Shingle, Tile and Metal Roof Tear-Off: Very Different Loads

Roof tear-off is the job where weight limits bite hardest, and the difference between roofing materials is larger than most people expect.

Asphalt shingles

Heavy, and heavier again where a roof has multiple layers — which is common on older Tampa Bay houses where a second layer was laid over the first rather than tearing off. A two-layer tear-off is roughly double the material of a single.

Shingles also absorb water. A tear-off that sits in a driveway through an afternoon storm gains real weight before it is loaded.

Tile

Concrete and clay tile are substantially heavier per square than asphalt, and they come off in pieces that do not stack efficiently. A tile roof tear-off fills a weight limit at a small fraction of the trailer volume.

Underlayment and any mortar bed adds to it again.

Metal

The lightest of the three by a wide margin, and it has scrap value. Metal roofing is worth separating rather than mixing into a general load — it reduces the disposal weight and returns something.

Practicalities

• Load low and spread across the floor, never piled in one place
• Keep the load covered if it will sit through rain
• Pull nails and fasteners out of the driveway as you go, not at the end
• Separate any metal
• Expect more loads than the volume suggests

Getting the estimate right

Tell us the roof size, the material, and whether it is a single or multiple layers, and we will tell you honestly how many loads it is. That conversation before the tear-off starts is worth having.