Roofing in Atlantis

Good to know

About roofs in Atlantis.

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  The pitch decides the specification

  Measured, not estimated. Shingle works down to a limit and needs progressively more underlayment, carried further, as a roof gets shallower. Below that limit the area is a low-slope roof and needs a flat-roof system regardless of what the neighbours have. Establishing the pitch is the first thing we do on a house of this era, because it determines which coverings are available, what the manufacturer requires and therefore what an honest price looks like. Where the pitch turns out to be below what shingle allows, we will say so and price the correct low-slope covering for that section instead of fitting a product the roof cannot carry.

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  The eave does several jobs at once

  On a wide-overhang house the eave carries the drip edge, the fascia and the intake ventilation. Where the fascia has had decades of damp, a new drip edge has nothing sound to fix to. Where the intake is blocked, the roof space holds heat all afternoon and ages the covering from underneath while the sun works on it from above. Both are inexpensive to deal with during a re-roof and awkward and costly afterwards, and both belong on a quote as their own lines. Correcting a blocked eave intake is one of the least expensive lines on any quote and one of the few that genuinely changes how long a covering lasts.

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  The free inspection

  A roofer measures the pitch, walks the roof, feels for decking that has softened, and opens the covering at several points across different aspects, because on a low pitch the condition of the layer beneath varies across a slope and one opening tells you about one spot. He checks the eaves, the ventilation at both ends, every collar, valley and flashing, and reads the underside of the deck where a hatch allows. Everything is photographed and there is no charge either way. The report names the specific opening, flashing or soft area rather than describing the roof in general terms, because a finding nobody can point at is not much use when deciding what to spend.

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  What a roof costs here

  Full replacements we have priced across Palm Beach County since spring have landed in the county's typical range, and the pitch, the deck, the eave condition and the ventilation move it more than the area does. Because water spreads on a shallow roof, soft plywood tends to be found in patches rather than isolated sheets, so the decking allowance should be a realistic quantity with a rate beyond it rather than a small nominal figure that looks good on a quote.