Mark Your Chesterfield Yard Before the Roofers Arrive

A roof crew needs the ground around the house more than most homeowners expect. The shingles come off in the air, but the bundles, the tear-off debris, the ladders and the people carrying them all land on the lawn, the beds and whatever stands along the foundation. In Chesterfield, a lot of that ground has something buried in it or bolted to it that nobody planned to move. Before the crew arrives, walk the yard with the roofer's site plan in hand and mark the items that a dropped bundle or a rolling dumpster could ruin.

Town roofing

Many Chesterfield lots were landscaped when the house was built, and the irrigation system went in with that landscaping. A typical in-ground system has a controller in the garage or on an exterior wall, a valve box near the front or side yard, and heads set at grade throughout the beds and lawn. The lines run a few inches down and the heads stand just above the turf. A stack of shingle bundles or a dumpster wheel can crack a head or shear a riser, and the first sign is a spray of water at the start of the next watering cycle, usually after the crew has gone home.

The Missouri One Call system (811) marks underground utilities in the public right-of-way, meaning gas, power, water and sewer lines that the utilities own. It does not mark private sprinkler lines, low-voltage landscape wiring, or a play set footing that a homeowner put in. Those are the homeowner's to show. Ask the crew to note on the site plan where the valve box and the controller are, and walk the front and side yards with them so the marks match what is actually in the ground.

The sidewalk and the curb in front of the house are city property, and a dumpster or a stack of bundles set on the street side can block a mailbox, a fire hydrant or a child's bicycle path. Ask whether the dumpster will sit in the driveway, and whether the crew needs a clear path to the hydrant on the street side.

Chesterfield's subdivisions also have a lot of children's play equipment, trampolines, swing sets and basketball goals set in the back yard. A trampoline frame can be moved by hand, and a crew may need to move it anyway to get a ladder to the eave. Metal stakes and anchors for a swing set sit in the sod and are easy to miss when the ground is covered with debris. Mark the anchors with a spray paint line or a stake flag, and ask the roofer whether any item needs to be moved to a fenced side of the house before the work starts.

Patio furniture, grills, planters and the hoses a homeowner leaves coiled by the back door all belong on the list too. Outdoor kitchens and gas grill lines need their own check. A gas line can run within a few feet of the wall, and the crew should know it is there before any ladder or staging touches the wall beneath it.

What it costs

Yard protection rarely shows up as a separate line on a roof bid, and it should not be hidden in the price. Ask the roofer how the crew will protect the ground: plywood or boards under the staging, a magnetic sweep at the end of each day, and whether the dumpster will be placed on a pad or directly on the lawn. A dumpster set on turf can leave ruts and dead patches, and a sprinkler head under the wheel is a repair bill that comes after the job is finished.

If a sprinkler head or a riser is damaged, the repair is usually small in parts but can be larger in labor, especially if the valve box has to be located and the line dug to a break. Sprinkler repair is a separate trade from roofing, so the roofer's bid may not include it. Get the repair responsibility in writing before the crew starts. If the roofer agrees to cover ground damage caused by the crew, the bid should say so in plain terms, with the same scope of protection listed for the yard as for the house.

Ask who pays for a replaced play set anchor or a trampoline frame that gets bent during the work. Those are small amounts beside the roof, but they are the kind of items that turn into a disagreement at final payment when no one wrote them down.

What to ask

Before the first day, ask the roofer these questions and write the answers on the site plan.

• Where will the dumpster sit, and will it be on boards or pavement rather than turf?
• Where will the shingle bundles be staged, and how far from the sprinkler heads and landscape beds is that spot?
• Will the crew shut off the irrigation controller for the work days, and who turns it back on?
• Which side of the house will the ladders and staging be set against, and is there a gas line, AC line or low-voltage fixture on that wall?
• Who moves the trampoline, the swing set and the basketball goal, and who sets them back?
• What happens if a head, riser or anchor is damaged, and who gets the call?

The answers matter more than the wording. A crew that knows the yard has been walked will be less likely to surprise you with a dumpster on the new sod or a staging pole through a landscape light cable. A crew that shrugs at the question is telling you what the first week will look like.

When you walk the yard, take photographs of each bed, the valve box lid, the controller and each play item from two angles. These photographs are your own record of how the ground looked before the work. Keep them with the written scope, the site plan and the photos the roofer takes of the house. If the lawn is damaged after the job, that record shows what was there before and what changed.

Chesterfield homeowners who have questions about the yard, the roof or the order of work can call the Keys Roofing office at (314) 220-2333. Ask for the yard walk to be done before the first bundle is unloaded, not after the first head is broken.