As a home ages, its roofing material is necessarily going to become damaged by wind, weather, and time. Additionally, tastes in home decoration and presentation change over the years. Even a well-maintained roof may simply fall out of style, and that could be a problem if you’re looking to sell.
Whatever your reason, residential roof replacement is always an option to bring your roof up-to-code, or merely up-to-date. The problem for many people is, getting a new roof isn’t cheap. They often look for shortcuts, or ways to at least reduce the price of the renovation.
One of the popular options here is double layering, but it’s not necessarily the best call. Depending on your situation, it may be a choice that causes more problems than it solves.
Is Two-Layering A Good Way to Get A Residential Roof Replacement for Cheap?
Two-layering is what it sounds like. Rather than stripping off the existing roofing shingles, you simply add on a new layer of shingles on top of what was already there. In fact, for many years, this was a fairly standard practice. However, it’s quickly falling out of favor.
The main advantage is obvious: it’s a huge time- and cost-saver. Not bothering to strip off all the old shingles means you can cut the time and effort nearly in half. This will significantly lower the costs of your residential roof replacement in the process.
However, there are still some major issues to consider here:
1. It may be illegal
Many local governments and HOAs outright ban two-layer roofs. You’d want to look into your local regulations before even considering this option. Otherwise, you could end up paying steep fines and having to pay for another full re-roofing.
2. Weight is a big problem
Extra layers of roofing tiles can become extremely heavy, quite quickly. This is one of the main reasons the practice is often banned. If the roof can’t support that weight long-term, it will undermine the entire house.
3. “Telegraphing”
If you have roof tiles which are warped and bubbled and put a new layer of tiles on top, the new layer will still be warped. This can defeat the purpose of a re-roofing if your concerns are aesthetic.
Contact NuHome
Simply put, there are situations where two-layering your roof can work out… but we still don’t recommend it. Instead, if you’re in the DMV area, contact NuHome to work with highly experienced roofing professionals.
