Full tear-offs and re-roofs for Newton houses, with the building permit and the ice barrier handled as part of the scope.
Fastest: call (833) 751-2102. Or send this and we call you back.
Newton Roofing connects Newton homeowners with an independent local roofer for a full replacement: strip the old covering, check and repair the decking, lay an ice barrier and underlayment, flash every joint and install the new roof. A full replacement in Newton needs a building permit, so the permit is part of any quote.
A new roof in Newton starts with a question about what is under the old one. The city's median house was built in 1942, and about 49 percent of its homes predate 1940. A tear-off at that age can expose decking as old as the house itself, and that is the moment the real scope of the job shows. Nobody can price those boards from the street, which is why a good replacement quote is a written scope and not a single figure shouted over a fence.
Replacement is a different job from repair. A repair fixes a flashing, a valley or a patch of missing shingles on a roof with life left in it, while a replacement strips the covering to the boards and rebuilds from the eave up. The page on roof repair explains where that line usually falls.
Newton Roofing is a call line, not a roofing crew. You describe what you can see from the ground, and the call is put through to an independent local roofer who serves your part of Newton or the towns around it. That roofer inspects the roof, writes the scope, pulls the permit and does the work. Call (833) 751-2102 and say whether it is a leak, an aging roof or a house you are about to buy.
Yes. A full roof replacement in Newton needs a building permit, while minor repairs do not. One aggregator site reports Newton's department as stricter than the model code, with fees and a wait of about two weeks, but your roofer should confirm both with the city before the job is scheduled.
The permit is a normal part of the job and not a reason to worry. Massachusetts issues no roofing licence. Contractors doing work on homes register as Home Improvement Contractors with the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, and the building permit for roof work is normally pulled by the holder of a Construction Supervisor Licence issued by the Board of Building Regulations and Standards.
For the permit and registration rules in detail, read the guides on whether you need a permit to replace a roof in Newton and on Massachusetts contractor registration. If a roofer tells you the permit is not needed for a full tear-off, treat that as a reason to ask again.
One third-party summary says Massachusetts allows no more than two layers of asphalt shingles, and that a third layer means a full tear-off. Confirm the rule with the roofer and the building department. On an older house, a tear-off to the boards is usually the better route anyway, because it lets the decking be read.
Covering over the old shingles saves the cost of stripping, and that is the whole case for it. The cost is that you never see the boards, and a roofer cannot fix what is hidden. A layer of damp or rotted decking under a new overlay stays damp and rotted.
An ice barrier is a waterproof layer under the shingles along the eaves. Under 780 CMR R905.1.2, where there is a history of ice forming along eaves, asphalt shingle, slate and wood roofs need two cemented layers of underlayment or a self-adhering polymer-modified bitumen sheet, running from the eave to at least 24 inches inside the exterior wall line.
That requirement applies where the history of ice is designated in Table R301.2(1), so ask the roofer and the building department how it is applied to your address. The point of the barrier is that when meltwater backs up under the shingles at the cold edge of the roof, it meets a sealed layer and not the boards.
A barrier treats the symptom of an ice dam and does not stop one forming. The cure for the cause is heat and air leaks from the living space, which is why a replacement is a good time to read the ice dam prevention and repair page and look at the attic as well as the roof.
They can. Newton has the Newton Upper Falls Local Historic District, established in 1975 with 182 buildings, and other towns nearby have their own districts and commissions. Where one applies, roof material and color can be regulated, so ask the local historic commission before choosing a covering and before signing.
Lexington's Battle Green and Hancock-Clarke districts, Weston's local historic district, Brookline's local districts and Cambridge's Historical Commission and Neighborhood Conservation Districts all work the same way in principle: the commission has a say before the work starts. This page cannot tell you whether your house is covered, and you should not assume it is or is not.
Stay off the roof and off the ladder, especially if the roof is wet, frosted or covered in moss; old shingles are slick and a soft board will not warn you before it gives way. Look from the ground with binoculars, photograph it, check the attic ceiling from inside, and call.
You tell the call line what you can see from the ground and from inside: stains, drafts, the age of the house, whether it has dormers or a chimney. The call is passed to an independent roofer who serves your village, and the two of you agree when someone can come and look.
The roofer checks the slopes, valleys, chimney and wall joints, the edges at the eaves, the vents and the attic side of the boards. You should end up with a written scope that says what is coming off, what the decking repair allowance is and which parts of the roof are being rebuilt.
A full roof replacement in Newton needs a building permit, while minor repairs do not. The permit application asks about the Construction Supervisor Licence and the Home Improvement Contractor registration of the person responsible, so ask who is pulling it and when it will be posted before the date is set.
The crew removes the old shingles, underlayment and flashing down to the boards. Soft, stained or split decking is replaced as it is found, and the roofer should show you or photograph anything that was changed from the written scope so the final bill matches what happened.
Drip edge and an ice barrier go on first along the eaves, then underlayment across the field. Valleys, chimney and wall joints and vent penetrations get new flashing, and the shingles, slate or other covering you chose go on last, with ventilation matched to the attic below.
Nails are swept from the lawn, driveway and beds with a magnet, debris is hauled off, and the roofer explains what was done and what the paperwork says. If the permit calls for an inspection, the roofer tells you when it is scheduled.
The most common covering on the mid-century and later houses around Newton, and the one most roofers quote first. Published guides give a lifespan of about 20 to 30 years, with three-tab at the short end and architectural shingles at the long end. Read the dedicated page on asphalt shingle roofing for how the layers and the tear-off work.
Victorian and Queen Anne houses in Newton Centre and Waban were built with slate, and slate has been recorded on historic Waban homes. Published guides give slate 75 to 100 years or more and cedar 30 to 40. A roofer will usually want to repair slate that is sound rather than replace it, and the slate roof repair page covers that decision.
Porch roofs, rear additions and the flat roofs on multi-family buildings use a rubber membrane rather than shingles. The seams, the drains and the edge where the membrane meets a wall are where these roofs fail, so they are priced and detailed separately from the pitched part of the house.
No single figure fits a Newton replacement, and this page does not print one. Published cost guides for Massachusetts disagree with each other by a factor of two or more, which tells you how much depends on the individual house.
| Job | Typical range | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Size and pitch of the roof | Quoted per roof | More area and a steeper pitch mean more material and more staging; a roofer measures it on site |
| Layers and decking condition | Found at tear-off | A second layer to haul off, or boards that need replacing, changes the labor and disposal |
| Covering you choose | Set by material | Asphalt, slate, wood and metal differ in price, weight and installation time |
| Complexity of the roof | Set by the plan | Dormers, valleys, chimneys, skylights and several roof levels all add flashing and hand work |
| Permit and disposal | Itemized by the roofer | Ask whether the permit and the dumpster are inside the quote or added afterward |
Your exact price is set by the roofer after inspection and confirmed in writing before any work starts.
Most roof replacement calls are scheduled the same day when a technician is free, and you approve the price before any work starts.
The age of the housing is what makes a Newton replacement different from one in a newer suburb. With the median house built in 1942 and about 55 percent of homes detached single-family houses, a typical Newton roof has been re-covered at least once before. Plan for the possibility of old board decking, an earlier layer and flashing that has been patched more than once.
Winter drives the design. Boston averages about 43.8 inches of snow a year, and the 2014-15 season reached 108.6 inches, with 64.8 in February alone. A roof built for that snow has an ice barrier at the eaves, solid flashing at the walls and chimneys, and an attic that is sealed and ventilated so that it does not melt the snow from underneath.
Targeted shingle, valley and flashing repairs on older Newton houses where a full replacement is not yet the answer.
Asphalt shingle replacement and repair on Greater Boston houses, from 1950s ranches to newer subdivisions, through an independent local roofer.
Ice removal, leak repair and the attic fixes that stop ridges of ice forming at Newton eaves.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
Published guides do not agree.
Yes.
Massachusetts issues no roofing licence.
Most slate roofs are repaired rather than replaced, because the slate itself often outlasts the nails, flashing and valleys around it.
Published guides give asphalt shingles 20 to 30 years, cedar 30 to 40 and slate 75 to 100 or more.
A third-party guide reports that a Massachusetts home improvement contract over $1,000 must be in writing with the contractor's HIC number, that the deposit may not exceed one third, and that you can cancel within three days.
Widespread curling, bare patches, repeated leaks in different places, and patches from several earlier years all point toward replacement. A single leak at a chimney or a valley usually points toward repair. The roofer's inspection and written scope should say which it is, and why, before you commit.
Normally yes. A full replacement in Newton needs a permit, and the application asks for the Construction Supervisor Licence and Home Improvement Contractor registration of the person responsible. Ask the roofer who is pulling it and whether the fee is in the quote or added to it.
Rotten or split boards are replaced before the new roof goes on, and a good scope names an allowance for it in advance. Ask the roofer to photograph anything that changes from the plan so you can see what was replaced and why the final bill moved.
A third-party summary says Massachusetts allows two layers of asphalt shingles at most, so an overlay is sometimes possible on a roof with one layer. On an older house, stripping to the boards lets the roofer see the decking, which is usually worth more than the saving.
Only partly. A properly installed ice barrier protects the boards at the eaves from backed-up meltwater, but ice dams start with heat and air escaping from the living space. Mass Save offers a home energy assessment, which is the usual first step toward fixing the attic side.