Should You Stay Home During a Roof Replacement?

You do not have to be home, and most homeowners are not. But somebody needs to be reachable, and there is one very specific reason: the crew runs power tools from your exterior outlets, and if a breaker trips, nobody but an authorised person at the property can reset it. Most standard homes are done in a single day. Arrowhead Roofing has replaced roofs in northeast Oklahoma since 1987, and the jobs that go smoothly are the ones where the driveway was clear and a phone was answered.

Note: this is a general guide to what a roof replacement is like. Every house and every job is different, and your contractor should tell you what to expect on yours.

Here is what actually needs handling, and whether being there helps with it.

The Short Answer

Be reachable, not necessarily present. Be present at the end if you can.

Nothing about the work requires you to sit in the house. What it requires is that somebody can answer a phone, get to a breaker panel, and make a decision if something unexpected turns up under the shingles.

The one part genuinely worth being there for is the final walkthrough, because that is when you can look at the work with the person who did it, in daylight, before anybody leaves.

You should also have had our Homeowner’s Checklist before the day arrives. It is fifteen items covering what to move, what to expect, and what we need from you on the day, and most of what follows on this page comes straight off it. If you have not seen one, ask for it, because reading it beforehand is worth more than any advice we can give you here.

What a Day Actually Sounds Like

Worth setting expectations honestly. The archive of this company’s own writing put it well and it has not stopped being true: there is no way to complete a project like this without some inconvenience to your family or your business.

The tear-off is the loud part. It is hammering and scraping directly above your ceilings, plus the sound of material going into a trailer. Then it goes quiet for a while during dry-in, and then there is the steady rhythm of nail guns for the rest of the day.

Most standard homes are completed in one day. More complex and larger homes take two to four days for a complete removal and replacement, and a job that has to stop early is felted and dried in rather than left open.

The Vibration, and the Attic

Two things surprise people, and both are easier to handle before the crew arrives than after.

Hammering vibrates the whole house. Anything hanging on a wall, anything on a high shelf, and anything fragile on a mantel is worth taking down for the day. This is not a theoretical risk and it is much cheaper to prevent than to discuss afterwards.

Dust comes into the attic, particularly if the roof is being re-decked. Boxes stored up there are worth covering or moving. Decades of dust sits on the top side of a ceiling and a tear-off shakes it loose.

You may also notice the finished roof shows slight high and low areas you never saw before. That is usually existing variation in the decking becoming visible under a new, flatter surface rather than anything having gone wrong.

Pets, Children, and the Yard

The honest answer on pets is take them somewhere else for the day if you reasonably can.

It is not only the noise. It is people moving around the perimeter, gates being opened, ladders against the house, and material coming off a roof. A dog that is fine with any one of those is not necessarily fine with all of them at once.

Two small things that make a real difference. Mow the lawn short beforehand, because we run magnets over the yard to pick up stray nails and short grass lets them work far better. And keep checking the driveway for a couple of weeks afterwards, because a nail can sit in a downspout and come out later.

What Changes the Answer

Three things make being present more useful than it usually is.

Whether the roof is being re-decked

A re-deck is a longer, dustier job with more decisions in it, and more of the house is affected. If decking is likely, being reachable matters more.

Whether anything unexpected is likely

An older roof, a previous layover, or a known leak all raise the chance of something being found that needs a decision. Those are the jobs where a phone going unanswered costs a day.

How you feel about it

Some people want to watch their roof get built and some would rather come home to it finished. Both are fine. If you want to be there, stay off the roof and out of the drop zone, and ask your questions at the walkthrough.

Related Questions

How long will the crew actually be here?

Most standard homes are one day, and more complex or larger homes take two to four for a complete removal and replacement. A job that has to stop early gets felted and dried in rather than left open.

Why does the crew keep finding things once they start?

Because some conditions are invisible until the old roof is off, decking being the common one. Why is the insurance estimate lower than the contractor’s estimate? covers what that does to the numbers.

Can they just go over the old shingles and skip the tear-off?

Not in Oklahoma on a shingle roof. The state amendment prohibits an additional application of asphalt shingles where one already exists. What building code applies to roofs in Oklahoma? covers that and three other state amendments.

See Also

The two answers that pair with this one are what the code requires once the old roof is off, and how long the new one should last.