Four roofs on one property: a FORTIFIED replacement in Ocean Springs

The roof was an old three-tab shingle — the flat, single-layer style that predates architectural shingles — with a lot of years on it and a leak starting at one of two skylights on the main house. The homeowner knew it was time.

The property has four roofs: the house, a detached garage, a detached office, and a small gazebo. That changes the logistics — materials staged in three places, crews moving between structures — and it changes what you find. Every roof had something.

We told him that if one skylight was leaking, the second would follow, and offered to remove both and deck over them. He agreed on the spot.

• All four structures torn off to the deck, with a significant amount of plywood replaced on the main house.
• Both skylights removed and decked over; chimney flashing replaced.
• Built to the FORTIFIED Roof standard: ice-and-water membrane across the full deck, sealed starter course at eaves and rakes, drip edge fastened every four inches, every product and step photographed with location data for the evaluator.

On FORTIFIED, we put the decision in the homeowner’s hands. We explain what changes under the shingle and suggest they ask their insurance carrier what the certificate is worth on their policy. His answer was that if it was a better roof, that was what he cared about — and if his carrier would not recognize it, he would change carriers.

Then the lean-to. The office has a low patio roof off the back that was not in our scope. We had said we would try to work with it; once we were up there it was clear we could not solve its problem in the condition it was in. We called him and said so, and he asked for a number. We brought in supports so the crew could work on it safely, and replaced it in metal while we were on site.

Four days on site, four structures, one FORTIFIED certificate. He was more pleased about the lean-to than anything — the roof he had not called about.