Can someone educate me on replacing my roof (Angier: insurance, houses)

[annabanana123]

We're getting quotes currently too as we need to replace ours. The quotes are varying wildly and the techniques too. If a roofer can't talk about the differences and wants to overlay shingles that'd be a huge red flag for me. Some of our quotes have varied by 4k. I don't intend to go with the cheapest as I have questions about the quality of the end product but definitely make sure to get at least 3.

[JONOV]

A few have said hand nailing is better.

Why is that? what difference does it make if the nail was driven by a gun or a hammer?

[ArthurL1]

Originally Posted by JONOV

A few have said hand nailing is better.

Why is that? what difference does it make if the nail was driven by a gun or a hammer?

Hand nailing is often regarded as better, because when you drive nails by hand you can feel if you've hit a gap or are on the edge and correct it on the first nail before moving on. With a nail gun you could be driving it into gaps, soft or rotten wood, etc. and never know it, and worse you could nail several in a line without being aware of the problem when it first occurs.

Doesn't mean that everything fastened with a nail gun is poor workmanship. It just means that whenever something is done faster (thus cheaper with labor by the hour), there is more opportunity for mistakes and thus future costs (loose shingles in this case).

Not exclusive to roofing, but any type of construction IMHO.

[m378]

Originally Posted by ArthurL1

Hand nailing is often regarded as better, because when you drive nails by hand you can feel if you've hit a gap or are on the edge and correct it on the first nail before moving on. With a nail gun you could be driving it into gaps, soft or rotten wood, etc. and never know it, and worse you could nail several in a line without being aware of the problem when it first occurs.

Doesn't mean that everything fastened with a nail gun is poor workmanship. It just means that whenever something is done faster (thus cheaper with labor by the hour), there is more opportunity for mistakes and thus future costs (loose shingles in this case).

Not exclusive to roofing, but any type of construction IMHO.

I would think there'd be more mistakes when a worker gets fatigued and burnt out.

Lets be realistic here - your average hired work isn't going to care if the nail hits a gap or edge.

[danielbmartin]

Originally Posted by JONOV

A few have said hand nailing is better.

Why is that? what difference does it make if the nail was driven by a gun or a hammer?

Using a hammer versus a nail gun and why | Baker Roofing Company

Roofing using a nail gun or hand nailing? | AskARoofer.com

.

[builder24car]

Show up with a nail gun to roof my house and you'll be asked to leave. Watch when someone
uses a nail gun on shingles and you'll notice a second person behind him driving the nails down
with a hammer because the gun missed them. If a nail isn't driven down with a nail gun it will
back up causing a leak sooner or later.

As someone mentioned always replace your stack flashings, etc. It will be cheaper in the long run.
Use copper for step flashings, etc if possible, it will last a lot longer. If you want to add or replace
gutters now is the time to do it.

I would do a complete tear off. One to check the underlayment for damage and two for the
weight issue. Read the shingle package carefully. Most shingles are designed to be laid left to right
or right to left. I can spot a house a mile away where the roofers ran the shingles straight up to save
time. It stands out like a sore thumb because of the color. Most roofers run the shingles up and down
which is not the correct way in most cases.

As for prices some of it can depend on their work load. When I was quoting jobs and we were super busy
we would price the job ungodly high and hoped we didn't get it. That meant pulling men off other jobs or
hiring new crews, etc if we got the job. By the same token if they don't have any work they
will knock the bottom out of their price to keep their men working.

I wasted 22 years of my life doing roofing. I was lucky in the fact I was only on shingles three times
in those 22 years. I did mainly shopping centers, hospitals, schools, etc where it could take a year to
finish the job. I mainly did built-up (hot tar), EPDM (rubber) or standing seam metal roofs, the commercial kind.
I can say without a doubt it's the most under appreciated, thankless and hardest work I've ever done or ever will do. Good luck!

[MikeJaquish]

Originally Posted by danielbmartin

Using a hammer versus a nail gun and why | Baker Roofing Company

Roofing using a nail gun or hand nailing? | AskARoofer.com

.

From the second link:

"It is not the tool but the one using it, that makes a good roof."

Truer words were never spoken.

[MikeJaquish]

Originally Posted by JONOV

A few have said hand nailing is better.

Why is that? what difference does it make if the nail was driven by a gun or a hammer?

It is all in the operator. Always. All tools. Bums can turn out bad work with the best of tools.

But, so many crews have a worn out compressor, and try to run 3 or 4 nailers off it.
Vagaries include:
Gun type and maintenance.
Air delivery consistency. Variations in air demand and volume due to multiple users.
Variations in air delivery and poor understanding of the nailers can yield sideways nails that cut through the overlaying shingle, nails that are punched right through the shingle, nails that are not set flush.
Skill, training, supervision, caring. You have to care enough to set the nail flush and square to the shingle, regardless of the tool, and enough to fix errors as you go.


I nailed over two roofs before I got off the roof. Both are still in service.
Both done with a nailer, and with quality work merely because I cared.

One was on a home with 3/8" plywood on 24" O.C. trusses.
Tearing off the roof likely would have meant replacing all the plywood due to the nature of tear offs. It wasn't in the budget.
Working on 3/8" plywood on 2' centers? There was enough bounce in the deck to make a nailer the only logical choice. Try hand nailing on a trampoline....

Some of the worst roofs I have seen are on older homes with solid wood T&G roof decks.
With a 5" dimension to the T&G, once the roofer gets rolling, it seems like most of the nails hit the tongue, particularly if the roofer exposed 3 Tab shingles the proper 5".
It was not uncommon to see whole courses of shingles that were hardly attached.
The tool was not relevant. All in the roofer....

[C_Lan]

Originally Posted by JONOV

A few have said hand nailing is better.

Why is that? what difference does it make if the nail was driven by a gun or a hammer?

If you have OSB for roofing, go into your attic and look at how some of the nails have blown out chunks of the OSB. I wanted a hand nailed roof so that the installers would be able to feel if something was amiss during the install of a shingle. Like hitting a previous hole or hitting a spot where a previous nail caused a blowout of the OSB. I used Newsome roofing for my roof about 4 years ago and their upcharge for hand nailing was insignificant. Maybe around an extra $200.

[m378]

Originally Posted by C_Lan

If you have OSB for roofing, go into your attic and look at how some of the nails have blown out chunks of the OSB. I wanted a hand nailed roof so that the installers would be able to feel if something was amiss during the install of a shingle. Like hitting a previous hole or hitting a spot where a previous nail caused a blowout of the OSB. I used Newsome roofing for my roof about 4 years ago and their upcharge for hand nailing was insignificant. Maybe around an extra $200.

You really think the laborers working at $8/hour care?