Why we tear off instead of layering over
Laying new shingles over an old roof is allowed in some cases and it is almost always the wrong call. It hides rot in the decking, adds weight the frame was not built to carry twice over, and keeps the new shingles from lying flat, which shortens their life before they have even started. We strip every roof to bare deck so we can see what is actually underneath before we build anything back on top of it.
On a lot of older Jackson homes, the decking underneath is plank board with gaps between the boards. Once that is exposed we can decide whether it needs new plywood over it or whether the boards themselves are sound enough to nail into directly.
What actually goes into the roof
The shingles are the last of seven or eight layers, not the whole job. Drip edge goes on at the eaves first, then a self-adhering membrane along the eaves and in every valley where water concentrates, then synthetic underlayment across the rest of the deck. Starter strip runs along the eaves and rakes so wind cannot get under the first course. Step flashing and counter flashing go in at every wall and chimney, and the ridge gets a vent strip and cap shingles last.
Skipping any one of those layers to save an hour is the single most common reason a roof fails before its shingles wear out.
Shingles built for Mississippi weather
Architectural shingles are the standard we install because they carry a higher wind rating than three-tab and hide small imperfections in an older deck better. Jackson gets straight-line wind out of spring storm fronts most years, along with hail on a rougher season, and the wind rating only holds if the shingles are nailed in the correct zone with the right number of nails per shingle, which is where a lot of cut-rate installs fall short.
High-pitch roofs, common on the older two-story homes around the metro, need extra care on nail placement and fall protection. We treat a steep roof as a different job, not a faster version of a flat one.
Ventilation gets fixed at the same time
A replacement is the moment to correct attic ventilation, and in Jackson's humidity that matters more than most homeowners expect. A continuous ridge vent paired with open soffit intake pulls heat and moisture out of the attic year round. Old box vents or blocked soffits get opened up or replaced so the system actually draws air instead of just sitting there.
Attics that never got fixed keep cooking shingles from underneath and can drip condensation onto the decking in summer, which looks like a leak but is not one.
How the day goes
A crew of fifteen or more means most single-family roofs in the metro are stripped, dried in, and shingled inside one day, with steeper or larger roofs running into a second. We never strip more roof than we can dry in before the crew leaves for the day, because an open deck and a Mississippi afternoon storm do not mix.
Magnets go over the yard and driveway at the end, and you get the photo record from tear-off through the finished ridge before we consider the job done.