Strip it.
Rebuild it.
In order.
Tear-off to bare deck, soft sheathing replaced, then the assembly back on in order. You get told what is going on the roof before it goes on — including the parts that get covered the same day.
- Job
- Full roof replacement — residential
- Method
- Tear-off to deck — not a recover
- Typical duration
- One to two days on site, weather permitting
- Area
- Little Rock, North Little Rock, Maumelle, Sherwood, Bryant, Benton
The order matters more than the brand.
Every shingle sold at a builders’ merchant will keep water out if it is installed correctly. Most premature roof failures are sequence and fastening problems, not product problems.
| # | Step | What goes wrong |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tear off to bare deck | Covering the old roof hides the one layer you cannot inspect later |
| 2 | Replace soft sheathing | Delaminated decking will not hold a nail — the roof is fastened to nothing |
| 3 | Membrane at valleys and details | Left out of valleys, backed-up water has an open path to the deck |
| 4 | Underlayment across the field | Uncapped staples tear through and leave unsealed holes |
| 5 | Drip edge | Reversed at the eave, water runs behind the metal into the fascia |
| 6 | Starter at eaves and rakes | Missing at the rake, the first course lifts and unzips the ones above |
| 7 | Field shingles in the nail zone | Nails set high catch one laminate layer instead of two |
| 8 | Purpose-made cap, then balanced venting | Cut field shingles as cap, and exhaust with no matching intake |
Step seven is the one worth understanding. A laminate shingle is two bonded layers, and the nail line is placed so a single nail catches both of them and the course below. A nail driven an inch high catches only the top layer and misses the course beneath entirely — the roof then holds on by sealant alone. It looks identical from the ground and it fails early in wind.
What your street says about the job.
Older central neighbourhoods
Hillcrest is a National Register district built out largely between 1890 and 1940, and Craftsman bungalows alone account for well over a third of its structures. The Heights and the Quapaw Quarter run to the same era. Steep pitches, dormer cheeks, clipped gables and long valleys — the material cost is ordinary and the labour is not, because every detail is hand-worked.
West Little Rock and the newer suburbs
Chenal Valley opened for lots at the end of the 1980s; Maumelle is largely a 2000s build-out with essentially nothing pre-1950. Simpler roof geometry, so these go faster — but they are where we most often find ventilation that was marginal the day it was signed off, and hail bruising spread evenly across wide open slopes.
Roof replacement questions we get asked.
Most single-family roofs in Little Rock are a one to two day job once the crew is on site, weather permitting. Older Hillcrest and Heights houses take longer than a newer Chenal Valley or Maumelle roof of the same size, because steep pitches, dormers and cut-up valleys are where the hours actually go. We will give you a realistic number rather than an optimistic one.
We do not recommend it and often the code will not allow it. The Arkansas residential code prohibits a recover where the deck is water-soaked or deteriorated, and where the roof already carries two applications of any covering — two layers is the ceiling, a third means tear-off. Beyond the code: covering an old roof hides the deck, and the deck is the one layer you cannot inspect afterwards.
Tear off to bare deck. Replace any sheathing that has gone soft. Ice-and-water membrane in the valleys and at vulnerable details. Underlayment across the rest. Drip edge — under the underlayment at the rakes, over it at the eaves, which is the sequence people get backwards. Sealed starter strip at the eaves and up the rakes. Field shingles nailed inside the manufacturer's nail zone. Purpose-made hip and ridge cap. Then ventilation, balanced against the intake that actually exists.
Yes, and we will show you before it is covered. Soft or delaminated sheathing will not hold a nail, so shingling over it fastens the roof to nothing. Decking is the one thing nobody can price accurately from the ground, because you cannot see it until the old roof is off — so we agree how it is handled before we start rather than discovering it together on the day.
The shingle manufacturer's warranty depends on what actually goes on the roof, and most homeowners are never told this. The stronger warranties require a set of matching components — starter strip at eaves and rakes, purpose-made hip and ridge cap, the manufacturer's underlayment and ventilation — plus a credentialed installer and registration inside a deadline. Skip a component to shave the bid and the coverage drops with it. We will tell you which tier your roof qualifies for before you decide.
It can, and it is worth checking. Arkansas Insurance Department Bulletin 17-2023 permits insurers to apply a mandatory roof schedule endorsement once a roof reaches seven years, which settles wind and hail claims at actual cash value — depreciated — instead of replacement cost. Your declarations page will say. Better to know before the storm than during the claim.
Get a replacement quote.
A description is enough to start. If it is a leak, say roughly where it shows up inside — that narrows it down faster than a photo does.