Shingle Roof Replacement in Live Oak, FL

What you are looking at

The first three photos were taken from the street on a gray July day with a light rain falling. The long main roof runs out to the left of a white painted brick chimney topped with a copper-toned cap, and a smaller gable covers the front porch. On the far end a dormer with peach shutters sits on the roof, and the electric service mast comes up through the shingles beside it with the power line clipped to the top.

From the ground the new roof reads as a dark charcoal gray. Up close and in full sun it is a mix of slate blue, light gray, tan and a muted brown, with darker shadow lines between the tabs. Architectural shingles are made from two layers bonded together, which gives the staggered, layered look in the close-up instead of the flat, even rows the old three-tab roof had. The shingle line comes from the bundle wrappers, which are legible in the work photos.

On top, a ridge vent runs along the main ridge under a row of thicker cap shingles. A ridge vent is a low vent along the peak that lets hot attic air out, and its edges show here as a thin dark strip on each side of the cap. Off to one side, a capped hip comes down to meet the older green metal roof over the carport, with a black vent pipe coming through the shingles nearby. That metal roof was not reshingled and still has its weathered green finish.

The work photos show what the finished roof now covers. In May the old roof was gray three-tab shingles under a layer of oak leaves and twigs. In July it was stripped to the wood deck, and damaged sections were cut out and replaced with new plywood sheets; one opening beside the dormer window left the attic insulation in view, and new plywood went in around that window. Black membrane went into the valleys, white synthetic underlayment covered the deck, held down with plastic cap nails, and a tape measure laid along the nail rows shows the spacing being checked. White drip edge, the bent metal strip that carries water off the roof edge, went on before the shingles.

The house sits under big live oaks hung with Spanish moss, with a white picket fence along the front yard. The last photo shows the moss hanging right down to the new roof edge and the white gutter on the side wing, above a window with lavender shutters. Trees this close drop leaves and small branches on the roof all year, so tight shingles and a clean edge matter when the summer afternoon storms come through.