Can You Replace a Roof in the Winter in Michigan?

Yes — and we do it every year in Howell, Brighton and Hartland. A winter roof replacement done correctly is the same roof you would get in June. Done carelessly it is a roof full of unsealed shingles and cracked tabs. Here is the difference, and how to tell which one a contractor is offering you.

What cold actually does to a shingle install

Two things. Asphalt shingles get stiff and brittle below about 40 degrees, so they can crack when bent over a ridge or a hip, and nails driven into a cold shingle can cut through the mat if the gun pressure is wrong. And the heat-activated sealant strip that bonds each shingle to the one below it does not activate until the roof surface warms — which in a Michigan January may not happen until March. Until it does, the roof depends entirely on the nails.

How a winter install is done right

• Shingles stored in a heated space and brought to the roof in small batches so they stay pliable
• Ridge and hip caps cut and bent while warm, never snapped over the ridge cold
• Nail-gun pressure checked against the actual shingle temperature, with nails flush, not overdriven
• The full manufacturer wind-nailing pattern on every shingle, because the nails are doing all the work until spring
• Hand-sealing with a roofing-cement dab under tabs on rakes, eaves and any exposed slope, so wind cannot lift them before the strips activate
• A dry deck. We do not install over frost, snow or a wet deck, which means winter schedules move around the forecast
• Ice and water barrier installed at temperatures the manufacturer allows, or with a cold-weather-rated product

The advantages nobody mentions

Winter is when an existing leak does the most damage — every thaw pushes water further into the deck and every freeze expands it. Replacing the roof in January instead of May stops that. Winter is also when our schedule is most open, so a homeowner who would wait ten weeks in June can often be on the roof in two. And a roof installed in winter has a full season of sealing before the summer storm season it needs to survive.

What we will not do

We will not install in an ice storm, on a frosted deck, or on a day the crew cannot work safely. That means a winter date is a target, not a promise, and we tell you that up front. When the weather cooperates the roof goes on the same way it does in June, as a complete Owens Corning system with the warranty registered in your name.

Talk to us before the snow

If your roof is at the end of its life going into winter, the best time to plan is now. A free inspection gets you a written quote and a place on the winter schedule. Call (810) 588-3933.