Many people look at a roof on their house that may need replacing and are convinced they could tackle the problem themselves. Replacing a roof is a tall order. It’s more than ripping off shingles, scraping tar and pulling sub roofing off a building frame… much more.
When you have a leaky old roof, the wood under the shingles has to be replaced, in some spots at least. Some do-it-yourselfers look up at their roof and see a simple task of clawing off a few wooden boards and slapping down some tar paper to adhere a couple shingle sheets. They don’t understand how difficult tar is to work with and how secured roofing planks are to a pitch frame.
Even if you ‘just’ need to maintain your roof and replace the shingles, this is no walk in the park. Once you have managed to remove the old shingles, you have to get the new ones up there. Hauling anywhere from 10-20 50 pound bundles up a latter, depending of course on how large your roof is, is dangerous, labor intensive work. And then there’s the hassle of renting a demolition dumpster and having your old roofing material and scraps hauled off.
Beyond the simple logistics behind hiring experienced roofers for the best roof tear-off and installation, there’s also this figure to consider; 30000 people are hurt falling off ladders each year of which 6000 die. An experienced roofer is as comfortable and nimble on a ladder as they are on the ground. Not to mention professional roofing companies equip their employees with safety equipment and are fully insured.
So much goes into replacing your roof. Cutting the right sub-roof angles to make the sheets properly fit on your frame takes a lot of experience, depending of course on how many peaks valleys you have. Not to mention the risk you are putting in your own hands for the sake of your own safety. So when you’ve figured out your roof needs to go, call the experts. It’s not worth killing yourself over.
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