Do I need/should I get a new roof?

[RobA]

We bought our house almost 13 years ago when it was new. The roof is 3-tab asphalt shingles ("builder's special"). A couple of years ago I noticed a water stain on a bedroom ceiling. Then there was a water stain on my bedroom ceiling. Ever since then nothing. I didn't climbed up in the attic or anything but assumed the water stains were from a leaking roof so I got some quotes for a new one. An Amish roofer quoted $9,100 and Lowe's quoted $14,300 eek: ).

We will be selling the house in a little more than 2 years after our new house is built on our acreage. So now I'm thinking - do I really need a new roof? Could the water leaks have been caused by unusually strong wind driven rains? Should I be spending nearly $10k only to sell the house 2 years later? I'm not too worried about the reasons for the differences in the 2 quotes (Lowe's was almost 60% more) but wondering more if I should do it at all.

How do I know if I need a new roof?

 

[bigshovel]

Typically a 3 tab shingle regardless of brand carries a 20-25 year warranty if installed per manufacturers installation instructions. If you have not had water since 13 years ago, I would say no to buying a new roof. I just had 38 square taken off and 38 put back on for 7800.00. These were 30 year dimensional shingle's.

Brad

 

[CurlyDave]

How do I know if I need a new roof?

Go up there and look at it yourself.

Most of the contractor special shingles have about a 20 year warranty, and will last 15-20 years.

I know that in the West, most home buyers will ask for an inspection when buying a home. An end-of-life roof is usually found, and a savvy buyer will either negotiate a price reduction, or insist that you replace the roof.

Planning to move in 2 years makes it a tough decision.

Keep in mind that if you do it now, you can get bids and go for a reasonable cost. If it comes up as an issue while your house is in escrow, the cost for replacement will be higher, and the buyer is not going to want to go with the low bidder -- he will own the roof, but you are liable to be paying.

 

[JB4310]

It's true, nowadays a 20 year roof will not last longer than 20 years, in the good old days people have squeezed 30 years out of a 20 year roof, but no way should a 15 year old roof be considered at the end of it's life unles they were defective shingles.
Typically a shingle roof will leak at a breach thru the roof like a plumbing vent stack, a chimney or an air vent, also valleys, usually not through the open "field" even on an older roof.
A couple of other things, first, a roof needs an asphalt saturated felt paper underlayment, yours probably has it or you would have more leaks, but we have seen this problem especially during boom times when speculators are moving fast. another thing is ice damming in the winter, when snow freezes over the eaves and creates a dam, as the heat loss from the house melts the snow and the water starts to pond up behind the dam, the water backs up under the shingles usually causing a leak close to the outside wall (not the middle of the room)

Those prices seem very high, do they allow a second roof to be put on over the first in your area? we can do it here as long either one is not an architectural shingle (both have to be 3-tab or slot less) were those quotes for ripping off the existing roof?
Need to know a little more but I would be leaning to you not having to replace the roof now or at the time of listing it in 2 years, you may have to do some minor repairs now though.
What style house is it - ranch, cape, colonial or contemporary? what style roof - gable, gambrel or hip? what size house?
John,

 

[Logan]

I recently had the same decision to make when I attempted to sell my house just as the bottom fell out of the market. Several people looked at the house, everyone asked about the roof. I knew it needed replacing although it has never leaked. It was over twenty years old and it was easy to see it was aging but I felt it had a few more years of life. I felt that if it were that much of an issue I would let the new owners pick the color and style of shingles and I would knock that off the price.

The house did not sell and I took it off the market before the holidays, plus houses with pools don't sell well during the winter. I chose to replace the roof with archetectural grade shingles at a cost of almost $7,000. Three reasons: 1. Some of my neighbors had newer roofs with that grade of shingle 2. I knew it was an issue 3. With the current market conditions and banks requiring higher downpayments an inspection might kill the deal. Even a guarantee in the contract that I would replace the roof would probably sour the deal.

I haven't put the house back on the market yet, but it looks great now. Another thing to keep in mind is that if you have had a water leak to show in your bedroom, an inspection will almost surely show a water leak on the decking visible in the attic and maybe in more than one place. My roofer had to replace six or seven sheets of decking that had dry rot from minor long term leaks that never showed.

I live less that 100 miles from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean and the area has lots of tropical storms and huricanes. A good roof should not leak from wind blown rain. I'm afraid if you have had a leak, you have a problem that isn't going to go away.

Finally, with the price of building materials, here at least, the lowest they have been in several years it might be a good time to get it done. But if that's not the case where you live I might opt to wait and replace it just prior to selling when it will really look great.

 

[bontai_Joe]

Your stains might also be from a critter getting inside your attic space and going to the bathroom. Could be a squirrel, mouse or bat.

 

[drg1]

just curious, are the leaks on the ceiling underneath a vent stack that goes up through the roof? If they are check the black weather booting for cracks...Very common for those boots to start cracking about every 5 years or so..

 

[JasonL]

I don't know what type of roof vents you have, but blowing snow can sometimes find a way through nearly any type. Did the stains occur during the winter?