Roofing Repair

You can tell if a roof is in need of repair or maintenance by a few hints. Evidence of leaking inside the house, inspection of the roof for missing or damaged shingles, inspecting the attic for mold or mildew.

If your roof is more than 20 years old and showing signs of wear and tear, it’s probably time to call a roofing contractor. There are several other things to look for as well. The first thing to look for is visible signs of leaking in your home. Check your attic and upper floors of your house for water stains or mold. Another thing to look for is missing, cracked, or curling shingles. If you are losing roof shingles with any wind gusts or your roof shingles are cracking and curling up, it also may be time to look into having your roof replaced. If any or all of the above is happening to you, it's time to call a qualified roofing contractor to inspect your roof and give you a solution that is best for you.

Not necessarily. Oftentimes, a roof can be repaired. It will depend on the situation. Roofs generally leak at penetrations, flashing details and at eaves of the roof if there is a problem. If the problem can be diagnosed properly and the conditions are right to repair, often enough a repair can be done. Sometimes though a repair can be like putting a band-aid on a bleeding artery.

If you are properly trained and have the right equipment you can do anything. Unfortunately, most homeowners don’t. It is highly recommended that roofing is left to a trained professional.

A new roof system will last between thirty (30) and fifty (50) years depending on the roofing shingle you choose and if it is installed properly. Often times though roofers will cut corners and not install the right roof system for the construction of your home. This can lead to the roof not performing up to its standards. There are other parts like ventilation and flashing details that are as important as the shingle that is installed.

The price of a new roof on Long Island will vary on several factors.

The pitch and difficulty of the roof are the first variables. A shingle roof with a walkable pitch with minimal flashing details and minimal facets to the roof will usually be a lot less expensive than homes that have a very steep pitch or have dormers, extensions, or valleys.

Another variable in the price of the roof is the number of layers of roofing being removed. When one layer of roofing is being removed the dumping fees are less than two or three layers of roofing being removed.

Type of roofing and materials being used. Although most roofing companies on Long Island use architectural roof shingles, there are different grades of these shingles.

The underlayments used before the shingles are installed factor into the price also. If a roofer is using generic products under the shingle the cost of materials will be less than a roofer using a complete system. Unfortunately, if there is a problem with a generic the same warranties are usually not in effect.
Most houses built before 1940 may also have an original cedar shake roof under the asphalt roof shingles. The cedar roofing must now be removed from these homes and plywood will need to be installed. This is building code now and a lot of towns require a permit to perform this scope of work. A cedar removal job like this adds a substantial amount of cost to do a roof job.

Overall on Long Island, the price for removing and replacing a roof can be between $3.00 to $10.00 per square foot. That makes your average 2000 Square Foot roof between $6,000 to $20,000. The $6,000 roofers are usually cutting corners to get to those numbers, and the companies on the higher end of the spectrum are usually the companies using subcontractors and are more concerned about marketing and sales than the real quality of the roof on your home.

Roofing and Siding Installation by Cover All Solutions, Inc. in Nassau and Suffolk

Up until about the late 1990’s, the norm on Long Island was to put a second and even a third roof on top of the original roof. What good roofing contractors found was this was a bad idea. New York State has changed its building code to only allow a second layer of roofing. We believe the right thing is to always remove all roofing materials down to the sheathing. By removing the old roofing materials, the wood underneath can be inspected, and any rotted areas can be replaced. New underlayments can be installed including ice and water shield can be installed in leak vulnerable areas. Most importantly, all of the flashings can be inspected and replaced as needed. Flashings are a metal usually either aluminum or copper that help keep water out where your roof either meets a wall or chimney. If your flashing rots, pits, or gets nailed though it will eventually become a leaking spot.

New York state allows up to 1 roof installed over the original roof in most cases. Though the second layer of roofing can be allowed, we highly recommend not installing the second layer. By removing the original roof we can inspect the sheathing and replace any wood that would not be able to hold nails for the new roof, inspect and change flashing as needed, and install new underlayments to ensure your new roof will keep your home dry.

Another reason to not install a roof over your existing roof is to make sure your roof is laying flat. If the old roof is not the new roof on top won’t either. This can cause the new shingles to not seal properly and give a greater chance to blow off or have water get under the shingle.

The roofing shingles that most people choose are a matter of budget and color preferences. We are a long time installer of Owens Corning roofing shingles. Owens Corning Oakridge shingles are great roof shingles for budget-conscious homeowners, and Owens Corning Duration is what we believe to be the best-performing architectural roof shingle on the market.

Most roof jobs to remove and install are completed in one day. If a job is on the larger size or is more difficult than an average job, then it might take longer. We will always leave the home watertight and cleaned up at the end of all workdays.

A ridge vent is a continuous vent along the ridge of your roof that in conjunction with adequate soffit ventilation will help to move warmer air and moisture out of your attic. Vented soffits (roof overhang) or lower roof intake vents pull cooler air in and circulates warmer air and moisture out the ridge vent which is considered the exhaust vent. If you have no soffits or they are not vented, some kind of intake vent will need to be added; otherwise, the ridge vent will not work. Be careful, a lot of “roofers” don’t make this known, and install them anyway despite the fact that they will be ineffective; after all, if a product isn’t going to work for you, what is the point of having it done?

An ice dam is when snow and ice are sitting on your roof and into your gutters. The heat in your home along with keeping you and your family warm also warms the outside walls, and roof of your house. When this heat rises it melts the snow and ice above the wall but not the snow and ice on the roof above an overhang, or in the gutter. As temperatures drop, the melted snow and ice refreezes. Because there is still ice below it on the roof it then dams upwards underneath roof shingles causing the roof to leak.

There is no 100% surefire way to stop an ice dam. Sometimes Mother Nature does get the best of us. There are ways to install a roof to lower the chance of having a problem in the event that an ice dam occurs.

The first is a properly vented and insulated attic space. A properly vented attic space will have less moisture cutting down on hot air escaping to the attic and melting the snow and ice on the roof but not on the overhangs of the roof.

The next thing to prevent water from getting into the house during an ice dam is the proper installation of ice and water shield. An ice and water shield is a rubber leak barrier put onto leak-vulnerable areas before the roof is installed. The biggest problem with relying on this product is a majority of roofers do not use it correctly. The NRCA (National Roofing Contractors Association) which makes the guidelines for proper roof installation says the ice and water shield should extend a minimum of two feet past the outside walls of the house. This means any home with a roof overhang of more than eight inches should have a second layer of ice and water shield installed.

Another way to prevent an ice dam leak is having heater coils installed on the roof into the gutters. The melting of the ice in the gutter and over the roof overhang can minimize issues seen with ice dams.

The last thing is to remove the snow from the roof. This method isn’t recommended for most homeowners to try to do themselves because the risks of falling off of a roof for a homeowner are very high when trying to remove snow from a residential roof.