Roofing
Roof replacement in mid-Michigan, usually in one day
We tear your old roof off down to the wood, fix what’s under it, and put a new one on. On most houses that’s one day: we start in the morning and the yard is clean by evening.
A Katz roof, in numbers
- 1
- day for most roofs, from a morning start to a clean yard
- 4
- layers: the most we’ve taken off one house
- 50
- years on CertainTeed’s warranty, not prorated
- 15
- years on our workmanship, covered by CertainTeed
What a Katz roof includes
Here’s what’s on the work order Andy writes for the crew. Nothing on this list is an upgrade.
- The old roof comes off, every layer, down to the deck. Some houses have two or three layers underneath. We’ve taken off four.
- The wood gets looked at before we bid. Andy goes into the attic during the estimate so the decking doesn’t surprise anybody once the shingles are off. If boards need replacing, you’ll know before we start, not after.
- Ice and water shield and underlayment go down under the shingles.
- Drip edge along the eaves and rakes, mitered at the corners.
- Roof vents across the peak, or can vents where the house needs them, so the attic can breathe.
- Flashing around the chimney and anything else that comes through the roof.
- Shingles. CertainTeed is what we install most, and it’s what carries the fifty-year warranty. If you’d rather have another brand, we install those too.
- Cleanup: debris into a dump trailer, not a dumpster, and magnets run across the lawn and through the gutters before we leave.
The details you’ll never see
Most of a roof is never looked at again once the crew leaves. These are the parts Mike checks anyway.
The ridge vent runs right to the edge. The vent itself stops short, because you don’t vent over an overhang, but the cap keeps going so the line along the peak is clean from end to end.
The metal around a chimney is trimmed so the corners meet.
The drip edge is mitered at the corners, so there’s no loose flap of metal for the wind to catch.
None of this changes the price. It’s the difference between a roof that’s done and one that’s done right, and Mike would rather do it right once.
The warranty, briefly
Most of our roofs go on with CertainTeed’s SureStart PLUS 4-Star warranty. If a manufacturing defect shows up in fifty years, it covers the materials, the labor, the tear-off and the disposal, and it isn’t prorated. Our workmanship is covered by CertainTeed for the first fifteen years. It’s held by the manufacturer, so it doesn’t depend on us still being here.
If you want a different shingle, say so. Plenty of people have a brand they like, and we install those too. Those roofs carry the manufacturer’s own warranty plus our own twenty-year labor warranty.
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Roofs come around again
We’ve been at this long enough to be putting second roofs on houses we roofed the first time. Mike will drive past one and say “we did that one, still looks good.”
- ThenThe roofs coming due now mostly went on twenty or twenty-five years ago, when shingles were sold as fifteen-, twenty-five- or thirty-year products and nobody offered an extended warranty.
- NowWhat goes on now is rated for fifty years, with a warranty to match.
- NextIf we roofed your house the first time, the next one should be the last one you buy for it.
Commercial roofs
We roof commercial buildings with shingles: churches, offices and storefronts. If yours is flat, call anyway and we’ll tell you who to call.
Finished roofs
WoodlandChurch roof 
Farm building roof 
Farmhouse roof 
WoodlandFire station roof 
Lake OdessaRoof, siding and windows 
WoodlandLibrary roof
Common questions
- How long does a roof take?
Most roofs go on in one day. A big roof, several old layers or a lot of rotten wood can make it two. You’ll know which before we start.
- Do I need to be home?
No. If you want to be, you’re welcome to.
- Do you roof in winter?
Our crews roof from about mid-March into November, and into December when the weather allows. Shingles have a seal strip along each one that needs warm sun to set, so we roof when it’s warm enough for them to seal. The office is open all winter, and estimates go on all year.
- Can you put a new roof over the old one?
No. We take the old roof off, every layer, so we can see the wood underneath before anything new goes on.
- What shingles do you use?
Mostly CertainTeed. We’ll install another brand if you prefer one.
- Can you do the roof and siding together?
Yes. The roof goes on first, then we move on to the siding and windows.
- Do you do metal roofs?
Yes. We install EDCO metal shingles, ribbed pole-barn panels, and standing seam with a 1½-inch rib.
We’ve put metal shingles on farmhouses and a full metal roof on a house in Kalamazoo, and that family later hired us to do their siding.
- When in the year can you put a new roof on?
Our crews start in the spring, usually around the middle of March, once the days stay above freezing. It depends on the weather. Andy writes estimates all winter, so you can have yours in hand before then.
Most people get two or three estimates for a roof. We’d like to be one of them.