Another effect of the Bush junta: You can't afford a new roof

I have been tracking the soaring price of Oriented Strand Board, or OSB, which is commonly used as roof decking.

On January 2, 2003, I charged $5.25 for one 4x8 sheet of 7/16" OSB. Yesterday, I was asking $13.25 for the same panel. There are two reasons for the jump: the government is buying up huge quantities of OSB for use in Iraq (they buy it direct from Louisiana-Pacific and Georgia-Pacific, the two biggest producers of OSB), and between harvesting, production and materials, about half of OSB's cost can be attributed to petroleum prices.

So how's this translate into English? Roofing is sold by the "square," or 100 square feet. A square of roofing contains three bundles of shingles, 3.125 sheets of OSB and a quarter roll of 15-pound roofing felt. (Strangely enough, the other two components of roofing, both of which are asphalt-impregnated, haven't soared like OSB has.) There is also about half a pound of nails in one square of roofing, and then there are things you have to cost out over the whole roof, like the ventilation system, the drip edge, and the ridge cap. (The whole-roof stuff is about 5 to 10 percent of the whole system, depending on the size of the roof and how fancy you get on the ventilation system, so it's not a huge deal.)

In January 2003, the materials for one square of roofing, if you'd have purchased it from me, would have cost you $48.09 plus tax:

Three bundles of 25-year three-tab shingles: $26.19
One-quarter roll of 15-pound asphalt-impregnated felt: $3.50
3.125 sheets of 7/16" OSB: $16.40
One-half pound of roofing nails (all lengths are the same price, 1-1/2" nails are good in my area) $2.00

If you would have purchased the same square of roofing from me yesterday, it would have cost you $77.66 plus tax:

Shingles: $29.19 (there was a $1.00/bundle price increase on shingles at the beginning of the summer)
Felt: $3.50
OSB: $42.97
Nails: $2.00

You can't roof a decent shed with one square of roofing, much less a house, so let's look at a real roof. In Cumberland County, NC, an average house has 2500 square feet of roof--I know this because 25-square roofing orders are the most common size I sell. In January, a 2500SF roof would have cost $1202.25; the same roof yesterday would have cost $1941.50.

The increase is $739.25--roofing normally goes up in the summer months but it's never gone up this much.

Seven hundred dollars. That's your refrigerator. That's a washer-dryer combination. That's all the plumbing. In the total bill for a new house, $700 doesn't sound like much but it is a serious chunk of change.

Another effect is on older houses: if your roof starts leaking, you're more likely to defer fixing it until the price goes back to reality--which means more water damage and an even higher bill as you start replacing insulation, drywall and so on--and you're looking at the possibility of water getting into your lights. (Which means an even higher bill, because now your house burns down because water gets into the electrical system and shorts it out.)

I don't mind people giving us an extra $700, but I'd prefer they be able to spend it on a new roof plus a whirlpool tub or a new roof plus a fancy range--something you need plus something you want--instead of just trying to get back to where you were.

I might have to shop around a little more....

That might explain the $$$$$ disparity.

Actually, I think a $3,000 estimate sounds ok to me, depending on the size and difficulty of your roof.

Good point. You mean the labor isn't free? :)

I've done roofs before, when I was younger. Now, I'll let someone else do it.

Thanks for pointing that out.

When someone asks us "how much to have this installed?" we run the bill of materials and double it--and that gets you real close to the installed cost in this area.

If the $3000 includes ventilation and disposal of the old roof, it's probably not a bad deal. What's the size of the roof, and how steep is it? (The steeper your roof is, the more expensive it is to do--roofers don't like working on 12/12 pitch roofs, and only large sums of Yankee cash will alleviate their displeasure.)