Roof Recovers -
What You Should Know About Them!
Roof recovers what are they? A roof recover is when a new roof is installed over the top of the old roofing shingles. Many roofing companies will do this practice. It is done a lot in the winter months when a roof tear off is not feasible.
If you need your roof replaced during the winter months, I would look at a temp fix and prepare to replace the entire roof in the summer.
Below are just some of the reasons you should think twice about a roof recover.
- As you drive around your neighborhood you may see roofs like the one above. This is a roof recover. They placed the new roofing shingles on top of the old shingles. The problem is if you do not do a tear off you will not see the condition of the plywood sheeting that the roofing shingles are nailed into. The warranty on most shingles states that the nail needs to penetrate through the sheeting.
- The next problem, which is the main reason for the new shingles not staying on the roof is the nails guns that most roofers use do not shoot a large enough nail to penetrate through both layers of shingles and through the plywood sheeting.
- Another problem can be the weight of the roofing material on the structure. A typical 20 square roof with just 1 layer of roofing will weigh about 4000 lbs. If you reroof that's now 8000 lbs. This can cause the trusses to bow and maybe break.
In Conclusion:
When a small wind storm hits the roof, some of the roofing may blow off as the shingles are not fastened correctly. Many times they are only nailed into the layer of roofing shingles below the new layer of shingles.
If you need to have a roof recover done, make sure the nails that the roofer is using are long enough to penetrate through the plywood sheeting.
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