Roof Replacement in Bristol, Tennessee

Tear-off, and why we do not roof over

We take the old roof off, down to the decking. Every time. You will find roofers in this town who will lay a second layer over the top for less money, and it is legal in some circumstances, but it means nobody looks at your decking, the new shingles sit on an uneven surface, and the whole assembly runs hotter and dies sooner. It also makes the eventual proper job more expensive. Our roof-over versus tear-off piece lays out the argument fully.

The decking is where the surprises live

This is the honest part of a roofing quote and the part cheap bids leave out. Until the shingles are off, nobody — including us — knows how much of the plywood or plank underneath has gone soft. In Bristol the usual culprits are years of a small flashing leak nobody noticed, and freeze-thaw working at a seam over a decade of winters that cross the freezing point over and over.

What we do about it: we quote a clear per-sheet price for replacement decking up front, we photograph anything we take out, and we show you before it goes in the trailer. What we do not do is discover a catastrophe at eleven in the morning with your roof open and a number that has doubled.

What actually goes on the roof

A roof is a system, not a bundle of shingles. Ice-and-water membrane at the eaves and in the valleys — which matters here specifically, because ice damming at cold overhangs is a real Bristol winter problem. Synthetic underlayment over the field. New drip edge. New step and counter flashing where the roof meets walls and chimneys, which is the single most common place a Bristol roof leaks and the single most common place a cheap job reuses the old metal. Ridge ventilation, so the attic can breathe and the shingles do not cook from underneath. Then architectural shingles or metal.

Your yard, your gutters and the nails

A tear-off is a messy job and most of the complaints people have about roofers are about the mess rather than the roof. We tarp what is below the eaves before anything comes off, keep the debris off your beds and your driveway, and run a magnet over the whole perimeter at the end — twice, because the first pass never gets all of it.

If your gutters are staying, they get protected and cleared before we leave. If they are coming off anyway, say so early and we will price the two jobs together rather than sending someone back out.

How long, and what your day looks like

Most Bristol houses are a single day — crew arrives early, old roof off, decking sorted, new system on, magnet swept over the drive and the lawn before we leave. Larger, steeper or heavily cut-up roofs take longer and we tell you that when we quote rather than on the second morning. Downtown and the State Street blocks are the exception: access for a dump trailer is the constraint, not the roof, and we plan that in advance. See how long a replacement really takes.

Cost

We are not going to put a number on this page, because a number that is not measured off your roof is a guess dressed up as information. What we will do is give you an itemized quote for your actual roof, with the decking rate stated, so you can compare it like for like against anybody else's. Tri-Cities roof costs gives real ranges for the market, and financing is available.

The rest of what we do in Bristol

Same work, next town over

• Roof Replacement in Kingsport, TN — replacements at the other end of Sullivan County
• Roof Replacement in Bristol, VA — the same job half a mile away, under Virginia's code instead

Back to everything we do in Bristol, TN, or read the general roof replacement page.