Roofs are one of the most important pieces of the structure of your home. Roofs protect all of your valuable assets and help to keep your home warm or cool. You may not notice how great your roof is–until it isn’t. When you have trouble with your roof, it can quickly become costly. If you want to get your roof replaced, how much does roof replacement cost? We have some answers to roof replacement trauma.
What Is Roof Replacement?
Many people are confused about what roof replacement is. Roof replacement is not the same as reroofing. When you reroof a house, you take the shingles off the roof and replace them with new shingles. A roof replacement means that we tear all of the materials of your roof off, down to the deck. From there we replace it with all new roofing materials.
How Often Do You Need to Replace Roof?
How often to replace a roof depends on what kind of roof you have, and how well it was constructed. If you use composite shingles for your roof, it may last from 15-30 years. Wood shingles may last a bit longer, depending on the climate. Rubber roofs can last as long as 50 years, and metal roofs as long as 75 years. However, how often roof replacement happens has a lot to do with the quality of construction. Shoddy construction means your roof will not last nearly as long as the estimate. If you’re not sure how often do you replace a roof, you can ask around. People in your neighborhood may give you an idea how long they have had their roofs.
How Long Does Roof Replacement Take?
Roof replacement timelines depend on a lot of factors. First, how often do you replace roofs depends on the quality of construction and materials used, which leads into the length of time roof replacement will take. If you are replacing a shingled roof with another shingled roof, the job can usually be done in a couple of days, unless extensive repairs need to be made. In general, you need two days for shingled roof replacement. It takes one day to take the old roof off, and one more day to put new shingles on. Metal or rubber roofs may take longer to put on.
How Loud Is Roof Replacement?
Roof replacement is not a quiet piece of home improvement. It can be rather loud. Most people don’t find the noise excessive, but if loud noises bother you, you may want to find a quieter spot. There are lots of families who do not mind the noise and continue on with their lives.
What Is The Average Roof Replacement Cost?
There are a lot of factors that go into how much roof replacements will cost you. We’re going to take a minute and break down how contractors determine roof cost.
Size
One of the biggest determining factors for roof cost is how large your roof is. You can’t estimate the size of your roof from the square footage of your house either. You may live in a 4000 square foot house–but your house may have multiple floors.
Also, the square footage of your house may not include the garage, or any addition you might have. If you have an extension of your sun room out onto your deck, that has to be covered as well. You also have to have room for the roof to hang over your house, for gutters.
How Do Roofers Calculate the Size of Your Roof?
Roofers count square footage differently than we do as homeowners. For a roofer, they estimate the cost of a roof replacement as 10 by 10 foot square, which they call a roofer’s square. The roofer’s square helps roofers determine how much material they will need to replace your roof.
Pitch
Roofers also have to take into account the pitch of your roof while they are making an estimate on replacement. There is no one standard pitch size where roofs are concerned. Without getting too mathy, it is important you know how we calculate the materials. We look at the overall height of the roof and divide that by the total roof size. The higher the pitch of the roof, the more roof space you have.
If your roof has a low pitch, such as 2/12, your roof falls into the flat category, even though your roof is not exactly flat. Flat roofed houses aren’t nearly as common as they once were. You will often see this in mid-century modern homes. If your roof has a pitch between 4/12 and 9/12, you have a roof with a standard pitch. This means it will be fairly simple for a roofer to give you an estimate. If your roof has a pitch that is greater than 9/12, you have a steep-sloped roof or a high pitch roof. This means that it will cost more to replace your roof.
You also need to know that depending on the pitch of your house, your choice of roofing materials may not be available. For example, you may want to replace your roof using asphalt shingles, as this is more cost effective. However, if you have a roof with a low pitch, asphalt shingles aren’t appropriate, because the water that collects on an asphalt roof has no where to go, and this could lead to damage or leaks on your roof.
Accessibility
Accessibility in terms of roofing is how hard it will be for a roofer to get up onto your roof with materials for roofing. Roofers look at accessibility in terms of safety. If your roof is difficult to access, you may end up paying a little more money. When roofers are replacing a roof on a large home with a large, high roof, they will charge more because it is more difficult to access, and they may have to wear safety equipment in order to build a replacement roof.
Materials
The materials you want to use on your roof also go into the cost of your roof. If you use asphalt shingles, most roof estimates will be anywhere from $5000 to $12,000. If you go with the more expensive asphalt shingles, such as the 30-year or 50-year shingles, you will pay more money, between $10,000 and $20,000. Other materials last longer, such as steel shingles ($15,000 to $30,000) or clay tiles (up to $60,000), but they cost more money.
As you can see, learning how to estimate roof replacement cost is not an easy job.
So, How Much Is the Average Roof Replacement?
Now that you have some idea what goes into residential roof replacement, how can you figure out how much it will cost you to replace it?
The South
Let’s look at some roof estimates around the country, to help you have an idea of how much a roof replacement will cost you. If you live in the South, you are lucky. Overall, replacing a roof in the South is much cheaper than in other areas. This is true both in terms of labor and in terms of materials. On average, roof replacement costs in the South range from two dollars to four dollars a square foot.
The Midwest
If you live in the Midwest, your roof replacement costs are a little higher than in the South, but not much. You can expect to pay between three dollars and five dollars a square foot for roof replacement. You may have a larger square footage of roof than most roofs in the South, because in some areas of the Midwest, a lot of snow falls in the winter. Roofs in this area typically require a higher pitch, or the snow could collapse the roof.
The West
People who live in the mountain West are going to pay more than Midwestern roofs, but not a lot. Like Midwestern roofs, roofs in the mountain West have steeper pitches to keep snow from accumulating on the roof. Expect to pay between five dollars and seven dollars a square foot.
The Northeast and West Coast
If you live in the Northeast or the West Coast, you will pay more for a roof than you will anywhere else in the country. Most roofing jobs will cost between six and nine dollars a square foot.
Keep in mind this is just an estimate of what your costs could be. You may end up paying more or paying less, depending on your area, materials, and accessibility.
How Do I Make Sure I Get A Good Price for My Roof?
If you want to make sure that you get a good price for your roof replacement, you need to get some estimates from several different companies. Ask them to estimate the cost with different materials so you can compare. Ask your friends and neighbors who they have used in the past for roofing jobs. Once you know that you have gotten a good price for your roof replacement, sit back, relax, drink a cup of coffee, ignore the noise, and get ready to love your new roof!