Roof ??

[pete]

I had a client who was considering a home that had 7 layers of roofing and it was leaking. I advised him to have a professional roofer estimate cost of repair keeping in mind that the sheathing was probably bad and there could be rafter damage. There was no attic access but the wavy, spongy roof corresponded to a large amount of water damage inside. In a phone converstaion a roofer told him he does not rip off old roofs because that involves asbestos remediation. I have neevr heard of this before. Is there an asbestos problem in old asphalt shingles? Or is this roofer just trying to avoid hard work? Keep in mind he made this claim without seeing the products in question..

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[hausdok]

Hi Pete,

Yeah, some old asphalt shingles have asbestos in the matting, but I'd always thought that the fiber in those was considered bound and not an issue.

OT - OF!!!

M.

[denable]

Originally posted by pete

I had a client who was considering a home that had 7 layers of roofing and it was leaking. I advised him to have a professional roofer estimate cost of repair keeping in mind that the sheathing was probably bad and there could be rafter damage. There was no attic access but the wavy, spongy roof corresponded to a large amount of water damage inside. In a phone converstaion a roofer told him he does not rip off old roofs because that involves asbestos remediation. I have neevr heard of this before. Is there an asbestos problem in old asphalt shingles? Or is this roofer just trying to avoid hard work? Keep in mind he made this claim without seeing the products in question..

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320.89 KB

Pete,

How old was the house? Are you sure it had 7 layers? The most I have ever found was 4. If you are viewing the cross section at a gable end, how many actual shingles are you seeing piled up? If there was actually 7 layers (you would be able to count around 14 shingles)they would have to use railroad spikes to make it to the sheathing and the weight of the shingles, especially with snow on them would collapse the roof.

[pete]

When we run into a large number of layers we tell people the true count and then inform them that the starter course is commonly doubled. If there are more than two layers (4 shingles) we recommend removal prior to adding a new roof or getting an engineer/architect to give it the ok.

This particular house was probably built in the 1940's. I think the most shingles I have ever seen was 9. I have seen alot of these where I am sure you are right Dennis, the nails do not reach anything but the shingles below. It seems that roofers do not want to do the removal. I am surprised, I figured they would charge alot. It is very easy work, any laborer can do it. Hmmm maybe we should do inspections and roof removals

[Jim Morrison]

I think Dennis is probably right. A house built in the 40's probably has 3 layers of roofing (each layer made up of 2 shingles). I've never heard of a roofer encouraging someone to go over three layers of leaking shingles before, but it should direct your client toward looking for another roofer.

There can be asbestos in older shingles, like Mike said, but this is the first I've heard anyone make an issue of it.

And when did roofers become so health conscious anyway??? I didn't think any of them figured to live much past 35, since they seem to think chainsmoking cigarettes protects them from falls.