Shingle Roof Replacement in Gainesville, FL, December 2024

What you are looking at

The first photo was taken from up on the roof, looking across one of the larger planes toward a lower wing. Two slopes meet in a valley that runs down toward the lawn, and a black vent pipe and a rounded black exhaust hood sit out in the field of shingles. The hips and ridges on this house are finished with cap shingles.

The shingle is a medium gray architectural style. Architectural shingles are made of two layers bonded together, which gives each course its pattern of darker shadow bands and lighter gray tabs. Against the light gray lap siding and white trim, the roof reads a shade darker than the walls.

Brehm's photos of the front of the house show several gables trimmed in white, including a tall center gable with a white louvered vent near its peak. Where the gables meet the hip sections, the roof forms valleys. A valley is where water from two slopes comes together, and photos Brehm took during the install show a black self-adhering membrane being rolled down a valley before any shingles went on.

Along with the louver in that gable, the attic has four box vents on the roof. Three long, low black vents sit in a row just below the main ridge, and a single one sits near the top of a hip on another section. Box vents let hot attic air out, which in a Gainesville summer helps limit heat build-up under the roof.

Photos Brehm took during the tear-off show the bare deck with red chalk lines snapped across it, rows of bright new nails along those lines, and a tape measure held beside them to show the spacing. One eave also got a strip of new plywood. Gray synthetic underlayment went over the deck, held down with plastic cap nails, and white metal drip edge runs along the eaves. Brehm's photos from a September visit show the old roof, with brown shingles and a row of three weathered metal box vents.

The last photo looks past a capped hip toward a lower wing with white fascia, a wide lawn and tall trees beyond. Several trees around the house are hung with Spanish moss, and in early December a few still held orange and brown leaves. The finished photos were taken under a blue sky with thin streaks of cloud.