Roof Repair, Missing Shingles

Carbo

Diamond Member
Aug 6, 2000
5,244
6
81
Had the house painted last week. While the painter was up on the ladder he noticed some shingles missing on the peak the garage. Not a big deal, I'm thinking. Painter tells me his cousin can help. Call cousin, quotes me $1200. See attached photo for what I think is only two ridge shingles that need to be replaced. Not a handyman type so, tell me, am I missing something? Two ridge shingles, some roofing nails and the job is done?
Next question: is it possible to purchase individual shingles, or will I need to purchase a bundle?
BTW, roof is 17 years old and appears to be in good shape. South FL location.
 

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Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
20,284
5,057
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I hope the fellow pointed a gun at you when he gave you the price. If you're going to get robbed you deserve the entire experience.

You'll have to buy an entire bundle of ridge cap, a pound of roofing nails, a hammer, and a ladder. Less than half an hour to set up, do the job, and put everything away.
 

Carbo

Diamond Member
Aug 6, 2000
5,244
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81
No gun that I saw, but his hands were in his pockets so who knows. :) Can't blame a guy for trying.
I was hoping I could score two shingles and be done with it, but that doesn't seem like it will happen.
 

Steltek

Diamond Member
Mar 29, 2001
3,034
748
136
Even having to purchase a bundle of ridge cap plus the stuff @Greenman mentioned will still leave you way on the better side of that $1,200.00 rip-off artist.

When you go to the store to pick up the ridge cap, if you can take a small shingle sample with you (maybe the loose one from the roof) so you can try to get something in the same color ballpark. Probably won't be a perfect match, but nobody worth worrying about will notice a slight difference.

I haven't actually looked, but I'm sure there are a ton of videos on Youtube showing how to fix it for beginners. It probably wouldn't hurt to do a quick inspection of the entire ridge line while you are up there for additional loose shingles. You probably won't find any, but it doesn't hurt to look.

In our area, we'd have to fix something like that ourselves because most roofers around here wouldn't even come out to do a job that small.
 

Carbo

Diamond Member
Aug 6, 2000
5,244
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That's the issue I've run into here. I contact a roofer or handyman, send them the pic, and no reply. Not worth their time; I get it. I took a look on YouTube and it doesn't seem that involved, even for someone like myself who's never done any roofing work.
 

Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
20,284
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For my regular customers I'd do it for free if I was in the area. In the long run, the five hundred bucks I left on the table would net me tens of thousands in referrals.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,201
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www.anyf.ca
How long was it like that for? You may have water damage in the attic now, I'm surprised it has not shown up as a leak inside the house yet. I would definitely get on that asap, but it should not cost more than a bundle of shingles and an hour of time max.
 

Carbo

Diamond Member
Aug 6, 2000
5,244
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Don't know how long it's been like that, but I looked at all the ceilings and went into the attic and I don't see any signs of water damage. Regardless, it will be repaired in the next few days.
 

WilliamM2

Platinum Member
Jun 14, 2012
2,353
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I don't do my own roofing anymore, back issues. Had the house roofed in 2016, had the roofer leave a full bundle of shingles, and an open bundle of ridge cap. Probably have about 15 caps. Hopefully never need them, I never did when I did my own roof, but always good to have spares for repairs.

Just a thought for next time.
 
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Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
20,284
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How long was it like that for? You may have water damage in the attic now, I'm surprised it has not shown up as a leak inside the house yet. I would definitely get on that asap, but it should not cost more than a bundle of shingles and an hour of time max.
The ridge cap is the second layer. There will be a layer of 15 pound felt under it at minimum.
 

WilliamM2

Platinum Member
Jun 14, 2012
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The ridge cap is the second layer. There will be a layer of 15 pound felt under it at minimum.

Thats a ridge vent, they don't cover the slot they cut with felt, or any thing else. That would defeat the purpose. So it will leak, even has a big hole in it. I am wondering how the hole got ther. I'd check the attic for rodents.
 

Carbo

Diamond Member
Aug 6, 2000
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That hole was courtesy of a rat, who has since gone on to the Great Beyond.
 

Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
20,284
5,057
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Missed the ridge vent. I've never seen one like that, or it's in extremely poor condition. Looked like someone had spread adhesive to hold down the cap.
 

Steltek

Diamond Member
Mar 29, 2001
3,034
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Since there is a physical ridge cap vent there, you probably just need to buy some regular shingles and make replacement cap shingles to go over the top of it. You'd cut them shaped just like the loose one laying on the roof in the picture. That is almost certainly what the roofer who installed it did from looking at it. Don't mess with nails from the old caps as the new caps should completely cover them up so they won't leak.

You also may want to get a tube of roofing tar and a caulking gun to use to seal the wide ends of the caps down to each other after you nail them down (it might require a little more tar than would normally be present on a regular shingle). Once you get them up, after a day or two in the hot sun they won't be coming loose any time soon.
 

Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
20,284
5,057
136
Ah yes, this had to be Florida...

That's not even a little surprising. Scamming insurance company's is a time honored tradition in the industry.
A friend of mine was telling me about a client that purchased an older home. After moving in they claimed to smell animal piss in one of the bedrooms. They called a mitigation contractor and the price to remediate the smell was $174,000.
I could gut the room to the framing and replace everything for ten percent of that and still make $2k a day.
 

Carbo

Diamond Member
Aug 6, 2000
5,244
6
81
Don't know. But I'll give the guy a break and say they were missing before he came along.
 

Micrornd

Golden Member
Mar 2, 2013
1,278
178
106
Ah yes, this had to be Florida...
That's not even a little surprising. Scamming insurance company's is a time honored tradition in the industry.
What NBC fails to mention is that many insurance companies retaliated by requiring homeowners to install new roofs based on time, not condition, or be dropped, with some time periods being as short as 10years, although most were clustered at 15years.