Roofing Tear Off, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The removal of a roof is probably the hardest thing about the roofing process.

Tearing off a roof. Many home-owners think it is a simple thing to rent a dumpster, get some buddies together and tear off the roof. This is a great way to save some money – right? The removal of a roof is probably the hardest thing about the roofing process, for these reasons:

1. Locating a good place for the dumpster is very important.
2. Having the dumpster in the driveway, close enough to toss the debris into it, will restrict the garage access.
3. Having a dumpster full of roofing debris, setting in the driveway waiting to be picked up, blocks the access for any materials to be delivered up to the roof.
4. Leaving the roof torn off and exposed to the climate can be risky.
5. Friends helping you tear off the roof exposes you and them to injury.
6. Seems like when friends get involved, someone always brings the beer which can be a disaster for a job site.
7. If things don’t go just right and the tear-off drags out, you may be finishing it up by your self.

Tearing off a roof is hard work!

I get asked this all the time. If I tear off my roof, will you come in afterward and install the roof of me? For the reasons above, I strongly advise against it. Timing is very difficult, because of this, a contractor will have a hard time trusting the customer to get the tear-off done in a timely manner as planned, or even get done correctly.

Did you know, is not uncommon in California for most roofing contractors to even use a sub-contractor to do many of his roof tear-offs. As a contractor, 95% of my re-roofs were torn off by a sub-contractor.

There are many roofing contractors in my area that specialize in roof tear-offs. They have the man-power, the large trucks with dump-beds and specialized tools just for tearing off roofs. A professional roof removal company can remove an average roof in just a few hours, be out of the driveway, plus the clean-up and trip to the dump are included in one price.

Every area is different but here in Sacramento, California, I can hire a licensed C-39 roofing sub-contractor to come out and remove an average pitch roof { 4:12 } for less than thirty dollars an sq. It gets done in just a few hours allowing my roofing crew to come in afterward and continue the roofing process. I am not the only roofing contractor that has done this. Most roofing contractors see the value in the service so that must mean something.

You as the home-owner can probably hire a contractor in your hometown that specializes in roof removal. If you are planning on doing your own roof this season, it would be a good start to the job having the roof removed by a pro, and avoid some of the risky parts of a re-roofing project.

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