What the tear-off finds
The block ranches of Daytona, Bradenton and the older lake streets have been re-covered several times across seventy years, not always with a permit and rarely with records. What is actually on the roof, and under it, is the biggest unknown in a quote, and it stays unknown until the tear-off.
- 1 Ridge and exhaust — Where the attic is supposed to breathe out. Sized in 1975 on half this arc.
- 2 The shingle field — The part everyone looks at. The sun works it from above, the attic from below.
- 3 The valley — Every afternoon’s rain, funnelled into one seam.
- 4 Wall flashing — Where the garage roof meets the house. Rebuilt metal outlives the shingles; caulk does not.
- 5 The vent boot — A rubber collar on a faster clock than the roof around it. The arc’s most common leak.
- 6 Eaves, drip edge and soffit intake — The hardware salt reaches first, and the intake the attic breathes through.
The three usual discoveries
A second layer first. Florida allowed re-covering over an existing roof for years, and a great many houses took it. A tear-off priced for one layer that finds two means more labour, more disposal, and the most common day-one price move in the trade.
Plank decking second. Mid-century houses were decked in boards, not plywood, and boards that have carried seventy years and several re-roofs may need replacing or overlaying to give the new covering something to hold. Third, the past itself: old leak damage, odd repairs, and hardware that should have been retired a covering ago.
Pricing the unknown in advance
None of this needs to be a surprise. A quote that states its layer assumption and the price if there is another, that carries a per-sheet rate for decking, and that says what happens if plank needs overlay has converted every discovery into a number you agreed to in advance.
Permit records help too. The county’s file on the property often knows when the last roof went on and whether it was a tear-off, which is more than most sellers can say from memory.