How to Prepare Your Home for Roof Replacement Day

Before roof replacement day, protect three places: the attic, where dust and debris can fall through gaps in the deck during tear-off; the rooms and walls under the roof, where hammering shakes hangings loose; and the ground along the eaves, where old shingles and nails land. Approvals and older-home checks come a week or more earlier, because a missing one can move the start date.

The crew controls the roof. The household controls the attic, the walls, the driveway, the pets and the gate code.

One Week Out: Approvals, Contacts and Older-Home Checks

A week ahead is the last good moment to catch anything that could stop the job on the first morning. Confirm each of these in writing:

1. Permit. If your building department requires one, the contractor should have sent you the permit number.
2. HOA approval. If you have an association, the approval letter is in hand and the product and color on the order match it.
3. Contacts. You have the crew lead’s name and phone number, the project manager’s number, and the start time.
4. Site plan. You and the contractor have agreed where the container and material delivery will go and where crew trucks will park.
5. Older-home checks. The two below are settled.
6. Solar and roof equipment. Panels, satellite dishes and antennas have a removal and reinstall plan.

Older homes carry two checks that can delay the start if they are left to the last week. If the house was built before 1978 and the job touches painted fascia, soffits or trim, EPA’s RRP program page for consumers is direct: “EPA recommends homeowners hire a lead-safe contractor certified and trained in lead-safe work practices.” Confirm the firm’s certification now; the rule and its exemption are explained in lead paint and roof projects on pre-1978 homes.

The second check is the roofing itself. EPA’s answer on re-siding and re-roofing debris notes that “Not all house siding or roofing materials contain asbestos,” which is why untested old layers need a test before tear-off rather than a guess. If a test is needed and the result is not back, the start date waits. See how asbestos roofing is identified and tested.

If you have rooftop solar, the panels come off before tear-off and go back on afterward, and that work belongs to a solar installer, not to you. DOE’s article Replacing Your Roof? It’s a Great Time to Add Solar makes the timing point from the other side: doing roof and solar work together lets you “avoid needing to have your solar panels re-installed after replacing your roof.” Schedule the removal date with both companies, and read before you add solar if panels are part of the plan.

Inside the House: Attic, Walls and Valuables

Tear-off pries old shingles and nails off the deck from above. On an older roof with board decking or gaps between sheets, grit, granules and nails can come through into the attic. Vibration from hammering and nail guns travels through rafters into the ceilings and walls below.

Do these two or three days before the start:

• Attic. Move out anything you can. Cover what stays with plastic sheeting or drop cloths, including boxes, holiday decorations and anything fabric. If the attic is reached through a closet, empty that closet too, because dust follows the hatch.
• Walls and ceilings under the roof. Take down pictures, mirrors and wall shelves in the top-floor rooms, and anything hanging on the walls of rooms under the roof. Lift fragile items off high shelves.
• Light fixtures. Check that hanging fixtures and ceiling fans are tight, and remove loose glass shades.
• Garage. If the garage ceiling is open to the rafters, cover stored items and plan to park outside.
• Your workday. Tear-off is loud and starts early. If you work from home or have someone sleeping during the day, plan to be elsewhere for the tear-off days.

Keep a path to the attic hatch clear. The crew lead may want to look at the underside of the deck, and you will want to look there yourself at the end of the job. Stay out of the attic while tear-off is under way, since that is when nails and debris come through.

Outside: Vehicles, Access, Plants and Power

The night before, clear the ground around the house so trucks, ladders and falling debris have room:

• Vehicles. Move cars out of the garage and off the driveway before the crew arrives. A car parked under the eaves or beside the container is in the debris path.
• Access. Open or unlatch gates, share any gate code, and clear a path from the driveway to every side of the house.
• Furniture and outdoor items. Move patio furniture, grills, planters, hoses, toys and decorations away from the walls and out from under the eaves.
• Plants. Ask the contractor whether the crew covers beds and shrubs along the drip line. If not, cover delicate plants with breathable sheets, and plan to uncover them each evening.
• Ground hazards. Mark sprinkler heads, septic covers, utility boxes and any soft ground so trucks and the container avoid them.
• Power. Show the crew lead which exterior outlets work and which circuit they are on, so tools do not trip a breaker that also runs your refrigerator.
• Pool or hot tub. Cover it, or accept skimming out granules afterward.

Take date-stamped photos of the driveway, siding, windows, landscaping and interior ceilings before work starts. If something is damaged during the job, the photo is your record of how it looked beforehand.

Kids, Pets and Neighbors on Work Days

Debris comes off the roof edge without warning, and ladders lean against the walls you walk past every day. Treat the zone along the drip line, under the ladders and around the container as off limits while work is under way.

• Kids. Keep children out of the yard during work hours, and do not let them play there in the evenings until the crew has done its daily cleanup and magnet sweep. Nails hide in grass.
• Pets. Noise and strangers can stress animals, and an open gate is an exit. Keep pets indoors on the side of the house away from the work, or board them for the tear-off days. Walk the yard yourself before letting a dog out.
• Neighbors. Tell the neighbors on each side the dates and start time. Ask anyone who parks near your property line to move cars for the tear-off days, and give them your contact number.
• Deliveries. Packages left at a door under the eaves can end up under debris. Have them held or delivered elsewhere for the work days.

Who Does What: A Filled-In Example

Most preparation problems come from a task each side assumed the other would do. Settle the split in writing a week out. The plan below is invented for one house; your contract and your contractor’s answers decide the real one.

Any row with no name in the second column is the row most likely to go wrong. Send the finished table to the project manager and ask for a reply that confirms each contractor line.

Is Your Home Ready for the Start Date?

Run this check the day before and again on the morning of the job:

Day before:

• Permit number received, if one is required.
• HOA approval letter in hand, if you have an HOA.
• Lead and asbestos questions settled, with any test results back.
• Solar or equipment removal done or scheduled for that morning.
• Attic covered, walls cleared, fixtures checked.
• Cars, furniture and planters moved; gates open; ground hazards marked.
• Before photos taken.

Morning of:

• Pets secured and kids briefed.
• Crew lead met, outlets shown, container location confirmed.
• Your phone number and the crew lead’s number exchanged, so the crew can reach you during the day if tear-off turns up rotted decking that needs your written approval.

If any approval or older-home check is still open, move the start date rather than starting without it. The same goes for weather; how cold and rain affect a start date is covered in can a roof be replaced in cold or wet weather, and how many days to plan around is in what sets the length of a re-roof.

Finish the week-out list now, then confirm the date with the contractor or move it. What the crew does once it arrives is laid out in the crew’s stages from tear-off to cleanup.

This guide is general information for U.S. homeowners, not legal, insurance, tax, or engineering advice. Codes, laws, and policy terms vary by location and change over time; confirm details with your local building department, your insurer, or a licensed professional.

Sources

• Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Program: Consumers, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• My neighbor is re-siding and re-roofing his house and there is material all over the ground. Do I need to be worried about asbestos exposure?, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Replacing Your Roof? It’s a Great Time to Add Solar, U.S. Department of Energy