New Roof On Top Of Old Roof

Current shingles are curling or in bad shape the new shingle roof should lay flat on your old one.

New roof on top of old roof.

If only a portion of your roof needs to be done reroofing can also get you into trouble because you will now have a section of roof that is thicker than the surrounding areas. You must not build the new roof directly over the old. That s also why building codes commonly limit re roofing to no more than two layers. Shingles that are raised or misshapen make it hard to lay a smooth flat layer of new shingles on top.

If your existing roof is fairly old there s a good chance the shingles are damaged. You re better off removing the old roof. Installing new roof shingles over old effectively doubles the weight of the roofing so you have to make sure your roof structure can handle the extra load. Unfortunately the money you save by avoiding a full roof replacement comes out of the value of your house.

Use 1 5 or 1 75 inch roofing nails. Installation is easier than for a tear off job because you can use the existing shingles as guides for laying the new ones. Find a pre screened local roofing contractor. If conditions are right new shingles laid over old shingles can be just as attractive and durable as shingles laid on bare sheathing.

But you must take care to install shingles correctly so they lie flat. A new coat of shingles over decaying shingles will cause your roof deck to decay. The solution is changing the roof pitch or building a new roof at a higher pitch than the old roof. Your house will probably be worth less.

When you add a new layer on top of the old you are simply covering over the problem not actually fixing it. Place the top of each starter shingle firmly against the bottom of the shingle immediately above it and even with the eaves then nail it into place. You need to tear off the roof and install a new one. But if the current roof is curling this isn t possible.

The installation of metal roofing is often easier and faster than other roof types and because of its simple design and generally large size can actually be installed directly on top of existing roofing materials like asphalt shingles and foam roofing.