Roof Repair and Replacement in Arlington, MA

What does a house built before 1940 mean for the roof above it?

It means the visible shingles are rarely the whole story. A house of that age usually still has its original framing, and the chimney, the valleys and the joints where a roof meets a wall have often been sealed, re-sealed and covered again over the decades. Each patch is a place where water can slip behind a repair that looked fine from the street.

That is why a roofer who serves Arlington will usually want to look at the attic side as well as the shingles. Stained rafters, damp insulation and daylight around a chimney tell a different story from the outside. Ask for the findings in plain words before anything is priced, and ask what is being fixed and what is only being covered.

Why do Arlington Heights eaves matter in January and February?

Boston averages about 43.8 inches of snow a year, and the winter of 2014 to 2015 reached 108.6 inches. In an older house, heat from the rooms below escapes through the attic floor, melts the snow on the warm part of the roof and refreezes it at the cold edge. That ridge of ice at the eave is an ice dam, and it can push meltwater up under the shingles.

Older eaves are where this shows first. Massachusetts code, 780 CMR R905.1.2, calls for an ice barrier along the eaves of asphalt shingle roofs where there is a history of ice, made of two cemented layers of underlayment or a self-adhering membrane that runs at least 24 inches inside the exterior wall line. A house that was roofed long before that rule may have nothing there. See ice dam removal and prevention for how a roofer approaches both the ice and the heat loss that feeds it.

How should you read a quote on a street with roofs of several ages?

Look for what the contractor says about the layers already on the house. Published summaries say Massachusetts allows no more than two layers of asphalt shingles and that a third needs a full tear-off, so on an old roof that has been covered before, the quote should say whether the existing layers will be stripped. Confirm the rule with the roofer, who should know the current code.

Also compare how each quote treats the chimney, the valleys and the wall joints. On a roof of this age those are the details that fail, and a quote that mentions only the shingle field is leaving out the part that matters. Chimney flashing and repair is worth reading before you compare numbers.

A full replacement in Massachusetts needs a building permit from the town, normally pulled by a contractor who holds a Construction Supervisor Licence, and home improvement contractors register with the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation. Ask to see both before work starts.

Why is a roof inspection worth more than a guess from the street?

Because the street view of an Arlington house can mislead in both directions. A tidy front slope may hide a failing rear valley, and an ugly stain may come from a single bad flashing rather than a roof at the end of its life. Nobody on the sidewalk can tell which.

A roofer on the roof, and in the attic, can. Describe what you see from the ground when you call: a stain on a ceiling, shingles in the yard after a storm, ice at one eave and not another. That detail helps the call line connect you with a roofer who works in your part of town, and when one is free to visit is up to that roofer. Call (833) 751-2102 to be put through.