Bob

There are tiles and or shingles...but it's to do with the weight of the snow, it causes the wood frame to sag over the years and then need replacing...not like Austria where they use the snow as insulation...have to go and sweep the roof clean when there is a lot of snow around here *l*

sunnysideup

The only area of the country that uses tile as the prefered roof is the desert Southwest. Asphalt shingles can't take the heat and intense sun out there. Elsewhere they do quite well (and of course are a fraction the cost of tile).

TruBrit

oh ok tks...i used to laugh before we moved here when i was looking at houses on har.com i'd see 15yrs old homes that would boast a new roof and i'd think wtf...hehe you're right, a fraction of the cost and which makes them almost as cheap as chips

Angry White Pyjamas

At least any house over two years old now in Florida and that still is house shaped you can safely assume is hurricane proof

TruBrit

silly thing rumour has it this season is due to be a bad one....not much we can do about it except hunker down

gruffbrown

Is it a shingle roof, it should be good for at least 10 years and then you re-shingle straight over the top ( Lucky heather, get your lucky heather here )

sunnysideup

well, maybe we should give them a break. Shingles are 1/4 the cost of tile, and they last 1/3 to 1/2 the time. So, over the life of a house they are better value. I reshingled my Texas house for $6000 with the highest quality shingles I could get, which isn't a lot for a 3600 sq ft house for a roof that should last at least 20 years, and maybe 30. 15 years ago I was quoted 15000 quid to replace a tiled roof on a small Victorian semi in the UK.

Elvira

I think they were taking the mick

we paid 3000 to re-roof our Victorian pile about 17 years ago - and that was in London...

Angry White Pyjamas

And shingles dont turn into high speed death missiles during hurricanes.

CarlM

Go on - ruin my sodding romantic ideal.

Angry White Pyjamas

Looking forward to it....from my new vantage point away from the worst storms

Pimpbot

we've just spent $300,000 on a house that was built in 1974. The house has totally new plumbing, roof and air con though, plus the missus works for a custom home builder, so we already have a load of brand new electrical goods for the kitchen, that they just took out of a fancy pants remodel. It's saving us a few thousand dollars updating the kitchen.

BritGuyTN

Actually this is generally a bad idea, much in the same way that tile is bad in the north-east. midwest because of weight on the wood frame, several layers of shingle are also bad.

I would now go for more than two layers inc the top layer, it can cause frame integrity issues.


My house is 94 years old and still seems to be fine

Older houses are certainly not for eveyone though as more things seem to go wrong (although ours has been fine)

I like having big open rooms and 12 foot ceilings - great for minimising A/C bills

Also, although I was in a strop a couple of months ago about the heating bills, since i had some insulation installed in the basement at a cost of $500, my 'leccy bill has halved!

I'm not a fan of living in a house that looks basically the same as everyone else in the subdivision, and i donlt have the personality to deal with HOA's, so our house has worked out pretty ok

Pimpbot

We're moving to a HOA free zone. Thats one of the pluses of moving to an older neighborhood. I'm sick of the nazi's that run our current HOA.