What most home owners don't realise is that if they don't follow the guidelines in the installation of the product. Most times it is the roofing company who gets the specs and if they don't follow or even bother to read the specs you really don't have a warrant. For example if you got the roof done ten years ago and your roof starts to leak. you make a warranty request and the company who manufactured your product sends a inspector to your roof. They will charge you and re-reimburse you if it is there fault. From my experience finding a default shingle is a rare situation. If the roofer put one to few air vents, if they underlay is incorrect, wrong capping, wrong flashing, the roofer nailed on the shingles on the wrong line, incorrect deck and the list can go on and on
now that I have scared the beekeepers out of you remember unless your roofer has really screwed up you are probably fine. The shingles are made for roofers not the other way round. When it comes to laminate fibreglass shingles in my experience most have and will make it past there warranty In Vancouver heritage roofing is a tricky art. What is sure is that when the house was built it was probably done a little differently than a home is built today. Even twenty years ago when roofers had a strange habit of going over the original roof that it is common to find Vancouver heritage homes with three layers of roofs. When hiring a roofing contractor they should definitely know how many layers you have before you sign on the line. Finding a extra layer during production is costly.
It can weigh quite a bit if there is suddenly an extra layer. What you will find out is the first layer is cedar. Good old, and I mean old Vancouver cedar. You cant get Cedar like that anymore, but it is definitely expired. In Vancouver heritage homes have steep pitches and weak decking. An increase of ventilation cause you probably getting laminate fibreglass shingles which means you getting a plywood deck.
The average roof on a Vancouver heritage house is quite steep. The house probably wasn't built with soffit vents, even though the house doesn't mean it's not needed. soffit vent installation is more important, there weatherpro vents that can be installed on the roof instead of hiring a expensive carpenter. Vancouver heritage homes are clustered together and when I mean together. they seem to be on average about two feet from each other. I have even seen some roofs overlapping each other which makes protecting your neighbours home important. Damaged siding can be expensive to repair on a heritage home and ruining a good relationship with your neighbour is priceless.
the roof deck on a really old home is probably strapping so plywood is a given always. I haven’t seen any heritage homes getting a cedar shake roof but I am sure there are some. The most common negative issue I see roofers having with these homes is the chimney is falling apart. depending whether you use this chimney or not is a big facture on the choices your have. Another issue is siding. Most siding is still original! If this is the case is very hard to pull and slide new step or wall flashing. Flashing means the metal that stops water from sliding between things like a wall and roof. Old siding on heritage homes in Vancouver can mean that the roofer only has the choice of a short term barrier like caulking. If the owner insists that flashing be installed the roofer will often hand over the liability of the siding over to you. Dry rot is a major issue with these old houses so be prepared for carpentry work.