What do crews do on a roof replacement?
Your roof is being replaced, you see all these guys on top of your house, but you don’t know what they are doing. And you’re curious about what’s going on up there.
There are steps and a process a good roofing crew should follow. From prepping and protecting the exterior, completing the roofing work, and then the clean up afterwards.
Most roof replacements can get done in 1 day. You leave to work watching a group of guys climb onto your home and by the time you get back, everyone and everything is gone. There’s a new roof on your home and you may think to yourself “wow that was fast. What did they do up there?”
So for the curious homeowners here are the things roofing crews do during a full roof replacement build day.
Prepping and Tear off.
The first thing a roofing crew does is prep the exterior of the home. They lay out tarps on the ground for falling debris. They’ll set up tarps coming down from the roof, to protect the siding. And set up plywood sheets to protect garden plants that are important to you.
After the exterior of the home is prepped and ready to go. The crew starts the heaviest part of the job, the tear off. Here they will rip off the old shingles, take out all the old nails, clean out the gutters of all debris.
Leaving the decking clean and exposed, ready to be inspected. When a crew is inspecting the decking they are looking for rotten wood or on older home’s they’ll be looking for gaps between the wood boards. To make sure if the home need to be re- decked or not.
Underlayment and Shingles
After the decking is inspected, cleaned off and ready to go. The first layer of protection goes onto the home. Here in the northern climates we have to use something called Ice and Water Shield, so that goes on first.
After that rows of Synthetic Felt Paper goes on. That completes the first layer of protection and now is ready to get new shingles.
New Shingles and Ridge
Then after all the underlayment is properly installed, next comes the new shingles. The crew will chalk down their lines to make sure everything comes out straight. They will shingle all the slopes, to get the home ready for the ridge cap.
The ridge cap is the final piece to a roofing system. It ties everything together and water proofs your home. Once this step is finished all that is left to do is make everything is cleaned up on the ground.
Final Clean Up
Once the final piece of the roof is installed, the crew caulks all of the exposed nails. And final they go around the home passing a magnet to collect all the nails that came off the roof. Also they’ll be picking up any left over debris pieces they find on the ground, in the bushes, etc.
It’ll be like no one was ever there. That’s it you have a wonderful new roof. Now you know the process and what goes on during a roof replacement.
In summary that’s what a roofing crew does to your home, well the good one’s at least. They should protect everything on the ground, tear off the old shingles, inspect the decking, put on the new underlayment, put on the new shingles and finally a thorough clean up afterwards.
A well organized team will make this process look easier than it actually is. Leaving your home with a brand new roof and making it seem like they were never there.
At Pro Works Roofing we help homeowners through the whole process, answering any questions you have.
612-434-8791
651-492-5003
office@proworksroofing.com