The Albany area is always getting hit with treacherous weather, weather that has a long-standing effect on the status of your shingle roof. Usually roofs that haven’t been maintained or have been installed incorrectly will face the negative effects of this bad weather. Over time a roof replacement will be needed to fix the big problem. When getting a new roof, there are some things you should know about the process before you do anything further. For one it’s not an easy one, if you are going to try and attempt to replace it yourself know the steps and precautions involved, it can be dangerous. With high pitched roofs, it’s essential to wear a harness so that you don’t fall and injury yourself.

Before doing any work, its essential to get all the proper permits from the town/city to have permission to start working. When replacing the roof, removing the shingles will be the first step on the list. Shingles, depending on the kind can be heavy, they also leave a big mess behind when removing them. There must be a dumpster on site for the trash, depending on the size of the roof it will be a lot easier to throw them out with a dumpster, let’s be honest you can’t throw everything into a small residential trash can. After getting a dumpster we make sure that we have the proper tools for removing and installing shingles. Having a wheelbarrow will help the cleanup go a lot faster. One tool we use frequently is a shingle ripper, which is a flat prybar designed specifically for shingle tear-off, it makes it easy and fast to remove them. There are also the standard tools to have on the job like hammers, nail guns, saws, crow bars, ladders, etc. All these tools are needed at one point or the other to have a smooth operation.

Before the actual tear-down, a tarp is laid out and nailed over the edge of the roof down to the ground so that any debris that falls off doesn’t damage plants or decorations. The tarp is laid out on both the front and back of the house. Our Albany roofing contractors start the tear-down by getting to the top of the roof and start by removing the ridge vent. Then they start to remove the shingles using the shingle ripper, this is usually the fastest part of the roof replacement process. Most shingles will slide down onto the tarp and then down to the ground. Once the shingles are off and on the ground, it’s time to check the deking for nails and rot. If the reason for replacing the roof was due to a leak, some of the plywood decking could have black streaks and rot. These plywood pieces should be removed and replaced. Once the shingles and underlayment are off, our roofing contractors make sure there is no more nails by hitting the roof with a blower. Our roofing contractors in Albany have a helper carry out the roof debris on a wheelbarrow and into the dumpster during the replacement.

Once the roof is clear of all the old shingles, underlayment, ice and water, and nails it’s time to start adding ice and water membrane. This membrane is installed in the areas with low pitch, valleys, around boots, above skylights, and around dormers. This membrane is mostly for the winter season when snow rests on these areas, but is also an added protection from the rain. A standard of 6 ft. of ice and water is installed on the edge of the roof, depending on the pitch more can be added to help prevent water penetrating the decking.

After all the drip edge, underlayment, and ice and water membrane has been installed, it’s time for the shingles. The shingles now need to be brought up to the roof, prior to this, shingles are dropped off to the home a day before the replacement is scheduled. The Shingles are very heavy and when there is a high roof, bringing the shingles up by hand can be a hassle. Our roofing contractors have a hoist that attaches to the ladder and lifts bundles up to the roof effortlessly making the process run a lot faster. Once most of the shingles are on top of the roof, the shingle install can begin. The roofers start from the bottom and work their way up to the ridge of the roof. This is usually the most time-consuming part of the replacement, making sure that the shingles are aligned and straight is the reason why. It is also time consuming when the roofers shingle around dormers and valleys due to cuts and precise measurements. Depending on the size of the roof, one crew of Albany roofers is used to make sure the job is done on time, if the roof is pretty big another crew is also sent. Roofs replacements will often take one full day of work, if not, then they show up early next morning to finish. As soon as the roofers shingle to the ridge, it’s time for the ridge vent to be installed. The ridge vent is basically just a vent for the attic to breath, it helps the attic to not absorb moisture thus avoiding mold build up.

When it’s all said and done and the shingles are installed, its time for the cleaning. There is always someone on the floor cleaning up the shingles and roof debris. After everyone gets done with the roof, all the roofers get on top of the garbage clean up. We have someone with a magnet roller going around the house to make sure that any nails that got away don’t get left in the grass. They go around twice to make sure that they got all the nails. Once everything is in the dumpster, the foreman on the job makes sure no debris gets left behind. Then once everything is clear with him and the customer, it’s a job well done.