A 51 year old shingle roof we did.

Had a bike . . . had the hair . . . and a standing offer from the local barber shop for a free cut if they could buzz it. I figured if my draft number came up, I would take them on it.

I've replaced some roofs that my grandfather and father installed, but never thought to ask how long they had lasted. I've replaced a couple of roofs we installed 25 years ago. No issues, but the "25 year shingle" stuck in the homeowners mind, so they wanted to preempt any problems. I know for sure of one barn with "T" locks on it that are about that age . . . still going strong.

That is good. Back then you Dad was probably one of those "Hippie" types. God those were good times!

Gotta love Google Earth!!

Unfortunately, I'm too young to have many long lived stories, but here's one I can share.

I sold this ~80 year old man a roof about 3 years ago. He had a 33+ year old organic 3-tab roof. While we were taking a break the old man starts talking about bowling. Says he got his best trophy around 1973 and described it. He said 'its out in that shed, I'll show you guys'.

Dad: I've seen it. Homeowner: I don't know how. Dad: I was here when ya got it. I roofed this back then. Homeowner: No way. The man who roofed it showed up on a motorcycle with his tool pouch. Dad raised his hand and said It's been a long ride.

I don't get back to where I started in SLC much, but a couple of years ago I saw that the first roof I did as the foreman in 1972 was still on. I also drove around Denver a little while ago and saw 2 roofs I put on in 1975 were still on. I probably had more still on, but what were new construction sites on the outskirts of the city is now new cities of 100,000 and it was hard to find those old houses.

I've seen on Google Earth a motel roof I did in Saskatoon in 1976 is still on.

Around here, if I see a roof I put on in the late 70's or early 80's replaced it pisses me off. Even though I know the slurry coat and the tile company that made it have both been gone for decades.

That one had 4 gable end vents and a fully vented soffit. It was also untouched until about 2 months ago as far as new insulation goes. The new owner had a real professional come in and they blew in about 15 inches of celulose insulation, but when they did, they put the proper vents on every opening and boxed out all the can lights. We are going to close off the gable end vents and install a new ridgevent on the main peaks, plus we will be fixing some of the soffit vents where old downspouts used to be. These will be torn out.

Regarding the original insulation, it was just a batt type installed between the ceiling joists, and only about 4 inches. We are also going to vent the bathroom vents outside. They have them all hooked together now and it will be quite simple.

I will post pictures of the process as we go along and it will all make sense. The nice thing about these owners is that they listen to me and all my suggestions, plus the REASONS for them. We are going to be checking on the furnace and its connections into the chimney as I am worried that they are pushing too little heat up the flue through too large a pipe to get that moisture out. Remember that for every action, ther is an equal and opposite reaction, and this surely goes for anything done to a house as well. The problem is that is doesn't show up imediately and people often don't connect the dots when things start to go south. It should be intersesting.

In light of the current debate on ventilation, how much and of what type was installed that incredible job a half century ago?

We have been at this a long time around here. Like you say, you can only have a roof that is as old as you have been roofing. I believe that is the oldest one, though I re-did a slate roof about 32 years ago, using used slates at the time that is going strong still. I expect that to hit 50 years with no problems. We did have a 15 year organic 3-1 shingle roof a few years back that was about 35 years old when we tore it off and redid it. Some of the early Globe premier shakes from the late 70's around here are still going.

The best ones I have are 20+ yr old O/C Classics..... The oldest possible one I could have is only 23.....

Awesome! I'd ride that as far as you can. When you can point to one of your roofs that is that old, it separates you from the pack.

We have some 30 year old flat roofs, and a 27 year old chopped glass emulsion roof which ponds about 3" of water after a rain. It's a church that was a bomb shelter and has a concrete deck, so weight isn't a factor. I use the heck out of our old roofs in marketing - it is invaluable to be able to say that we have existing flat roofs which are older than 90% of the roofers have been in business around here.

Being able to point to your old roofs gives you instant cred. In fact, when bidding against some newbie roofer, I've been known to tell the building owner: Hey, if he's offering a 15 year guarantee, ask him to show you one of his 15 year old roofs so that you know he knows how to build roofs that will last as long as his guarantee.

I will be either at the SRCA booth or the classic Gutter booth. Not sure where to find you.

Yep. Tuesday only. It would be my honor to buy you a coffee!

Sure, The house was built in 1961, so the roof is all of 51 years old. I am sure I probably worked on it too as I was about 9 at the time and had been working with my dad for about 4 or 5 years by that time. Realistally it should have been redone about 10 years ago, but as bad as it looks, there are no leaks inside yet. I will work on it and post some pictures of it as we go along. A complete rebuild from the eave line up. CT Grand Manors, so they are going to be a bear to cut in the cold weather. We will certainly pick our days. Go for it!

Hey Vicky, are you going to the show in San Antonio?

OS May I have your permission to post this photo in my eblast and on Facebook?

They decided on Certain-Teed Grand manor shingles. Lots of copper, ventilation, redo the chimney and chimney flashing, new copper kitchen vent hood, bathroom vent louvers, rebuild the fascia and new gutters and downspouts. That will keep us busy. Good to have a lot of work to do weather permitting.

Man that it really awesome john! You're the real deal.