South El Monte, CA
Flat and low-slope roofing in South El Monte
A pitched roof sheds water. A flat roof is a shallow tray that has to be watertight everywhere at once, which is a much harder thing to build.
Describe the flat roofing job
Three questions, then the address. Up to three South El Monte contractors who do this work.
You are on the list.
No provider in South El Monte 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 flat roofing job. A contractor who has not raised them has not looked properly.
- Whether a coating is being sold as a repair
- How the flat section is flashed into adjoining walls and pitched roofs
- Which membrane, and how the seams are joined
- Whether water ponds anywhere after rain
- Drain, scupper and overflow provision
Ponding water is the enemy. Anything still sitting there forty-eight hours after rain is a design problem, and tapered insulation is usually the answer.
Drains and scuppers need to be checked every season. One blocked drain can hold enough water to matter structurally.
Modified bitumen is the rolled, torched or self-adhered system you see on older flat additions. Cheaper, and shorter-lived.
Locally
Close behind that: shaded slopes that never really dry out. It is why two identical houses on the same street can be ten years apart on the same roof, depending on which way they face.
About flat roofing here
Are the contractors licensed and insured?
We require a licence number and current insurance from every contractor in the network. Verify it yourself anyway. Your state licensing board has a free lookup, and it takes two minutes.
What time of year is best to re-roof in South El Monte?
Practically, the long dry run from May to October. Crews are busiest right after the weather turns — November through March — so booking outside that stretch usually buys you a better date and a keener number.
I have solar panels. What happens to them?
They come off and go back on, and that is a separate cost, often handled by the solar installer rather than the roofer. If the roof is near the end of its life, do the roof first — removing and refitting panels twice is money wasted.
Should I repair or replace?
Rough rule: if the covering has more than about five years left and the damage is confined to one area, repair. If it is at the end of its life or you are patching the third leak in two years, you are paying instalments on a replacement.
Get the roof looked at
Free, no obligation, and your details go to no company until you say yes.