Roofing contractors in Fairfax, Virginia
A great many Fairfax roofs went on at the same time, because a great many Fairfax houses went up at the same time. Whole streets come due together.
What Fairfax roofs are dealing with
The subdivisions around the city built out heavily through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, most with architectural or three-tab asphalt on moderate pitches. A twenty-five-year shingle installed across a development in 1995 reaches the end of its life across that development at once, which is why one neighbor replacing a roof is frequently followed by three more on the same block within a season.
The subdivisions ringing the city, out toward Fairfax Station, along the Oakton and Burke lines, went up in identifiable phases, and the phase tells you the roof. 1960s and 1970s sections carry simpler geometry on moderate pitch; the 1980s and 1990s builds brought steeper pitches, more gables and more places for two planes to meet.
If you are not sure how much life is left in what is up there, the roof age check walks through the envelope one part at a time.
Covering City of Fairfax, Fairfax Station, Oakton line, Burke line and the rest of Fairfax.
- 1 Ridge caps. Thin, fully exposed, and the first course to lift.
- 2 The field. Granule loss is the honest measure of how much life is left.
- 3 Valleys. One channel taking the runoff of two slopes, all year round.
- 4 Flashing. At the chimney, and where the garage roof meets the wall of the house.
- 5 The vent boot. Small, rubber, and on a much shorter clock than everything around it.
- 6 Eaves. Where water that has backed up at the edge gets under the courses.
When the work happens in Fairfax
Because whole developments were roofed in the same year, they come due in the same year, and demand arrives in waves rather than evenly. A street where three houses were done last summer will usually see several more this summer. Spring quotes tend to be more considered than August quotes, when crews are working through a backlog and the incentive to look closely at decking is at its weakest.
What moves the price in Fairfax
On this housing stock the geometry is rarely the issue and the inclusions almost always are. Two quotes on the same 1970s colonial can differ by thousands entirely on what is assumed: how many sheets of decking are priced in, whether ridge ventilation is being corrected or reinstalled as found, and whether the pipe boots and step flashing are new or reused.
The price moves on four things, and the brand of shingle is not one of them. If two or three quotes are already in front of you, the comparison checklist lines them up:
- Is the step flashing along the walls being replaced, or cleaned up and sealed back down?
- What does a sheet of decking cost, and how many sheets does the price assume?
- Where does the ice-and-water shield stop?
- Who covers the labor if something fails, and for how long?
The work
Before you call anyone in Fairfax
Four questions come up on nearly every roof across Maryland and Virginia, and the answer in Bowie is the answer in Fredericksburg. They are written out once, in the guides:
Why roofs fail here
Four failures do most of the damage across Maryland and Virginia, and there is a page on each. The stain on the ceiling is almost never under the hole.