On Apr 27, 10:46 pm, mm wrote:
Here's what I learned. There is often water damage to the deck
underneath that needs repair. Also, even if the deck is OK you will
almost always find areas that are wet. Tear-off give you a chance to
dry it out before re-roofing.

Will it dry out even if they start putting the tar paper on ten
minutes later, and the shingles as sooon as the tar paper is on?

That's how they did mine.

Ten minutes of drying out is better than none I suppose. It's
possible your deck was dry and intact. It's also possible on a large
house to work on the dry side of the roof while the wet side can dry a
bit. It's also very possible that your crew didn't care what the deck
looked like and just wanted to get the job over with. In any case,
there is no opportunity to inspect or repair the deck if no tear-off
is done. That is my point.

On the crew I was on we did many repairs where large sections of the
deck had to be replaced with new wood. In other cases where the deck
was just wet, we would work on the dry side of the house or do clean-
up on until it had a chance to dry out.

It may not even be something you as a homeowner would notice. The
foreman would not necessarily take the time to find the homeowner to
explain those details since he don't like to waste any time while the
roof is off. I get the impression that the homowners have the same
attitude. Once you start tearing off their roof they are very careful
to stay out of your way and not bother the foreman with any questions.

So, unless you actually go up there yourself to look at the deck there
is no way for you to really know, eh? You can't really tell that much
from the ground. I never once saw a homeowner come up on the roof so
it is really up to the the judgment and integrity of the foreman in
the end. I'm fairly certain that the contract would have something to
say about structural repairs and how they are to be paid for.