Shingle Overlay? 3 Reasons To Replace Your Roof Instead
The cost of a new roof can be daunting for some homeowners. If you are considering a shingle overlay instead of a full roof replacement in order to reduce costs, you could be making a costly mistake.
Shingle overlays may provide you with a temporary reprieve from roofing issues, but they can end up costing you a lot more money in the long run.
1. Reduce Weight
Weight is always a concern when it comes to the integrity of a residential roof. Your home's frame was only designed to support a certain amount of weight. A shingle overlay consists of the application of new shingles over the top of your existing roofing materials. By keeping both the old and the new roofing materials, a shingle overlay can significantly increase the overall weight of your roofing system. Your roof could crack or completely cave in under this weight.
A contractor will strip off the old roofing materials before applying new ones during a roof replacement. This helps to minimize weight and ensures your roof remains stable.
2. Repair Damage
One of the major reasons homeowners consider a roof replacement is roof damage. Performance issues caused by damage to your roof can compromise the comfort and safety of your home.
A shingle overlay does not give contractors the opportunity to address any damage to a home's roof. During a roof replacement, a contractor can visually inspect your roof decking and underlayment after the existing roofing materials are removed. Serious damage can be repaired to preserve the structural stability of your roof.
A shingle overlay merely covers surface-level issues while ignoring any major roof damage you may have.
3. Prevent Moisture Problems
Investing in a shingle overlay could actually create more problems for your home's roof. It's easy for moisture to become trapped between your old roofing materials and the new shingles installed during an overlay. The longer this moisture accumulates, the more damage it can do. You may experience moldy shingles, leaks, and a loss of energy efficiency when moisture becomes trapped by a shingle overlay.
You can avoid future moisture problems by choosing to invest in a roof replacement instead of a shingle overlay.
The lower cost of a shingle overlay can make this type of roofing service seem like an attractive option, but only a full roof replacement can prevent future damage and restore the integrity of your home's roof. Contact a roofer about a new roof installation for more information.
Can you imagine hammering away at shingles from dawn until dusk? If this sounds like fun, then you may have a future in the roofing industry. If this does not sound fun at all, then you're going to be someone who calls a roofing company and leave the work to the professionals. There's nothing wrong with that. Roofing is hard and dangerous; it's definitely not for everyone. In fact, we don't climb up on the roof ourselves. We do, however, write about roofing on this blog. We consider that to be a small service we can do for homeowners who are interested in roofing and want to know more.