On Tuesday, April 28, 2015 at 10:43:44 AM UTC-4, songbird wrote:
wrote:
...
Never buy the cheapest or most expensive materials.
The cost of the shingles is less than half the cost of the roof, so
the incrimental cost to go to a better shingle is not as bad as it
looks at first glance - particularly when ammortized over the expected
longer lifespan. Roofs generally do NOT last the projected warranty
span.
Make sure the roof is properly prepaired for shingles, with eave
starter, proper roofing felt, solid sheathing, etc - as well as
adequate venting.

check BBB, ask for references and go inspect some
jobs they've done. when we redid the roof here the
prices quoted from various contractors was quite a
bit more (three times the lowest), but when asking
around i found out that one company that gave a really
high quote also had really crappy work and made a mess
of things all over the place, etc. the BBB check found
a lot of complaints too. company we ended up going
with was a much larger company that does several
hundred roofs a season and had an excellent BBB rating.

there was an option to pay 10% extra for a longer
lifetime guarantee and we took it because it added
25 years more and is transferable to next owner.

multiple layer shingles, replaced decking and put
down heavy plastic/rubber sheeting along the edges
where ice can build up at times.


songbird

It seems rather odd that paying 10% more magically makes
the roof last 25 years longer. What company stands
behind that guarantee? I'll bet it's not the shingle
manufacturer. More likely it's just the local contractor
who figures almost no one will ever make a claim on it.
And if anyone does, they'll be lucky to collect.