Putting A New Roof Over An Old One

Roofing over your existing roof is not always possible.

Putting a new roof over an old one. When you recover your old roof stays and the new roof gets installed on top. Unfortunately it s not an option for everyone. You need to tear off the roof and install a new one. The answer is yes you can lay new roof shingles over old ones.

Sounds simple enough right. Then we ll look a lot more reasons why you might not want to do this. A properly installed layover roof can look and function as well. With a traditional roof replacement we completely tear off your old roof and install a shiny new one in its place.

Installing a new roof over an existing one also called a layover or nailover is often possible although not always the best option. If a shingle is torn or cracked glue the broken piece back in place using roofing cement. Check your local ordinances to see whether this is even a possibility before moving forward with the project. So if there are already two layers the choice is made for you.

You re better off removing the old roof. If the broken piece is lost cut a new piece to fit the existing shingle. Now that we ve taken care of the primary question at hand we ll consider a couple of reasons why you might want to do this. The goal is to provide a reasonably flat surface for the new shingles to lie over with no gaps greater than 1 2 inch.

But if the current roof is curling this isn t possible. A roof deck is an underlayment that shingles are laid on top of.