What to Expect During a Roof Installation

Three days, and none of them look like you expect

Most homeowners picture a week of scaffolding and a house they cannot live in. In reality a typical residential replacement is dried in on day one and finished by day three, and the noisiest part is over before lunch on the first morning.

Knowing the sequence helps, mostly because it tells you which day to ask questions on. Once the new roof is down, several decisions have quietly become permanent.

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The week before anyone arrives

Move cars off the driveway and anything fragile off the walls of upstairs rooms — hammering carries through a house more than people anticipate. Cover what is stored in the attic, because fifty years of dust comes down when the deck is walked.

Tell your neighbours. It costs nothing, and a skip appearing without warning is how otherwise reasonable people start a fortnight of resentment over a shared driveway.

Day one, in order

The first day is the loud one and also the most important, because it is the only day anyone can see your roof deck.

• Tear-off begins early; the old material goes straight into the skip
• The bare deck is inspected and photographed before anything covers it
• Soft or rotted sheathing is cut out and replaced, and recorded
• Ice barrier, underlayment and drip edge go down the same day

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Ask for the deck photographs

This is the one request that separates a documented job from a trusting one. Once shingles are on, nobody can verify what the sheathing looked like, how many sheets were replaced, or whether the ice barrier actually went in.

A crew that photographs the bare deck without being asked is telling you something about how they work. So is a crew that finds the request unusual.

The same applies to any surprise. If the decking is worse than expected, you should hear about it on day one with photographs, at the per-sheet rate that was written into your quote.

The last hour matters as much as the first

A proper close-out is a magnet sweep of the entire property, gutters cleared of debris from the work, the skip gone, and both warranties registered on your behalf rather than left as paperwork you are expected to file yourself.

Walk the property with the foreman before the crew leaves. Nails found in a lawn six weeks later are a much harder conversation than nails found while the van is still on the kerb.