Re-roofing a prebuilt shed

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oderus1671

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Hey all, i got a 12x28 prebuilt shed that’s starting to show signs of leaking. Its about 12 years old. I see some wet spots on the roof deck from inside. No rotting yet. So im looking at putting a new roof on, as im sure they used the cheapest shingles they could find. Do i tear off and put on new, or can i just repaper and shingle over whats there? Has anyone here done that? I dont see the need to tear off. No rot. What ya think? On a side note, i cant find any evidence of roofing felt under the existing shingles. Go figure!!

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I would tear the old off, fix any bad wood.
Put down a double layer (staggered seems) of 15# felt and then use good shingles.

Or put new over the top of old and push the problem down the road 5 years pr so.
 
ronn47 said:
I would tear the old off, fix any bad wood.
Put down a double layer (staggered seems) of 15# felt and then use good shingles.

Or put new over the top of old and push the problem down the road 5 years pr so.
Click to expand...

What Ronn said.

Shingles weigh a lot, and most sheds don't have the strongest roof system. Adding a second layer on top of a shed that may have some compromised sheathing is probably not the best idea for long term reliability.
 
Tear it off and redo.

I believe code in most states will allow a house to be roofed over once, don't know if that applies to sheds.

But tearing it off allows you to accurately assess and repair anything that needs to be repaired in the structure. It's a simple roof, easy-peasy.

And it's more as if the extra layers provide any added leak protection. All they do is add more weight to the roof, at 80 pounds per sack of shingles.
 
What others have said about tearing them off to look at structure under them is spot on.

If you didnt want to mess with putting shingles back you also have the option of putting a tin roof back over your sheeting if you wanted a different option other than shingles
 
Take it off and for something like a shed I would go back wit asphalt roll roofing. It's just solid sheets of asphalt with no shingle look. It will last a long time. I use it as a non slip decking layer on a ramp going up to my deck. I walk on it every day and even with that abuse I only need to replace it a couple of times a year.

 
Also...

A simple shed roof is EASY to roof. No chimneys, vents, weird roof shapes to work around.

Stripping just requires a shovel and then it can be hauled off to your local dump. In fact, strip the roof right into the bed of a pickup or a trailer.

Roll out the tar paper and as soon as you've done that, you've at least got the minimum rain protection if weather takes a turn.

From there, with a simple roof like yours, it's just shingling, straight and simple.

The cool part is that if you decide for some reason you don't want to do the actual shingling, having someone else do that won't have to figure in the cost of stripping, hauling, and tar papering. Especially if you've already bought the shingles, too. It's straight up hourly pay, or whatever deal you work with a roofer.
 
When I was at university I worked for a roofing company in Raleigh during summer and school breaks. We once tore off seven layers of old shingles from a roof near St. Augustine's College. It was an archaeological project. The house old and wood was solid.
 
I'm also not a big fan of putting any more weight on a roof than is necessary.

A sack of asphalt singles weights about 80 pounds. A square is about 3 sacks, or 240 pounds. A square being roughly 100 square feet.

It adds up to some hefty weight in short order. A "healthy" roof shouldn't have an issue, if built to code, with a couple layers. But two layers is a quarter ton of weight per 100 square feet instead of an eighth of a ton. Get lazy several years down the road and roof over THAT and now you're 3/8 of a ton per square.

@Sleipnir mentioned above a project with 6 layers. If it was asphalt, that's 3/4 ton per square. Plus you can bet the upper layers weren't actually nailed down to the wood, either.

If your roof suffers damage at some point (rot, tree damage, a simple leak), then repairs have to deal with two or more layers.

It's a "pay me now or later" thing. Plus I've always looked at this from the "professional" side of "doing things the right way, the first time".
 
Tear off will probably be some what of a pain because I’d bet they’re nailed down with staples but it shouldn’t take one guy more than couple hours. Use synthetic underlayment not traditional “tar paper” seeing that you’re fairly close to the coast and eventually may see 90+ mph wind.
 
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Unless you've got some subdivision code or something keeping you with shingles, I'd go back with a metal roof. Light weight, super simple install on a roof like that and unless you get some serious hail or wind damage you'll never have to deal with it again.
 
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