Is Roofing a DIY Job – Time Considerations

One of the biggest luxuries DIY-motivated homeowners have is time.  You have a day job, your DIY home improvements are your hobby.  This is something you enjoy after work, on weekends, during your free time.  Your home improvements are something you take great pride in doing, doing well, and showing off to others.
 
But let’s think about this for a minute.  How many of these projects have a critical time component associated with them?  You have a great bar in your basement, what are the consequences if you got sick in the middle of the job and didn’t finish it on time?  What about your fantastic man cave – you know who you are?  Or remodeling that guest bedroom?  If these took a couple of weeks extra, was it really that big of a deal in the scheme of things?
 
Your roof – you don’t have that luxury.  Once you start your roofing project, you need to get it finished.  Even if you fall into the thought process that roofing underlayment provides you weather protection until you get shingles installed, let me assure you that this weather protection has a maintenance price.  Every rain you will be inspecting your underlayment.  Moderate winds will render it useless and any wind-driven rain will result in roof leaks.  Roof leaks result in more sheetrock repairs, which as a DIY-capable homeowner you have already proven that sheetrock is a project that you have no fear of.
 
This is one of the greatest factors if you consider a roof a DIY job.  When professional roofing contractors start your job, it is going to be finished quickly.  And it isn’t just nailing those asphalt shingles up to finish the job; those shingles have a glue strip that needs to set before your roof is truly weather tight.  Once you start a roofing project, you want to make sure it gets done and the shingles properly glued => before the next rain.

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