After choosing a roofer and sending in a deposit for 1/3rd of the cost, we then had to wait for them to get the permit, and the weather to have them come out and do the work. I took the morning off, as I wanted to see what they were doing, and be available if there were any issues. I’m not sure this was really necessary, as they didn’t need to get in the house for anything, although they did need a power outlet.

The guys got started right away, rigging up some tarps and going to town on the old shingles. In just a few hours they had both layers of old shingles torn off and were starting the prep-work for the new ones. A truck with the shingles pulled up and had a forklift hanging off the back. The forklift was able to go high enough so that it could unload them directly onto the lower roof, which I’m sure made life easier for them.

After some debate we had chosen the Owens Corning Oakridge 30 year shingles. This was a rather irritatingly difficult decision, as the only independent source of objective information that I was able to find was Consumer Reports, who I don’t really like, nor trust. Owens Corning seemed to be pushing their Duration line, but CR gave a significantly higher rating to the Oakridge line, which were the same price. Why they make two separate, very similar products that cost the same price with out any real distinguishing features is beyond me.

I left around lunchtime, with the house in the state shown above. The guys had put most of the tar paper down, and some of the ice barrier. They had also removed a couple of sheets of rotted sheathing, and were getting ready to replace it. I was a bit surprised to see a couple of other houses that had all of the sheathing replaced, and I’m glad I didn’t have that done, as it seems quite wasteful, considering the good shape that most of the plywood was in. I can only assume that those other roofers managed to convince the homeowners that it needed to be done, and got a couple extra bucks for it.