Roofing questions from San Antonio owners and landlords

What the roof is doing and where you see it, the material if you know it (shingle, metal, clay or concrete tile), rough age if you can guess within a decade, what the weather did or how long the trouble has been showing, whether it is a house, a rental or a small building, and anything that limits getting onto the roof such as a locked gate, a dog in the yard or a tall slope. From that we can say which page covers your roof. See the contact page for the number and a short note on what to say.

Yes. The callback form on this page and on every page captures your number and what the roof is doing. The number on the page is for callers who want to say it in words.

Tell the owner or the property manager what you see on your ceilings and walls, and tell us what you see if you want. The City's Property Maintenance Code says a roof and its flashing must be sound, tight and free of defects that admit rain, and the roof drains, gutters and downspouts kept in good repair; who arranges and pays for the repair is between you and the owner. San Antonio has 289,380 owner-occupied homes and 265,201 renter-occupied homes, roughly 48 percent of households renting.

On asphalt shingles, dents and tears can let water through, and lost granules expose the asphalt to ultraviolet light, which breaks it down and makes it more brittle over time (IBHS). On metal, a roofer looks over the panels where stones would have landed. What hail damage does to a roof is the long read on each surface.

Of the 363 Bexar County hail reports of 1 inch or larger since 1996, 158 came in April, 91 in May and 61 in March, so March to May hold 310 of the 363 reports. The Storm Events listings are the record of what came through, not a forecast. See hail damage repair for the look after.

No. The look stays with a roofer, and never onto a roof with hailstones on it. From the yard or from inside the house, check for stains on ceilings, granules in a downspout splash block or dents visible from the ground, never during or right after hail, a thunderstorm or a tornado warning, and never near a downed or hanging line. Call about hail or wind damage when something turns up.

A limb across the roof involves two trades, in order. The tree work comes off the roof before a roofer can read the covering under it. If the limb has broken the covering and water is dripping now, call about water coming in at the same time; move things out of the way, set a bucket under the drip, and keep clear of a ceiling that sags or holds water, and of wet light fixtures.

Each roof is evaluated individually when choosing between replacing and recovering, and a reroof includes a check that the existing attic ventilation is adequate (ARMA). The read is at the roof itself; a roof inspection is the way to find out.

The 25 percent figure people quote is Florida's. The 2023 Florida Building Code, Existing Building, section 706.1.1 says not more than 25 percent of the total roof area or roof section of an existing building may be repaired, replaced or recovered in any 12-month period unless the roof covering on the entire existing roof system or roof section is replaced or recovered to conform to the code. The 2021 International Residential Code, a model code, states no percentage of roof area in its reroofing section (R908). San Antonio's own lines are the City's re-roof permit, a two-layer limit on roofing materials, and the Historic Design Guidelines' 25 to 30 percent damage guideline, which applies to properties in historic districts and not to the city at large.

Each has its own strengths and failure modes. ARMA says optimum shingle performance on the roof depends equally on proper installation according to the manufacturer's installation instructions. The MCA manual says any exposed fastener that is not completely secured, is crooked or has a defective seal will eventually leak, and that panels can leak only at seams, punctures or cut openings. See metal or shingles for the long comparison, or a metal roof for the service page.

A tile roof is made of thousands of individual tiles that can be safely removed and replaced without affecting the roof system, what the TRI Alliance calls the system's inherent repairability. The same brief adds that in most cases the underlayment under tile acts as a secondary water barrier and that new or harvested tiles should not be installed over compromised underlayment, regardless of the roof's age, and replacement tiles must interlock and seat with the existing ones or they can cause leaks and breakage. See tile roofing for how a repair goes on a tile roof.

There is no scientific evidence that algae damages asphalt shingles, although it certainly affects how a roof looks (ARMA). The streaks are an algae stain, and the shingle under them is still a shingle. A repair is the right call when a shingle itself is torn or lifted.

Any time a home's roof is replaced or installed, a permit is needed, and an engineer's inspection report is needed for a change in pitch or materials, per Development Services' Home Remodeling FAQ. The City's No Permit Required list has no line for roofs, and the re-roof application limits the roof to no more than two layers of material under the residential code. For what a given address needs, ask the City.

The Office of Historic Preservation and the City's maps answer that for an address. San Antonio has 32 locally designated historic districts. All proposed work on historic district properties and landmarks must be approved through a Certificate of Appropriateness before work can begin. For whether a particular house carries the overlay, check with the Office.

Within the limits of Texas Property Code 202.011, which bars a property owners' association from prohibiting or restricting a property owner who is otherwise authorized to install shingles from installing shingles designed to be wind and hail resistant, to provide heating and cooling efficiencies greater than those provided by customary composite shingles, or to generate solar power. The statute keeps the shingles subject to resembling those allowed in the subdivision, being more durable than and of equal or superior quality to them, and matching the look of surrounding homes. The City has no authority to enforce covenants and deed restrictions. Check your HOA's rules before changing a roof material or color.

Commercial and industrial roofs, apartment complexes, gutters and gutter guards, chimney masonry, siding, windows, skylight glass, solar panels and any wiring (an electrician's work), insulation and radiant barrier, remodeling and additions, mold, pest control, tree work and roof cleaning. If a job sits between trades, say what you have on the call and we will say what the pages cover and what they do not.

We work on roofs across San Antonio.