Direct Answer
What goes into a properly built Colorado roof?
Every roof Josh Brooks Construction and Renovation Inc. (CON-24-0152) installs is built to the specs on this page — the components, fastening patterns, and detailing that survive Front Range hail, chinook wind, and freeze-thaw. This is the checklist to hold any roofer’s bid against, including ours.
Most roofing bids say “install new shingles.” What separates a roof that survives Colorado from one that fails in five years is everything under and around the shingles — the components a bad bid omits and a storm always finds. This page is the full anatomy of how we build, published so homeowners and insurance adjusters can hold every line of our work — or anyone else’s bid — to it.
Underlayment & Ice/Water Barriers
Self-Adhered Ice and Water Shield Installation
Colorado code requires self-adhered ice and water membrane (the category defined by products like Grace Ice & Water Shield) at the eaves — and we run it in every valley and around every penetration too, because valleys are where Front Range roofs actually leak. This peel-and-stick leak barrier bonds directly to the decking and self-seals around fasteners, so freeze-thaw ice damming at the eaves can’t back water under the roof.
Synthetic Roof Underlayment vs. Felt
We install synthetic underlayment standard, not 15-lb felt. Synthetic doesn’t wrinkle with moisture, doesn’t tear out at the cap nails in chinook wind during install, and doesn’t degrade if weather opens up mid-project. Felt is a 1970s spec; we don’t build 1970s roofs. Full breakdown on our roofing underlayment guide.
High-Temperature Underlayment for Metal Roofs
Standing seam and stone-coated steel run hotter than shingles. Every metal roof we install gets high-temperature-rated underlayment engineered for that heat — standard synthetic under metal is a slow-motion failure.
Edging, Flashing & Water Diverters
Drip Edge Installation — D-Style and Gutter Apron
Drip edge is code and we treat it that way: D-style metal drip edge at rakes and eaves, gutter apron where the geometry calls for it, color-matched aluminum so the details disappear into the roofline. Under the ice and water shield at the eaves, over it at the rakes — the sequencing matters and most crews get it backward.
Step Flashing and Chimney Counter Flashing
Every sidewall gets individual step flashing woven shingle-by-shingle — never a bent continuous strip smeared with caulk. Chimneys get two-part flashing: step flashing at the base, counter flashing cut into the masonry mortar joint above it. Caulk-only chimney “flashing” is the single most common leak source we tear out of other contractors’ work.
Open vs. Closed Valley Flashing
We build valleys to the roof, not to a habit: closed-cut valleys over full-width ice and water membrane on most shingle roofs, open metal valleys where snow load, pitch, or debris flow calls for them — foothills and canyon properties especially.
Kickout Flashing
The small angled flashing where a roof edge meets a sidewall — missing on most Front Range homes and responsible for a shocking share of hidden wall rot behind siding. We install kickout flashing at every roof-to-wall termination, standard, no upcharge conversation.
Ventilation & Attic Intake
Ridge Vent Systems
Continuous ridge vent along the full ridge line, externally baffled so chinook wind can’t drive snow or rain in. Box vents only where ridge geometry rules ridge vent out — and never both systems on one attic, which short-circuits the airflow.
Soffit Vent Intake and Insulation Baffles
Exhaust without intake is decoration. We verify soffit intake is open and matched to ridge exhaust, and install insulation baffles where attic insulation has choked the airflow at the eaves. Balanced ventilation is what keeps attics from cooking shingles in summer and growing ice dams in winter — our full attic ventilation guide covers the math.
Decking & Structural Prep
Rotted Roof Decking Replacement
Every tear-off gets a full decking inspection — it’s on every bid we write. Rotted, delaminated, or hail-fractured OSB and plank decking gets replaced with code-matched CDX plywood or OSB sheathing before a single shingle goes down, and on insurance jobs, documented decking damage belongs in the claim scope. Details in our roof decking repair guide.
Fasteners & Starter Components
Six-Nail Shingle Pattern
Every shingle, six nails — the high-wind fastening pattern — not the four-nail minimum that voids wind warranties the first time a chinook event tests it. On the Front Range, six-nail isn’t an upgrade; it’s the only defensible spec.
Starter Strip Installation
Manufactured starter strip with the factory adhesive line at every eave and rake — not cut-up three-tabs, which is how roofs start unzipping from the edges in high wind.
Ring Shank Nails and Cap Fasteners
Ring shank roofing nails where code and decking condition call for the extra withdrawal resistance, and capped fasteners on synthetic underlayment so the dry-in stays dry if weather moves through mid-project.
Hold Every Bid to This Page
Print this and put it next to any roofing bid — ours included. If a line item on this page isn’t in the bid, ask why. The answer is usually the difference in price, and it’s also the difference in what survives the next storm. Our roof replacement work is bid fixed-price with every spec above included, and our cost calculator reflects that build quality.
Fixed-Price Bid — Every Spec Included
Built to this page. Every roof. No shortcuts.
Licensed CON-24-0152. In business since 2014. No storm chasers.
