DIY projects are great. They help you get hands-on with your property, are an excellent way to save costs on labor, and can be a good bonding experience when done with someone you love. However, some projects should be left to professionals, and roofing is one of them. Unless you have the professional training, equipment, and manpower to handle roofing projects, here are several reasons to leave roofing to professionals.
Forfeit Warranty
Most roofing manufacturers stipulate that all roofing projects must be carried out by licensed professionals. By working on your roofing project, you risk voiding this warranty which can be a costly mistake. Voiding your warranty means you will have to cater for any expenses related to roof repairs, issues with roofing materials, and other related charges. You lock out any chance of getting a refund even when the materials you buy are defective.
Some types of warranty a DIY will cost you include the Contractor’s Workmanship Guarantee, which caters to labor and materials. Manufacturer’s Material Warranty covers any materials that may be defective. Additionally, there’s the Full System Warranty which covers materials and other accessories like flashing used during the installation.
Risk of Injury
Roofing is one of the riskiest home construction projects, with over 150,000 people requiring medical attention following roofing-related incidents. Some of these cases result in serious injuries, permanent disabilities, and death.
While roofing might look like a straightforward job, it poses many risks that require a professional eye to detect. An untrained person will be unable to determine the soundness of a structure and end up endangering themselves.
Without training, it’s also easy to underestimate the distance you’re working from, which might result in injury. Professionals like Landmark Roofing are also trained to work under harsh weather conditions, which may prove challenging for someone with no training or experience. You’ll also lack proper protective gear like fall arrests, safety nets, and warning and safety monitoring systems.
Costly Mistakes and Extensive Damage
Roofing materials are expensive, and without the necessary expertise, the chances of messing up will be pretty high. Since DIYs involve a lot of trial and error, you’ll do it on a larger scale on a roofing project. Many roofing materials, like shingles, are delicate, so there’s a high chance a significant number could get damaged during the installation process before you get the hang of it. This trial and error will result in waste and more purchases to compensate for your mistakes.
In some cases, your untrained eye may not even be able to detect where the issue is, leading to wasted resources through guesswork, and a faulty roof, which will require professional help in the long run. Roofing also involves many components like decking, flashing, shields, and vents. There’s a high risk that your attempts could tamper with these components, resulting in costly repairs and replacements, which will cost more than what you save by doing it yourself.
Requires Special Tools and Skills
Professional roofers undergo rigorous training before they’re qualified to work on roofs. They also get better through years of experience working on different roofs and under professionals until they get good.
While there’s a lot of information online, watching a few YouTube videos won’t get you anywhere near that level of expertise. Even if you get the fundamentals, experience is necessary for you to be able to fix your roof as well as a professional would. Roofing also requires special tools and equipment which the average person doesn’t have lying in their toolbox. This equipment costs money and may require training before you know how to operate it.
Risk Losing Home Insurance
Home insurance is vital for every homeowner because it helps protect your home from damage, theft, disasters, or other dangers that may affect your home. Since home insurance policies are concerned with the structure of your home, a DIY disaster could significantly impact your insurance policy. This is because, as an untrained person, the chances of messing up your roof during a DIY are very high.
This would mean that the home insurance company would have to compensate you for costly roof damages, which they wouldn’t be happy about. Ensure you go through the fine print of your insurance policy to avoid any problems. There are also options like renovation insurance that you might consider getting as extra safety.
Physically Exerting and Time-Consuming
Roofing is a ton of work and is time-consuming because of the attention to detail that it requires. Doing it yourself will take you anything from several days to weeks, depending on the scale of the project.
It also involves a lot of physical work, which is very hard to do yourself. Roofing projects also involve working in harsh weather, which may not be as easy as you think. Because of all these challenges, there is a high chance you’ll throw in the towel and call a professional to finish what you started.
A lot can go wrong with a DIY roofing project. You would need months to learn how to do it right, and without experience, the risk of messing things up will still be high. Further, roofing is a complex job that needs manpower, different materials, and equipment.
The cost of purchasing all these and fixing the mistakes you’ll undoubtedly make will be way higher than hiring professionals. Additionally, you would need to dedicate a big chunk of your time to the job and run the risk of being uninsurable and without warranty.
