Part H · the register

Kirkwood Side Yards Decide Where the Roof Crew Can Stand

A narrow Kirkwood side yard may have to hold the ladder, the pallet and the debris route at once. Here is how to map it before you compare roofers.

Many Kirkwood lots are narrow. A house may sit close to the property line on one side, with a strip of yard that holds the air conditioner condenser, a gas meter, a hose bib, a walkway to the back, and sometimes a gate that opens onto a neighbor's drive. When a roof comes off, that strip has to hold the ladder, the material pallet, the debris route and a path for the crew to carry bundles around the house. If the side yard is not mapped before the bids are compared, two quotes can look equal while describing very different days on the ground.

Town roofing

Kirkwood's older blocks have houses with small side yards and garages set close to an alley or a drive. On a narrow lot the eave can sit only a short distance from the neighbor's wall, which changes where a ladder can stand, how far a tarp must be dragged to cover the lower slope, and whether a magnetic sweep can reach the gutter line without crossing a flower bed. Newer subdivisions on the edges of town often have wider side yards, but many of them also have fences, pool equipment or landscape beds in the same place. The walk should happen before any crew arrives.

Freeze and thaw matters here too. In late winter and early spring the ground along a shaded side yard can stay soft for weeks after a thaw. A pallet set down on that soil can sink, and a ladder footing can slide. If the side yard is soft in March, ask the roofer how the pallet and ladder will be supported so the lawn and the gutter line are not marked up before the first bundle goes up.

Walk the strip yourself

Stand at the front corner of the house with a tape and a phone, and measure the distance from the house wall to the fence or the property line at three points: the front, the middle and the rear. Write those numbers down. Then note what sits in the strip: the condenser and its disconnect, the gas meter, the electric service, any sump discharge line, the hose bibs, the window wells, the gate latch and its height, and any path your family uses every day. Photograph each item from two angles. The photos are useful later, because they show what was there before the work began.

Put the list on a single sheet. Each item is a question the roofer should be able to answer in writing. A roofer who has walked your yard can name the spots where the ladder will stand, the path the pallet will take and the places where a board or a plant bed may need to be moved. A roofer who has not walked it will answer in general terms, and general terms are the reason side yard problems show up on the day of the work.

Where the ladder and the pallet go

A ladder needs a firm footing on level ground and a clear run to the eave. On a side yard that slopes toward the house, the crew may set the ladder on the adjacent lawn, or ask to use the neighbor's frontage for a stand-off. Ask each roofer where the ladder will stand, what it will rest on, and whether they will use a stabilizer at the eave. Ask also where the material pallet will sit. Shingle bundles are heavy. A pallet that cannot reach the side of the house may be carried by hand across the lawn, which means more trips and more chances to crush a sprinkler head or a low planting.

Ask how debris leaves the side yard. A chute can reach the ground from a second-story eave only if the landing area is clear and protected. A container may need the street or the drive, and in Kirkwood the placement of a container on the street may need to be arranged with the city before the day it is delivered. A roofer who says the container will simply go on the drive should be asked which part of the drive, and whether a parked car will have to move on the morning the crew starts.

What it costs

Side yard work usually shows up as line items rather than one number. Protecting plantings, moving a condenser for the day, removing and resetting a section of fence, a temporary gate, extra labor for hand carrying, and time for a stabilizer or a chute can each appear in a bid, or be left out. A bid that says nothing about the side yard has not priced it. The cost will still arrive, later, as a change order or as a day when the crew works around the problem with less care than you expected.

Ask each roofer to list side yard items separately, so you can compare them line by line. A lower total is not a lower price until you know which items are missing from it. If one bid includes protection for the gas meter and the condenser and the other does not, the difference is a scope difference, not a discount.

Keys Roofing puts a written scope with photos and measurements in the homeowner's hands before the work starts. You can ask whether the written scope will include photos and measurements of the side yard, and you can compare that answer with the other bids on the same points. The office number is (314) 220-2333.

What to ask

1. Where will the ladder stand, and what does it rest on?
2. Where will the material pallet sit, and how far will each bundle be carried?
3. How will debris leave the side yard, and what protects the ground beneath the route?
4. Which fence section, gate, plant bed or walkway will be moved, and who puts it back?
5. Which utility equipment on this side of the house stays in place, and who protects it on the day?
6. Will the written scope show the side yard with photos and measurements?

Send the list to each roofer in writing. Note how long each reply takes and whether the answers name the same spots on your lot. Two roofers who both name the same gate, the same condenser and the same soft patch of lawn have walked the yard in a way that a general answer cannot show.

Keep the sheet you made. The same list works after the tear-off, when the crew has left and you need to see what was moved and where it went. Compare the side yard with the photos from the start, item by item, before you accept the final walk. Anything that changed should be written down on the day you notice it, with a photo, while the question of who moved what is still easy to answer.