The next time you take a drive through your neighborhood you are sure to notice the roofing on your neighbors houses. Interestingly, a sad roof is just as noticeable as a great roof or even just a good enough roof, in fact a sad roof might garner even more attention – and not in a good way. 
As an example let me take you on a tour of a local neighborhood here in Commerce Township. It’s a comfortable middle aged neighborhood shaded with mature trees and made cozy with a mixture of two story homes, ranches, renovated cottages and larger homes on the lake shore.
One house in particular always catches our eye as we drive down the tree lined street. The house was probably built in the 1970s; a brick two story home with a circular driveway, a lovely double door entrance and wonderful old shade trees. There is some bushy landscaping around the front pillars and along the front of the house. In the summer you can see patches of flowers here and there in front of the shrubbery. It is a house you would admire even though it isn’t particularly large and it is nestled in snugly between other homes on the street. My wife always mentions how much she likes that house except it needs a new roof. I am pretty sure that if left to her own devices she would go knock on the door and give them our business card.
Sounds like a nice house, right? You know it really is a nice looking house, so let’s take a look at this house from some neighbor perspectives.
Your Neighborhood Notices Your House and Your Roof
The Neighbors: Everyone in the neighborhood thinks this is a cool house, they drive by it every day to and from work, they walk by it every evening with their dogs or kids. It’s different from every other house on the block, it has some great personality and reminds everyone of a different age, a different era even. Those pillars are outstanding! And, as they admire this really neat house, their eyes travel up the brick exterior and there is the decaying roof. It’s just laying there sad and blue (well it is actually black), it’s looking pretty old, pretty ragged. Neighborhood reaction: Cool house but we wish they would do something about that old roof.
Potential Buyer: I LOVE this house, it’s so different! I LOVE that circular drive, I LOVE the trees! The neighborhood is GREAT! The schools are awesome! Kroger is within one mile, sweet! It has 4 bedrooms, Yay! The kitchen is in good shape, double Yay! The lake, the lake, THE LAKE! The roof is horrible, maybe it even leaks, triple Yay! – I can get a great deal on this house. Oh yea, the pillars, whoopee!
The Homeowner: I bought this house 10 years ago and the roof was good at the time of purchase. I had the roof inspected even. I keep my house in great condition, my brick is freshly painted, I put new shutters up last year. We keep our shrubbery trimmed, the lawn manicured and plant flowers in the spring like most everyone in Michigan. This is a great neighborhood to live in, people take care of their homes in Commerce Township – people walk their dogs, ride their bikes, stroll casually with their spouses in the evening. Maybe I’ll sell it when the economy revs up a little more, but for now I think I need a new roof. I don’t have any leaks yet, but it looks kinda shabby.
What a Roofing Expert Sees:
This roof needs some work, the shingles are decaying, visible nail pops are everywhere. The roofing is easily 15 years old or older and the shingles are basic 3-Tab shingles. The roof has two layers of shingles, so the job has to be a tear-off and replacement. There may be some rotted plywood under the existing shingles, so the sheathing condition needs close scrutiny during tear-off and some of those boards might need replacement. This house has some great character and could really be a stunner with architectural shingles.
Because this house has such interesting character features the Timberline Lifetime Shingles would look beautiful, and we could easily suggest an upgrade to a designer architectural shingle because this house is so special. GAF has several premium designer shingle styles and the Camelot Lifetime Designer Shingles would be gorgeous roofing product on this home.
