Our older Virginia Beach home may have more than one layer of shingles. Does that change the job?

Does having two layers of shingles already change a Virginia Beach reroof?

Yes. This guide is an independent referral service, not a contractor, and it does not inspect your roof or count its layers itself, but the rule here comes straight from the code. The Virginia Residential Code, in force statewide since January 18, 2024 as the 2021 edition of the state's Uniform Statewide Building Code, sets out in section R908.3.1.1 when a contractor may install a new roof covering over an existing one, called a roof recover, instead of tearing the old one off first. A recover is not allowed where the existing roof or its covering is water soaked or too deteriorated to serve as a base, where the existing covering is slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile, or where the existing roof already has two or more applications of any type of roof covering.

What happens once a recover is not an option

Section R908.3 is direct about the alternative: roof replacement has to include removing the existing layers of roof covering down to the roof deck. In practice that makes the job bigger than a straightforward recover: there is more tear-off labor and more material to haul away, and the roof deck is exposed, so any damaged decking found under the old layers becomes part of the job. Ask for the price of deck repair per sheet in writing before work starts.

Does an existing two layer roof get you out of needing a permit?

No. Virginia's statewide code only exempts two narrow cases from a roofing permit everywhere in the state: replacing 100 square feet or less of roof covering, and replacing an unlimited amount of covering on a one to four family home where the nominal design wind speed is 100 miles per hour or less. The City of Virginia Beach lists roofing and siding replacement among the work that needs a permit from Permits & Inspections, so do not assume a full tear-off triggered by the two-layer rule qualifies for that second exemption. Confirm with Permits & Inspections for your job.

What to ask before you sign

Ask the contractor how many existing layers they found when they looked at the roof, and whether that number means a recover is even legally an option under section R908.3.1.1. Confirm they are the one applying for the Virginia Beach permit, not you, and look up their license on DPOR's License Lookup before you sign anything. A contractor who proposes recovering a roof that already has two layers is proposing something the code does not allow.