The HOA's CC&R says that the material must mimic the wood shingles, although composite is acceptable in which the majority used. Yes, insurance premium will lower when wood shake is removed. Now, I need to learn what to know/hear/ask when interviewing roofing companies. What are the scam lines?

After you remove your roof, very important to inspect roof sheeting to make sure there is no soft spots, or deteriorated sections that need replacement, etc also is a good idea to re-nail existing plywood, this way if there is missed nails from the original installation now is a good time to make sure everything is nailed this way you have a solid surface for your roofing structure and new shingles can be fastened and will stay intact.

In many places the code requirement to install drip edges along entire roof edge, it prevents water get under the roof and make sure they will install ice shield. Its a special underlayment which sticks to your roof deck. Request heavy roof felt #30 instead of #15 and everything else is pretty much standard roof installation.

Hard to see what the guys on top do, but they should install enough nails per manufacturer specs, last thing you want is them to cut corners there, not to mention if they do cut corners, they will have to return and make repairs, so most reputable guys make sure that their installers use proper nailing per specs.

With that said, you want a reputable company to install your roof, check, check and check them out again, because a bad roofing contractor can cause a huge headache not to mention damage to your home.

Good luck

A couple more questions to ask ... What is the warranty? Is the warranty transferable if you sell.

Thank you all for helpful comments, more is welcome. GN Builders, your pro response is helpful. We currently have space sheeting from the original wood shake roof from first owner in 1987. With all that you suggested, I'd like the roofing company to put that in writing. I know proper venting is crucial, especially for our Oregon rain & snow. Any specific requests to make about vents and insulation? Any thoughts on Euroshield, rubber material product?

Most important thing when it comes to attic ventilation is to provide balanced combination of intake vents like vented soffit and exhaust vents installed at the very top (ridge vent) or near the roof’s peak (roof vents), if intake and exhaust is not balanced, you ventilation will not be efficient and you could have problems down the road, like moisture, ice dams, etc.

Not sure what you have there now, but I would suggest youvisit this page and read about attic ventilation, they also have online calculator which is very easy to use, this way you will have some ideas how that works and compare to what your roofer will be telling you.

Good luck

Excellent info, GN Builders. (Houzz community can benefit from an article /story about Roofing specifics.) Anyone in Houzz community, have the Euroshield roofing product? Curious about your experience & about the product's quality. Thanks!

Ask them to provide you with a certificate of insurance with their estimate. This will tell you if they have the proper insurance as well as workers comp (if required in your state). No workers comp is a red flag. You don't want to be liable if somebody falls off the roof and the roofing company doesn't have the proper insurance or workers compensation.