Hi to All;
Long time lurker and first time poster. I love this forum, check it almost daily. My question is I have a small cottage ( around 400sq') and it is time for a new roof. I have researched all the options and have many options. My question is with the cabin and out buildings I have around 8 squares of shingles to dispose of. Could I dump them on my land as fill? Any problems with ground water, haz-mat, permits? Local landfill wants $40 dollars a yard and since I will have some site work done I was wondering if I could bury them?
Thanks Rick
Welcome to the forum Rick. I was wondering who all of those guests were that don't say hi. w*
Here if you go by their rules, it has to be approved and they likely won't approve it. Environmental issues? They don't seem to have a problem with rain running off of them and they use asphalt on highways. They can't use broken highway asphalt pavement in waterways for erosion control, but that iss not the same as roofing. They sometimes use torchdown asphalt roofing under garden roofs. I don't know anything else - Maybe others do.
When we tore down the old farmhouse we just burned them in the burn pile. Not sure you could get away with that but we did several years ago.
We used to just go right over the first layer with the new layer of shingles, No tear off and disposal that way. ;D Architectural shingles really hide small ridges well.
But if you do tear off I have used them to line walk ways through gardens and flower beds where mud was a problem. ( remove the nails first! ) ;)
My experience with burning them has always left me with a pile of fiberglass netting that never seems to go away completely. d*
I have gone over at least two layers before.
In some places there re shingle recyclers. It's used in roads. One caveat is if the shingles are real old they may have asbestos in them. I don't know how likely that is but that is a concern at the recyclers.
http://shinglerecycling.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=204
How big is your piece of land? If you have room you could probably dig a hole, burn them in the hole and then bury it. I'd keep it away from any wells though, just in case.
For what it's worth...I have done several skirting jobs on mobile homes here at a local trailer park as a side job...we always lay asphalt shingles right on the ground prior to installing the bottom track...it provides a smoother work surface, and when its time to run the weed-eater, the shingles lay out far enough away that the cord doesn't damage the skirting, and keeps the green stain off of it from the cut weeds and grass....point here is, the park has been laying shingles down for years...never heard of anyone showing up from the EPA.....jb
I've seen driveways out in the country where they simply lay the old shingles down and drive over them. After awhile, especially in the hot summer, they pretty much melt into a nice solid mass that makes a pretty decent driveway.
Okie Bob
Now that is innovative jb and BoB. Good ideas
I'd like to try that one! Just so all the nails were removed.........
My next door neighbor has a driveway made of shredded asphalt he purchased cheap by the truckload. It doesn't look bad. I wonder if you could grind it up yourself?
We burned old roofing in a pit too. Or you could use Ondura roofing over the old stuff if your decking is solid. There's some criticism of it on the internet, but we've had it up for 5 years and it still looks brand new.
Thanks for the input!! I do have a low point on my land that I could fill in. Was wondering about any possible water issues from it leaching into the ground. Would like to just go over them but there are already 2 courses on there. Anyway it looks as though it will end up being a spring project, things are cooling off quickly here in Maine
Some say no on going over two courses but I did it with no problems other than the sun and time. They lasted about 20 years and were probably not supposed to last longer than that anyway.
Quote from: Rick on November 14, 2008, 08:02:43 AM
Thanks for the input!! I do have a low point on my land that I could fill in. Was wondering about any possible water issues from it leaching into the ground. Would like to just go over them but there are already 2 courses on there. Anyway it looks as though it will end up being a spring project, things are cooling off quickly here in Maine
The funny thing about the water contamination is that once the shingles are buried the decomp. will slow down and they will actually leach less contaminants than they are now with the sun cooking them and the rain washing them off ???.
I am sure some Eco. guys would disagree with my logic but that wouldn't be the first time ::)
Also have you thought about just going over the whole thing with metal roof? I wish I had metal on all my roofs. (Sorry Glen, Or SOD!!! :-[)
Yup -metal is second choice right after a garden...
if there is something leaching into the water it is already doing it and just running of the roof into the gutter and onto the ground, right?
wouldn't think it could be any worse than a paved driveway.
Cholland.....there ya go. And when I was researching the Forever Floor idea, I contacted the Atlas Roofing company online and inquired about the safety issues of asphalt being introduced into an INTERIOR space. They emailed back and said that no MSDS info is required by the EPA or anyone because it has not been proven to be a health hazard...you can contact them at the site and inquire if you wish, I suppose.....jb