Houston Roofing

The useful signs are specific. Granules in the gutters after a hail storm. Tabs that lifted in a squall and did not settle. A pipe boot cracked at the rubber. A stain on a ceiling that lines up with a valley, a skylight, or a wall flashing, not with a bathroom above. Daylight in the attic where the deck has opened.

Not every storm is a replacement. Houston gets hail, wind, and a lot of roofs that were already near the end of their life when the storm arrived. We inspect and say whether a repair will hold. A ceiling stain by itself is not a diagnosis. It tells us where to start looking.

Architectural asphalt is the common Houston roof because it fits the houses and the weight the structure already carries. Metal, concrete or clay tile, slate, and composite are real options when the look and the framing agree. Tile and slate are heavy. We do not put them on a roof that was not built for that weight, and we do not take the weight on faith from a brochure. Cool-roof membranes show up on low-slope sections over porches and additions. A house often has more than one roof plane and more than one system.

The covering is the layer you see from the street. Underlayment, ice-and-water or a high-temperature equivalent where the detail needs it, drip edge, valley metal, step flashing at walls, pipe boots, and attic vents are the roof as a system. A Houston attic runs much hotter than the rooms below. Intake and exhaust are part of a replacement so heat and moisture have a path out. They are not an accessory we mention after the shingles are on.

A replacement price is the house under the roof: squares, pitch, stories, valleys, and what the deck looks like after tear-off. The planning range we publish for an architectural asphalt replacement on many Houston houses is about $12,000 to $24,000. Metal, tile, or composite is typically about $20,000 to $45,000 when the structure can carry it. Decking found soft after tear-off is often about $75 to $150 a 4x8 sheet, and a group of those repairs often lands about $500 to $2,000. A larger, steeper, or more cut-up roof can sit above those bands. The estimate is the roof we measured.

A repair is not a small replacement. A pipe boot, a short run of flashing, or a few slopes of shingles is priced from the inspection. Many localized repairs land in a wide planning band of about $400 to $2,500, and a repair that opens the deck or rebuilds a valley is more. We will not quote a per-square number from the curb. Pitch and access change the day, and a per-square figure written first leaves them out.

Hurricane season on the Gulf runs from June 1 through November 30. That is when the tarps and the wind-damaged flashing cluster, but Houston hail is often a spring event, in the severe storms that cross the area before summer sets in. A roof can be hurt in either season, and it can also just wear out under heat. South and west slopes age faster. Valleys that collect water from two slopes are where a worn roof usually tells on itself first.

The permit and the wind exposure follow the address. A house in the City of Houston, a house in Bellaire or West University Place, a house in the Memorial villages, and a house in unincorporated Harris or Fort Bend County are not the same counter. Clear Lake and Galveston see more coastal wind. Katy and Cypress see plenty of hail. We specify the roof for the house we are on, and we do not describe one product as hurricane-proof. No covering is.

Many Texas homeowners policies, especially in Harris County and closer to the coast, carry a separate wind or hail deductible that is a percentage of the dwelling limit. One, two, and five percent are common figures. A two percent deductible on a higher dwelling limit is a different dollar amount from the deductible on a kitchen supply line. The percentage and what it applies to are in your policy. We do not read the policy for you, and we do not tell you the claim is worth filing. That is your decision, with your agent or your insurer.

If you do file, photographs of the roof, the soft metal, and any interior wetting are the record. We take those photos as part of the inspection. We can meet the information an adjuster asks for about the roof we saw. We do not negotiate the settlement, we do not inflate a scope to chase a deductible, and we do not tell you to file a claim we have not inspected. Temporary covering, when the roof is open and it is safe to be up there, is about limiting further damage. Many policies expect that. It is still not a promise of coverage.