.

Anyone have any input on hurricanes & steel vs. shingles?

In my experience steel roof is not bad, but cell phone reception sucks in the house. If you have a landline it might not be a problem.

Can't tell much from the photos but given when it was replaced I'd say another ten years would be in its age range. Here in FL a three tab lasts maybe 20 years before it's shot. Architectural / dimensional last maybe 25 or so before they are baked.

I wouldn't really worry about the staining. Keeping the valleys clear is a good idea. Id just gently sweep or blow them off like your doing.

A hurricane will take shingles off. It rolls off metal in sheets. Architectural is much more wind resistant than the three tab but I don't know how it compares to metal with any real specifications.

I am on about half a dozen roofs a week looking for damage but am not a roofer.

petegossett wrote: In reply to 1988RedT2: The only reason I cleaned that frequently(and I used a leaf blower fwiw) is everything accumulates in the valleys, and since it's pretty flat - *maybe a 4/12 pitch* - I was worried about a water dam building up & causing leaks. Anyone have any input on hurricanes & steel vs. shingles?

Ah, the leaf blower shouldn't hurt it. I thought maybe you were using a cleaning agent and a pressure washer or something.

Nothing wrong with planning for a rainy day (and a leaky roof) but for now, I'd say if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

In reply to 1988RedT2:

Yes, I'm glad to hear it's not as bad as I feared!

I still need to figure out whether steel is my best option for the next roof, and if so, what weight/brand/attachment method to deal with hurricanes.

Wish my roof looked that good. Getting it replaced soon. Original shingle roof from 1973 with another set of shingles on top of that. As you can see, they are just blowing off.

Will go with architectural shingles and frame each panel and trough with ice shield.

This is failing shingles.

Curling edges, broken corners, loss of gravel. They get brittle and tabs start to break off.

Yours really doesn't look bad to me. With the tree cover to keep the sun from baking it, it should last a good while longer if you keep the debris from piling up.

Edit. Metal under a oak tree, you will hear the acorns. It's not a problem for me, but some people may not like it.

It must be the type of roof construction, but the metal roof on my grandparents' old house is deafening. If an acorn hits or or a squirrel runs across it, I think the world is ending. It was built in 1923, has three layers of shingles under it, T&G sheathing, 2x6 rafters, and retrofitted with a lot of blown-in insulation. I thought for sure it would keep things down to a low roar, but alas.

Our hunting cabin (also steel roof) is also deafening, but that makes sense; little insulation, OSB sheathing, and only one layer of shingles.

Your roof looks pretty darn good from the pictures if you ask me. I usually do my own roofing, so I can't say what to look for in a good roofer, other than word of mouth, interview/estimate, online reviews, etc.

We hear the squirrels and acorns now, though it doesn't really bother us. I'm just curious if a metal roof would amplify it? Or if metal is a better choice for hurricane-force winds than traditional shingles?

I'm under a whole set of oak trees. Yes, at "that time of the year" it can sound like it is hailing, but it really isn't that loud. I would say overall, barely louder than conventional shingles, in my personal experience.

Anyway, I'm a metal roof fan-boi. When we used to ride cross country more frequently, before the big mega-corps bought up all the small farmers, I used to look at all the old farm houses and barns. The ones with metal roofs were still standing, even though they looked to have been built 75 or more years ago. The non-metal roof structures, not so much.

Most of the roofs I saw going on after Katrina were steel anyway so I'd consider it, but I'd just hose it off and fix it when it's broke.

I just put on aluminum shingles this spring. They are like 6x1 foot panels and they interlock on all 4 sides. They are Florida Dade county rated or whatever for winds (I guess Dade county has the most stringent wind standards in the country).

Easy to put on, look great (no one has noticed that our roof isn't shingles unless we tell them). I put them down right on top of existing shingles with another tar paper ish product in befween. They are no louder than our shingles were before, should last forever, have better wind resistance than shingles, and reflect sun energy in summer to make less cooling load on the AC.

About 3x the price of shingles, but you can do it yourself on a shallow pitch roof like that. Then aluminum roof materials should be about what a shingle roof installed would be.

Plus, they say that the panels are heavily recycled aluminum, and they gave a metric. I did the math, and I get to tell people that I have about 40,000 beer cans on my roof.

If you want some pics I can post a few.

In reply to Robbie:

I'm interested in this - need to redo a wraparound porch roof that's not very pitched. Currently it's "homemade" metal roof, using ~30" squares laid down like shingles and painted with white elastomer. I've been out on it to patch it a few times now... but am just buying time till I have to do it right.

Dr. Hess wrote: Put steel over what you have there. That is, don't take up the shingles, just put the steel roofing over them. It will last forever and not leak. Steel roofs are really no louder than regular shingled roofs. You still have a bunch of stuff between the steel and your ears. It's not like a bare steel roof in a shed.

what he said. i did Exactly this, for Exactly the same reason. only difference was i lost 20-ish shingles in a nasty storm, and my insurance paid for most of it. i was out around $800 total for an upgrade from 3-tab to metal. around here, in my market, a metal roof is like screwing on 10% in resale value, as well.

-J0N

In reply to Robbie:

Yes Robbie, when you get a chance I'd like to see that please!

Roof is fine. Plenty of life left as mentioned.

Pro-tip. If the roof wasn't in good condition, you wouldn't have been able to buy the house because none of the insurance companies would have written you a policy.

In reply to z31maniac:

I did have someone from the insurance co. check the house after we moved in, but he was mostly concerned w/the appliances & never got on the roof.

We had a home inspection beforehand, but I've discovered he wasn't the most thorough. Not that anything I've discovered afterward would have killed the deal, but I'm not sure it's all good or up to code either.

Your roof looks fine. Budget to replace in 10 years with the same materials.

Zombie thread, canoe deleted

EastCoastMojo said:

Zombie thread, canoe deleted

Yes, but as always with these zombies, curiosity is raised.  How is the roof doing two years later?

this threadStreetwiseguy said:

EastCoastMojo said:

Zombie thread, canoe deleted

Yes, but as always with these zombies, curiosity is raised.  How is the roof doing two years later?

I started this thread recently when it started leaking for the 3rd or 4th time. So far “Through The Roof” is working, and I have extra if it starts leaking again. The plan is to save up as much as we can, and either pay cash for a cheap re-shingle, or if we can hold out longer, for a steel roof like we want.