Bell Gardens, CA
Tile and slate roofing in Bell Gardens
Slate and clay are the two coverings that routinely outlive the people who chose them. They are also the two that the wrong crew can ruin in an afternoon.
Describe the tile and slate job
Three questions, then the address. Up to three Bell Gardens contractors who do this work.
You are on the list.
No provider in Bell Gardens is taking requests through this service yet. We are lining them up, and yours is kept until one can.
- Nobody gets your details yet. Your request stays with us and is not passed to any company.
- One email when someone can help. When a provider covering your area can take it on, we email you once and ask whether you want that company, by name, to contact you.
- Deleted after 90 days. If nobody can take it on, or you do not say yes, your contact details are deleted 90 days after your request.
- You decide, or you do not. There is nothing to cancel and nothing to pay us.
Nobody will call you about this request unless you say yes to a company by name.
Before you let anybody on the roof
The things worth pinning down on a tile and slate job. A contractor who has not raised them has not looked properly.
- Whether the tile can be salvaged and relaid
- Whether battens are being replaced at the same time
- Fastener specification, especially near salt air
- The condition and age of the underlayment beneath
- What percentage of tile breakage they expect and how it is priced
Ask specifically how many tile or slate roofs the crew completed last year. The honest number is often small.
Walking a tile roof breaks tile. That is not carelessness, it is physics, and any honest contractor will tell you a small percentage will be lost and replaced.
Broken or slipped tiles are a maintenance item, not an emergency, provided the underlayment beneath is still sound.
Locally
The second problem is morning fog that sits on the roof until mid-morning. Damp that arrives every morning and leaves by lunchtime is worse for a roof than rain, because nothing ever fully dries between one and the next.
About tile and slate here
Can I just put a new roof over the old one?
Often you legally can, and it is usually a poor idea. Overlaying hides the condition of the decking, adds weight, shortens the life of the new shingles by trapping heat, and doubles the cost of the next tear-off.
What if the decking is rotten underneath?
Expect a few sheets on most older roofs. Get the per-sheet rate in the contract. Open-ended decking charges are where a fixed price stops being fixed.
Do you cover the whole Los Angeles County area?
Yes. The contractors we match on cover Bell Gardens and the surrounding towns, so if you are just outside the city limits it still works.
Should I repair or replace?
It depends almost entirely on how much life is left in the material. Ask any contractor who inspects it to give you a number of years and a reason. If two of them independently say the same thing, believe it.
Get the roof looked at
Free, no obligation, and your details go to no company until you say yes.