Shingle Roofing done right.

Compared with tile, a shingle roof is easy to read. A careful walk across it tells me roughly how many years it has left. My rule of thumb: seven years old or younger, and a repair is almost always the right answer. Before I say that, I check every facet of the roof for damage that is systemic rather than local. One bad spot is a repair. The same wear showing up everywhere is a different conversation.

What I am actually looking at up there: is the shingle still held down or lifting, and where. The nails, because rusted nails mean water has been getting underneath. Where the leak is, because a leak near a wall often points to a window, bad stucco or bad vinyl rather than the roof. And how much granule is left. Shingle roofs near the coast lose granules fast to the wind coming off the water, and a hurricane season can strip a lot at once. The roof works as a system: the granules take the sun and the heat, the matting handles the water, and the underlayment is the real water barrier. Once the granules are gone the underlayment gets cooked, and once you can see fiberglass the shingle is past its life. On a new roof that is why we like peel-and-stick underlayment: if a shingle or two blows off in a storm there is still a sealed barrier underneath, so little or no water gets in, and many carriers give a discount for it.

On every shingle repair we also leave you a re-roof estimate, on site, whether you need it or not. Repairs carry one-time costs that do not get smaller with the size of the fix, the truck, the crew, the setup, so there is a point in a roof's life where a re-roof is the more cost-effective choice for you. We will tell you when we think you are near it, and you will already have the number.