Homeowners always dread roof repairs, as they require extreme caution, and consume a lot of time and money. The two choices before you do a roof replacement are do it yourself or call a crew of professionals to do it for you. If you hire a roofer, then he would be happy to present you a free estimate of the project. However, if you prefer to do it yourself, you are left in confusion most of the time without the ability to estimate the cost. For this purpose you can make use of roofing replacement cost estimators available online.
If you prefer to replace the roof yourself, you need such tools as ladders, roof jacks, hammer, chalk line, nailing gun, and carpenter’s knife. If you do not possess these things, then you have to make an investment to buy them. Apart from these tools, you should buy the material required like asphalt paper, roofing nails, drip edge, ice and water shield, and hip and ridge vents. The roof area is usually measured in squares. A square represents 100 square feet. One square can hold eight shingles. If you want to find out the squares, then you have to measure the length and breadth of your roof and multiply them and divide the answer by 100. You should always add 10% of this if your roof has hips and valleys.
Before estimating the cost you must decide whether you are going to use the commonly used roofing materials or premium metal roofing sheets. Though conventional asphalt shingle is the commonly used roofing material, it has so many grades and ratings of its own, each one of them differing in price. A premium roofing installation would require skilled laborers, special tools, and more time.
You have to see whether your roof is simple or contains skylights, one or two roof towers, or dormers, hips, and valleys. This is called as relative roof difficulty. The complexity of your roof will lead to more wastage of the materials during installation. Also it will take a longer time and more labor cost. Roof tear-off cost is based on the number of layers of roof shingles you have in your roof. The contractor’s insurance, worker’s compensation, use of safety equipment, and permit cost also are part of your roofing replacement cost.
If you want to make use of a roof replacement cost estimator available online, you have to find out the pitch of your roof. The pitch of your roof is measured in terms of rise and run and you need a level and a ruler to measure it. You can measure the pitch of your roof through the attic. If you can walk on your roof easily, then it means that the pitch of your roof is low. Based on this assumption, you can find out if your roofing pitch is low, medium, or steep. You have to input the length and breadth of your roof, roofing pitch, relative roof difficulty, roofing material you are going to use and whether you need to tear off the existing roof, in the roof replacement cost estimator.
As you can see replacing your roof is not a job for amateurs. It’s a dangerous job better left to the pros that know what they are doing and have all the necessary equipment to do the correctly and safely. Call us a Texas Roofing Resources for a free roofing inspection and estimate to replace that old roof.