Tell the Neighbors Before the Tear-Off Starts in Chesterfield

Most homeowners think about a re-roof as the part of the job that happens above their heads. The neighbors see something different. For the length of a tear-off, a street in Chesterfield gets an extra vehicle or two, a crew walking the side yard, a noise pattern that starts before breakfast, and sometimes a pile of old shingles waiting at the curb. None of that is unusual for a roof job. It is easier to live with when the people next door heard about it first, and it is easier to plan around when you know which neighbors will feel it most.

Who on the street will notice

The homes most affected are the ones that can see the work. That means the houses directly across the street, the neighbor whose side yard meets yours, and any home that shares a driveway, a curb cut or a narrow stretch of pavement with you. In a subdivision with a single entrance, the households near the mouth of the court are often the first to notice a truck that stops across a turning lane. Walk the block and ask yourself who will have to drive past your house every morning for the whole job. Think also about a home office that faces the street, a young child who naps in the afternoon, or a dog that reacts to ladders and people on the roof.

A roof job is usually one to several days of loud work, depending on the size of the house, the number of layers being removed and the weather. Some neighbors will barely register it. Others will plan their week around it. You do not need to know which group each neighbor is in before you talk to them, but it helps to know which neighbors are most likely to call you with a complaint, so you can hear it early.

What to say, and when to say it

A short written note works better than a conversation at the mailbox on the morning the crew arrives. Keep it to what the neighbor needs: the start week, the expected finish week, the name of the roofing company, and the office number, (314) 220-2333, so that a neighbor with a question can reach someone who knows the schedule. Leave out guesses about the weather, because a forecast is not a start date. If the start moves, send a second note the same day the change is known. Two notes that match each other will do more for your relationship with the street than one optimistic note followed by silence.

Hand-delivered notes are fine for the homes directly beside and across from you. A door hanger or a printed sheet in the mailbox can cover the rest of the block. If you have a shared driveway or a shared fence line, talk to that neighbor in person before the crew sets a dumpster or a trailer, because that is the situation most likely to produce a dispute that outlasts the roof.

Questions to put to your roofer about the street

A roofing company has to answer for its crew on your street, so the questions about the street belong in the same conversation as the questions about the shingles. Ask them directly, and ask for the answers in writing if the answers matter to you:

• What days and what hours will the crew be on site, and what time do they expect to be on the roof?
• Will any vehicle need to park on the street, and for how long on each day?
• Where will the crew park their own trucks, and does that place block a neighbor's driveway or a fire hydrant?
• Who sweeps the street, the gutter line along the curb and any shared driveway at the end of each day?
• Do they run a magnetic sweep for nails after tear-off, and does that sweep include the neighbor's frontage if the debris rolls there?
• Who is the contact on site during the day, and what phone number does a neighbor call if the crew is not answering?

The answer to the nail question is one of the most useful things you can get in writing. Nails from tear-off drop along the eave, fall into the gutter and roll into the street. A neighbor who gets a flat tire from a nail found on the pavement will remember who was supposed to clean it up. A magnetic sweep at the end of each day, plus one more sweep at the end of the job, is a common practice, and it is a fair thing to ask any roofer to confirm.

Noise, early starts and what the posted rules say

Chesterfield is a city, and construction noise is governed by local rules that can set limits on the hours when power equipment may run. The rules and their enforcement can change, so do not rely on a number you read in an older article. Call the City of Chesterfield building division and ask what the current posted hours are for construction work, and then ask your roofer whether the crew plans to start inside those hours. A crew that starts at first light with a compressor and a pneumatic nailer is going to get more complaints than a crew that starts at a reasonable hour and keeps the loudest work to the middle of the day.

Tear-off is the loudest part of most re-roof jobs. Shingles coming off a deck, the scrape of a pry bar on flashing and the thump of old material going into a dumpster can all carry across a backyard. Nailing is quieter but more frequent. If a neighbor has a nap schedule or works from home, tell them when the tear-off is expected to finish, because the hardest hours for them are often the first two days and not the last one.

The tarp, the open roof and what neighbors see

A roof that is open overnight is visible from the street, and so is a tarp that has been pulled tight over an unfinished section. A neighbor who sees a tarp flapping in the wind will assume the worst, even if the crew did everything right. Tell the close neighbors that the roof may be covered at night and that the crew expects to be back in the morning. If a rain front is coming, say so in the same note. Many of the neighbor complaints that come up in a St. Louis re-roof are not about the noise at all. They are about a blue tarp that stayed on for two days after the rain stopped, or about a gutter that was left without a downspout for a week.

Ask your roofer what the plan is for the night the roof is open and for a day when rain stops the crew. A company that has a written plan for that situation is easier to live beside than one that answers the question with a shrug. The plan should say who checks the tarp and how quickly the crew returns to cover any section that has shifted.

When the work runs long

Re-roof jobs in the St. Louis area slip. Rain, a soft spot in the decking, a delayed delivery of shingles or a sudden change in the crew can each push the schedule by a day or more. When that happens, the neighbors are often the last to hear, and they are the first to notice that a crew is still on the roof on a day that was supposed to be clear. Ask your roofer to tell you the same day a schedule changes, and then pass the news to the close neighbors yourself. You do not have to explain the cause in detail. A sentence that says the crew is delayed by a day, and that the street will be cleared by Friday, is enough for most people.

If the job runs longer than planned, ask the roofer whether the crew can clear the street each evening and whether the dumpster or trailer can be moved to a less disruptive spot. A plan for those questions is part of a good schedule, and it is a fair thing to expect from the company doing the work on your house. Keys Roofing can put the crew, the start day and the expected finish in writing, and the page you hold after that conversation should match the note you put in the mailbox.