Compare How Each Roofer Keeps Shingle Grit Out of Your Pool

If you have a pool in the yard, the roof job can reach it in ways the bid rarely mentions. Old shingles break up when they come off, and the granules that coat them scatter across the deck, the gutters and the ground below. Nail fragments and flashing scraps go with them. A pool does not care that the crew meant well. Granules settle in the filter basket, fine grit gets pulled into the pump, and a sharp piece of metal can tear a pool cover or a vinyl liner. Before you compare totals, you should know what each roofer plans to do about the water.

Roofer comparison

Start with a simple question: does the written bid mention the pool at all? Many bids describe the tear-off, the underlayment and the cleanup, and say nothing about the water in the yard. A roofer who has thought about your pool will be able to say where the dumpster sits, which side of the house the debris chute drops from, and whether the crew will work above the pool deck or stage material over it. If the answer is only that the crew will clean up, ask what cleanup means for the pool specifically.

Compare the staging plan. Shingle bundles are heavy and are often stacked on the driveway or the side yard. If one roofer wants to stage on the pool deck side and another wants the driveway, the pool deck is where granules and nails will land. Ask each roofer to mark the pool area on a sketch or a photo of your lot. A sketch with the pool, the fence, the deck and the pump equipment marked is easier to hold a contractor to than a verbal promise made on the driveway.

Next, compare what each roofer says about covering the water. Some roofers will drape the pool with a tarp or ask you to put your safety cover on before the tear-off begins. Others will say that is your job. Neither answer is wrong by itself, but the bid should say which one applies. A safety cover that is already rated for the load and in good condition is a better shield than a tarp weighed down with sandbags, because a tarp can slip into the water and drag grit with it. Ask each roofer who places the cover, who removes it, and on which day.

Check the cleanup method. A magnet sweep picks up nails, which is why many roofers run one over the lawn after a tear-off. Granules are not magnetic, so a magnet sweep does nothing for the grit that goes into a pool. The question to ask is whether the crew will rake or blow the deck and the pool surround, and whether anyone will look at the skimmer and the filter basket when the job ends. A roofer who mentions only the lawn has not answered the pool question.

Timing matters in St. Louis. Pools here are usually open from late spring into early fall, and a tear-off that runs through July puts grit into water that the family is swimming in every day. A roof job scheduled after the pool has been closed and covered for the season carries a different risk. The cover is on, but a cover with shingle grit and nails sitting on top of it is harder to inspect, and the freeze and thaw cycle can make a damaged cover harder to notice until spring. Ask each roofer which weeks they would prefer for the tear-off and why. Their answer tells you whether they have thought about the pool at all.

What it costs

The pool work is usually a line of its own. Covering and uncovering the pool, sweeping the deck, and cleaning a filter basket all take crew time, and crew time costs money. Ask whether those tasks sit inside the roof price or are listed as extras. A bid that says cleanup is included may or may not include a pool deck sweep, and you will not know until the invoice arrives. Ask for each pool task to be written as a separate line with a short description of what it covers, so the numbers can be compared directly.

If something does go wrong, the cost depends on what got into the water. Grit in the filter usually means cleaning the cartridge or backwashing a sand filter, which is routine maintenance that your pool service can handle. A torn safety cover is a replacement part. A punctured liner is a repair that may need a pool professional, and the timing of that repair can depend on the pool season. The bid should say who is responsible for each of these, and whether the roofer will photograph the condition of the pool before work starts. Keys documents what it finds and puts a written scope with photos and measurements in your hands. That record makes a later question about the pool easier to answer, though a roofing contractor does not stand in for your pool company.

Do not treat the pool as a free add-on that a roofer will absorb quietly. Ask each bidder to price the pool protection as its own line, even if the answer is a zero with a note beside it. A zero line with a written note is still a commitment you can hold the roofer to, while a missing line leaves the question open until the crew is on your lot.

What to ask

Ask each roofer these questions in writing before you sign:

1. Does the bid name the pool, its fence and its equipment, and show where each one sits on the lot?
2. Where will the dumpster and the debris chute sit relative to the pool deck?
3. Who covers the pool before the tear-off, who removes the cover after the job, and what happens if the cover is damaged?
4. Does the cleanup include the pool deck and the surround, or only the lawn and the driveway?
5. Will someone check the skimmer basket and the filter when the crew is done, and is that work inside the price?
6. If the pool water or the filter is affected, who pays for the pool service call, and how will the condition be photographed before work starts?

Send the same six questions to every bidder and compare the answers side by side. A roofer who answers in one line and a roofer who answers with a marked sketch are not offering the same level of care, even if their totals match. Note how long each one takes to reply. Those replies are part of the comparison too.

Pool owners who want more than a yes or no can ask for the crew's pool plan as an attachment to the contract. That plan should show the cover date, the cleanup date, the staging area and the person responsible for checking the filter. If a roofer will not put the plan on paper, you have learned something about how the rest of the job will be written.

For questions about the bid itself, call the office at (314) 220-2333 and ask for the pool items to be walked through line by line.