What to do when your roof leaks during a storm
Summer thunderstorms and fall nor'easters can turn a small roof weakness into water on your floor in minutes. The first half hour matters most, and almost everything useful you...
Read the articleRoofing help for Washington, DC homeowners
Short, practical articles on the roofs that cover DC rowhouses and the homes around them.
These articles answer the questions we hear most on the phone and on the roof: how long a flat roof lasts, when slate is worth saving, what the permit process looks like and what to do when water is coming through the ceiling right now. Read one before you call, or call first and read later.
Adding a roof deck to a rowhouse: the roofing side
A roof deck turns a hot, unused rowhouse roof into the best outdoor space on the block, but the deck builder's job sits on top of the roofer's job. If the membrane, flashing and...
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Ice dams and winter roof leaks around Washington
Washington doesn't get buried in snow every winter, but a few inches followed by a week of freezing nights is enough to build ice dams along the eaves of many homes in the region....
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Box gutters on DC rowhouses: care and repair
Many older DC rowhouses don't have a hanging gutter at all, just a metal-lined trough built into the cornice or the edge of the roof. When that liner wears through, water drops...
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What a silver roof coating actually does
That shiny silver finish on so many DC rowhouse roofs is an aluminum coating, and its job is to shade the asphalt underneath from sunlight. It slows aging and keeps the top floor...
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Why rowhouse roofs leak at the party wall
A brown stain running down the top floor wall you share with the house next door is one of the most common leak calls we get in the District. The water almost never comes through...
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DC roof permits and historic preservation review
A roof replacement in the District generally needs a permit from the DC Department of Buildings, and a house inside a historic district adds a design review step for anything...
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TPO, EPDM or modified bitumen for a rowhouse roof
Three membranes cover most of the flat roofs in the District, and each one handles heat, seams and foot traffic in its own way. The right pick for your rowhouse depends on what...
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Slate roof: repair it or replace it?
A slate roof that leaks is rarely a slate roof that has failed, because the stone usually outlives the nails, the flashing and the felt beneath it. The real question is how much...
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How long does a flat roof last on a DC rowhouse?
Most low-slope roofs on DC rowhouses give somewhere between 12 and 30 years, and the spread depends more on drainage, flashing and the last installer's habits than on the label on...
Read the articleWater coming in right now?
Call and a roofer will answer, any hour of any day. We stop the leak first and fix it properly once the roof is dry.