Priding yourself as do it yourself person (DIY) is no doubt all the rage these days.
No one wants to throw a picture of a new grill, a piece of furniture, or a cool wall decor project on social media and admit that someone else put it together. With websites like Pinterest and countless shows on HGTV, more and more people are proud to say they’re the DIY type.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t always bode well when the DIY gang starts to work outside of their home on their exterior home. Whether it is trying to replace siding, moving gutters, or even attempting a DIY roof replacement – most of the time the outcome is not as glamorous.
It is one thing if your DIY grill is a little lopsided, but the do-it-yourself roof is another ballgame. This is why today, we will share with you some much necessary information for those considering a DIY roof and why you might want to consider otherwise!
4 Reasons Why You Need to Avoid a DIY Roof Replacement
Let’s first start out by addressing the elephant in the room: Legacy Roofing Idaho is a roofing company. Yes, obviously we are going to say you shouldn’t do a DIY roof, but bear with us for a moment and just keep reading.
There are cases when someone has enough construction experience, ladder safety experience, and even roofing experience where they are capable enough to replace their own roof. But this is the exception.
For all intents and purposes of this article, we are going to list the reasons why you should highly consider avoiding a DIY roof replacement, starting with safety.
1. Dangers of DIY Roofing
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), each year in the United States there are over 150,000 ladder accidents that end up with trips to the emergency room and almost one death per day of the year from ladder falls.
… And this is just getting up on the roof.
Once on the roof, the dangers of trying to replace your roof on your own only increase. Professional roofing companies deploy a team of experienced roofers who use special equipment, the right shoes, and safety harnesses.
The experience over the years has taught them how to navigate a roof that for many homeowners, is very uncomfortable to walk around on – let alone, replace.
While you might think you are saving a few dollars by doing your own shingles, the safety concerns alone far outweigh the savings you might experience doing your own roof. Keep in mind, this doesn’t even factor knowing how to do the work!
2. Roofing Knowledge
Ok, so you are not concerned about climbing a ladder and being safe on a roof – you have that covered. While we don’t recommend it, if you insist getting on your roof the next logical question is do you know what to do once you’re on there?
Do you…
- Put your new roof on the existing roof?
- Tear off the shingles?
- What do you do with the old shingles?
- Speaking of shingles, what roofing material and shingles do you need? How much?
- Will you actually spend more on shingles if you do it yourself?
- Where should you start when you lay the underlayment?
- What roofing extras do you need?
- What about the shingles, how many nails do each shingle require to prevent voiding the warranty?
There are all very real questions you need to know the answers to, in addition to many, many more. The roofing process may appear simple, but it isn’t.
Starting with tearing off the old roof, the next step is inspecting the condition of the roofing decking, followed by properly applying ice shield, the under payment, shingles, ridgevents, pipe collars, flashing if needed, and so on.
As you can see writing down the DIY roof replacement steps is one thing, actually doing the work is something entirely different!
3. Roofing Warranties & Labor Warranties
Perhaps the best thing about replacing your roof with a new asphalt shingles is the factory warranty the shingles offer… when installed by a certified installer.
It is one thing to be the DIY roofer, but it is not advisable for warranty sake. Your roofing warranty is vital for many reasons, starting with the fact that a warrantied roof means you will never need a new roof again in most cases.
Many of the new architectural shingles come with such a great product warranty, as long as they are installed correctly – the wind MPH won’t matter – the singles are insured. Unless of course, you install it yourself.
Most manufacture warranties come with proper installation guides, such as the right amount of nails per shingle and so on. A shingle system is what makes the warranty possible, however, one piece of that system done incorrectly comprises the entire roof and the warranty.
Just another reason to seriously consider never doing a DIY roof replacement!
4. Home Value & Resale
You have probably seen the end result of a neighbor trying to put together a DIY patio and thought to yourself, “Wow they wasted time and money, that doesn’t look so good,” but you have to also consider that in addition to curb appeal, resale home values matter.
A brand new roof is actually extremely marketable for resale purposes and in some cases, most homeowners will see almost an 80% ROI for their new roof. With green energy, wind, storms, and water, a new roof helps address all issues while simultaneously adding value.
That said – tell them you did it yourself – and you will have people a little worried. While you might think you can replace your roof yourself (and maybe you can), if you do happen to do it yourself, it’s not like there is a redo option.
A patio that is used seldomly and doesn’t really impact the structural integrity or protection of your home is one thing, but a roof is the number one component of storm water protection as it is the first line of defense!
Don’t try to save $100 now, and lose $1,000’s down the road trying to resell your home!
The Verdict – Hire a Pro
Chances are, you will be presently surprised when you see that hiring a professional roofing company to install your new shingles isn’t much more than doing it yourself.
Roof pricing and replacement costs are competitive and 50% of the price is in materials alone, thus installation, hauling, and other items make up the other 50%. So in theory, if you were able to somehow manage to install your own roof, you could save a few thousand, but long term you might actually lose more in resale value and quality of your roof.
We would highly recommend you reach out here before replacing your roof! If you got questions, be sure to checkout:
Roofing Warranties – What to Know & What We Offer