We trace every leak from the attic up and tell you whether a repair will do before replacement ever comes up.
Haverford Roofing brings 20+ years of roofing work to Haverford, PA, handling roof repair, leak tracing, full replacement, slate, flat roofs, gutters and storm damage on the stone, brick and frame houses of Haverford Township and the Main Line. We start with the question most owners actually have, which is whether the roof in front of us can be repaired, and we answer it before anyone mentions replacement.
A leak call here means two inspections, not one. We go into the attic as well as onto the roof, because the stain on a bedroom ceiling is rarely under the spot where water gets in, and pricing a repair before the entry point is found is how owners end up paying twice for the same leak.
Every estimate we write is built around the rules of the township the house sits in. In Haverford Township that means the roof permit addendum, the two-layer limit and the historic resource list; elsewhere it means that township’s own permit trigger. The scope lists each part of the job on its own line, so it can be laid next to any other bid and compared honestly.
What we do
Roof repair, replacement and slate work for Haverford, PA and the Main Line
Leaks traced from the attic, flashing rebuilt, shingles and slate replaced to match, and a straight answer on repair versus replacement.
A roof and attic inspection with a written, photographed report on condition, remaining life and what needs attention first.
Full tear-off roof replacement with new flashing, ice barrier and ventilation, priced line by line and built to your township's permit rules.
Roof leaks traced from inside the attic to the exact point of entry, then repaired at the source rather than patched where the stain shows.
Seamless aluminum and half-round copper gutters sized for the roof they drain, pitched to empty, and tied into the drip edge and flashing.
Standing seam and other metal roofs for porches, bays, low slopes and full houses, flashed cleanly into the roofing around them.
Low-slope membrane and steep-roof work for storefronts, offices, churches, apartment buildings and community associations.
Storm damage, fallen limbs and active leaks made watertight fast with tarping and temporary repairs, then fixed properly once the roof is dry.
Leaks on rear additions, porches, garages and dormers repaired at the seam, the wall joint or the drain, in the membrane already on the roof.
Wind and hail damage inspected, photographed and written up for your own claim, then repaired with matching materials and new flashing.
Chimney leaks stopped at the source with new step flashing, counter flashing cut into the mortar, and a cricket where water piles up behind the chimney.
Broken and slipped slates replaced one by one, copper flashing and valleys renewed, and an honest read on how much life a slate roof has left.
We have been in the roofing business for more than twenty years. That time has covered the whole range of roofs this area holds, from original slate on prewar stone houses to built-in box gutters behind a cornice, flat roofs over rear additions and asphalt layered over old cedar, which is why our estimates say what is likely under the top layer instead of guessing.
Every Haverford Township roofing estimate we write answers the township’s roof permit addendum before it is priced: no more than two layers, and nothing laid over slate, wood shake, clay or cement tile. So the scope says up front whether a tear-off is required, rather than a crew discovering the rule after the dumpster arrives.
No roof job on a Haverford Township house is scheduled until we check the Historic Resource Inventory, because removing or covering part of a listed resource’s roof counts as demolition under Section 182-1302. That puts the review in front of the township at the start, rather than after a roof has come off without approval.
A leak is never priced from the driveway. Each leak call includes the attic as well as the roof surface, so water is traced to where it actually enters before a dollar is quoted, rather than shingles being patched above the stain and the crew coming back after the next storm.
Each written scope breaks out tear-off, decking, underlayment, flashing, ventilation and gutters as separate lines, with a per-sheet decking price set in the contract. Any rotted sheathing found is photographed and shown to you before it is replaced, so the final bill never grows by an unexplained lump sum.
Every residential contract follows the Pennsylvania Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act, with the three-business-day cancellation notice written in and the deposit kept within the legal limit. You keep the full window to change your mind, rather than signing on the porch under pressure.
A leak that will not show itself is often not a roof leak at all. A sweating bath fan duct, a failed plumbing seal or attic condensation on a cold morning can leave the same ceiling stain, so we check the attic decking, insulation and duct runs alongside the roof surface before blaming the shingles.
Condensation tends to show as frost or wet nail tips across a wide area, while a true roof leak follows a line downhill from one entry point. Reading that pattern first saves the cost of a roof repair that was never going to stop the water.
A brown ring that grows after each storm means water is reaching the drywall, and by then it has usually soaked insulation and run along a rafter first. We trace it upslope from the stain in the attic, mark the entry point, and price only the repair that closes it.
Catching it early matters because wet insulation stops insulating and wet sheathing softens. A stain traced in its first season is usually a small flashing or shingle repair; the same stain left through a winter can mean new decking.
Most leaks we trace on older houses start at a penetration rather than in the open field of shingles. Chimneys lose their step and counter flashing, rubber pipe boots crack in the sun, and skylight flashing fails at the upper corners where water and leaves collect.
We replace cracked pipe boots with rubber or lead flashing boots, rebuild chimney flashing with step pieces under each course and counter flashing set into a reglet cut in the masonry, and reflash skylights with the kit made for that unit. Caulk is a stopgap, and our estimates say so.
A few missing tabs look minor from the yard, but the strip where a shingle tore away leaves nail heads and underlayment open to the next rain. We replace blown-off shingles with matching material, hand-seal the course above, and check the neighbors whose seal strips were broken by the same gust.
Storms here can do that across a whole street at once: on July 11, 2026 a trained spotter estimated gusts up to 60 mph in the Ardmore section of Haverford Township. When an older roof keeps shedding shingles in ordinary wind, we tell you that spot repairs have stopped being worth the money.
Ice dams form when attic heat melts snow higher on the roof and the water refreezes at the cold overhang, backing up under the shingles. The code answer is an ice barrier at the eaves under IRC R905.1.2, and Haverford’s addendum asks whether the ice shield runs at least 24 inches inside the exterior wall line.
On a replacement we install self-adhering ice and water membrane to that line. On an existing roof that keeps damming, we also look at attic insulation and ventilation, because the membrane stops the leak while escaping heat keeps building the ice.
Water on a soffit or inside the wall below a gutter usually is not coming through the gutter itself. It is getting behind it, where a missing drip edge or a gutter hung too low lets runoff wrap back onto the fascia board.
We correct the drip edge at the eaves and rakes, set the gutter so the roof edge sheds into it, and replace rotted fascia before rehanging. Haverford’s addendum asks whether drip edge runs along every eave, so on a replacement it is part of the scope rather than an extra.
The straight answer comes first. A single failed flashing, a cracked boot or a handful of broken slates is a repair, even on an older roof; replacement makes sense when leaks are spread across the surface, granules are washing off everywhere, or the decking is soft in several places.
We put that reasoning in writing with photographs, so you can see why a repair is enough or why it would be money spent on a finished roof. Nobody hears a replacement price from us before hearing whether a repair will do.
This is the reason workers’ compensation coverage matters when you hire. An injured roofer is normally covered through the employer’s workers’ compensation, and Haverford Township will not accept a permit application without a certificate of insurance that includes workers’ compensation and names the township as certificate holder.
OSHA requires fall protection for residential roofing work at 6 feet under 29 CFR 1926.501(b)(13). Ask any roofer for a current certificate of insurance before work starts, and if one cannot be produced, keep looking.
Haverford requires its Roof Permit Application Addendum, version V-02-2025, with every roofing permit application. It caps a roof at two layers of shingles, bars a new roof over wood shake, slate, clay and cement or asbestos-cement tile, and requires a wood shingle roof carrying other roofs to be stripped and re-sheathed.
The 2026 fee schedule prices residential roofing at $20.00 per $1,000 of cost on top of a $100.00 permit fee, and charges double for work begun without a required permit. We complete the addendum with the estimate, so the tear-off decision and the permit cost are on paper before you sign.
Question 19 of the addendum asks whether the house is in a historic district or on the Historic Resource Inventory. Under Zoning Ordinance Section 182-1302, removing or covering any portion of a roof is listed as demolition of a historic resource, and Section 182-1306 requires a Board of Commissioners permit for it.
The Historical Commission’s own agenda has cited a house whose roof came off without an approved permit. When a house is on the inventory, we build the Historical Commission review into the timeline from the first visit instead of letting it become a stop-work problem.
Re-roof permit rules around here are set township by township, so the answer changes the moment you cross a line on the map. Some townships treat every re-roof as permit work, some use a share of the roof area as the trigger, and some add a contractor registration of their own.
We look up the rule for the township your house is actually in before pricing, and the permit fee goes on the estimate as its own line. Lower Merion, which takes in Ardmore and part of Bryn Mawr, uses a roof addendum with the same two-layer cap.
A tear-off starts with the dumpster and tarps over the plantings, then the old roofing comes off to the deck. We inspect the sheathing, replace bad sheets at the contract price, then install drip edge, ice barrier, ASTM D8257 synthetic underlayment, flashing and the new roofing in that order.
In Haverford a dumpster in the street needs a right-of-way occupancy permit, $80.00 for the first 24 hours and $10.00 for each day after, so we plan where the container goes beforehand. Every day ends with the yard, driveway and gutters cleaned and a magnet sweep for nails.
In Haverford Township 31.9% of the housing was built in 1939 or earlier and 74.5% before 1960, so many roofs sit on houses much older than anything on top of them. Those houses often keep original details: built-in gutters, copper valleys, slate on the main roof and metal or membrane on a porch.
We identify which details are original and still sound before the scope is written. A copper valley with years of life left should be worked around, not torn out because it was in the way.
Steep Tudor gables, dormers and tall masonry chimneys make a roof with more flashing than open field. Every dormer cheek wall, valley and chimney is a seam where water can find a way in.
We step-flash every sidewall and build a cricket, or saddle, behind a wide chimney so water splits around it instead of pooling against the masonry. On steep pitches, fall protection and roof jacks are set before any material goes up.
In Haverford Township 19.2% of homes are single-family attached, and many are twins sharing one roof across a party wall. Replacing one side means tying new material into the neighbor’s older roof at the line, where a careless seam leaks into both houses.
We plan that tie-in with the neighbor’s roof and the shared wall in mind, talk with the other owner where it helps, and flash the transition so either side can be replaced later without disturbing the other.
Color is easier to judge against the house than against a sample board. Gray stone, red brick and painted siding each pull a shingle color differently, and the trim and gutters shift it again.
We bring full-size samples of architectural shingles such as GAF Timberline HDZ, Owens Corning Duration or CertainTeed Landmark and hold them against the walls in daylight. On a twin, matching the neighbor’s side often settles the choice.
A roof needs air moving beneath it, with intake at the soffits and exhaust at a ridge vent, sized by net free area. Haverford’s addendum asks how the attic is vented and cites 1 square foot of vent per 150 square feet, or per 300 with at least 50% of the venting in the upper third of the roof.
On older houses with no soffit vents, we work out an intake path before cutting a ridge vent, because exhaust without intake pulls conditioned air from the rooms below. Better airflow also helps with the ice dams described above.
A solar array has to come off before the roof under it can be replaced, then go back on and be reconnected. We put panel removal and reinstall into the schedule from the first visit, coordinated with the solar company, instead of finding out on tear-off day that nobody booked them.
If panels are still in the planning stage, we look at the age of the roof first. Mounting a new array on a roof near the end of its life means paying to remove and reinstall it far sooner than anyone planned.
The Pennsylvania seller property disclosure statement asks about the roof, including known leaks, and a buyer’s inspector will walk it. A Haverford resale also needs a Use and Occupancy application filed at least 30 days before settlement, though the township checklist does not name the roof.
We give sellers a written condition report with photos and repair what should be repaired before listing. Settling a roof question before the buyer’s inspection keeps it from turning into a price negotiation.
Three-tab shingles are the flat, single-layer type; architectural or laminated shingles add a second layer for depth and stronger wind ratings; designer shingles imitate slate or shake; impact-rated shingles carry UL 2218 Class 4.
We explain the ratings printed on the wrapper, including ASTM D3161 Class F and ASTM D7158 Class H for wind and the Class A fire rating under ASTM E108 and UL 790, so you know what each step up in price buys.
A sound slate roof can outlast several asphalt roofs, and a few broken or slipped slates are no reason to strip it. We replace slates one at a time, matching size and color, fastened with copper nails or slate hooks.
Because Haverford’s addendum allows no new roof over slate, a slate roof here is either repaired or fully removed. That makes an honest repair assessment worth more on these houses than almost anywhere.
Older Main Line houses often have copper in the valleys, at the chimneys and in half-round gutters hung on slate roofs. Copper lasts, but solder joints split and worn spots open with time.
We repair copper with copper rather than mixing in aluminum or galvanized pieces that corrode where they touch it. Where half-round copper gutters are still sound, we rehang and reseal them instead of replacing the whole run.
Box gutters are built into the eave or cornice, lined and hidden behind trim, which is why their leaks show up inside walls and on ceilings rather than outside. When the lining cracks, water runs straight into the framing.
We open the box, check the wood behind it and reline it. Where the framing has rotted past saving, we lay out the choice between rebuilding the box gutter and converting to a hung gutter, with the cost and look of each.
Standing seam metal panels have raised seams and concealed fasteners, which suits low-slope porches, bay windows and shed dormers where shingles struggle. On a main roof it is a long-life alternative to asphalt.
We use metal where it solves a problem, such as a porch roof that keeps leaking at a shallow pitch or a bay roof where snow sits against the window. The scope shows how the panels tie into the shingle roof above.
Cedar shake needs air beneath it to dry, and it wears fastest where moss and debris hold moisture. Repairs mean replacing split shakes and clearing the gaps between them so water runs off.
In Haverford Township a new roof cannot go over wood shake, and a wood shingle roof with another roof on top must be stripped and re-sheathed. When a shake roof is finished, the replacement starts at the deck, and we price it that way from the beginning.
Below 4:12, which Haverford’s addendum treats as low slope, shingles stop shedding water reliably. The options are torch-down modified bitumen in SBS or APP, EPDM rubber membrane, and TPO or PVC single-ply membranes.
Modified bitumen stands up to foot traffic, EPDM goes down in large seamless sheets, and white TPO reflects summer heat. Torch-down work in Haverford needs a fire extinguisher on the roof, and propane tanks come down at the end of every working day.
The rear addition, the porch and the garage are where most flat-roof leaks turn up, usually where the flat roof meets the house wall. That joint needs membrane turned up the wall and counter-flashed, not a bead of sealant.
We check drainage first, since standing water shortens the life of any membrane, then repair or replace with the material that fits the pitch and how the roof is used.
In a condominium or planned community, the declaration decides who owns and maintains the roof. Pennsylvania’s Uniform Condominium Act and Uniform Planned Community Act set the framework, but the specific answer sits in the community’s own documents.
We ask for the declaration or the association’s approval process before quoting, and we plan attached roofs with the shared walls and neighboring units in mind. That keeps the board, the owner and the crew working from the same answer about who signs off.
Photograph the damage outside and inside, with dates, before anything is moved or cleaned up. Owners are generally expected to stop further water damage, so keep the receipts for tarps and emergency work.
We photograph and write up the damage for your own claim, tarp what needs tarping, and hand you the documentation to send to your insurer. The permanent repair is priced separately once the roof is dry and the full damage can be seen.
Pennsylvania’s unfair claims settlement rules in 31 Pa. Code 146 set the insurer’s clock: 10 working days to acknowledge a claim, 30 days to investigate, and 15 working days to decide after proof of loss. That list carries no matching deadline for payment.
Knowing those dates helps you follow up when a claim stalls, and the Pennsylvania Insurance Department publishes homeowner claim guidance. When asked, we meet the adjuster on site to show what we documented, without negotiating the claim.
Under the Pennsylvania Public Adjuster Licensing Law, 63 P.S. 1601, negotiating a claim for a homeowner is the work of a licensed public adjuster. A roofer may not do it, so we will never tell you we will handle your claim.
A public adjuster is optional and is hired and paid by the homeowner. Our part is the photographs, the written scope of damage and the repair itself.
Whether an older roof is covered depends on the policy, not on age alone. Many policies pay older roofs at actual cash value, with depreciation taken off, rather than full replacement cost.
We can tell you what the roof’s condition shows; your policy’s declarations page tells you how it will be paid. Read both before a storm, not after one.
In Pennsylvania a contractor installing a roof pays sales tax on the materials when buying them, under 61 Pa. Code 31.11 and 31.12. That is why a replacement estimate shows no separate sales tax line to the customer.
The tax is already inside the material cost. If you buy materials yourself for a do-it-yourself job, you pay the sales tax on them at the counter.
The Pennsylvania Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act requires a written, signed contract that names the contractor’s registration number, describes the work, states the total price and approximate dates, and gives the three-business-day right of rescission.
Section 517.9 of the act limits the deposit a contractor may take to one-third of the contract price on larger jobs. Read the cancellation notice before signing; if a contract has none, that tells you something about the contractor.
Pennsylvania has no statewide roofing license. Home improvement contractors register with the Attorney General under HICPA, and that number belongs on every contract.
Registration is a record, not a test of skill. Some townships, East Whiteland and Skippack among them, add a local contractor registration on top, so ask about both where they apply.
The idea that a roof must be fully replaced once a quarter of it is damaged comes from the Florida Building Code, not Pennsylvania’s. It gets repeated on contractor sites everywhere as if it were law here.
In Pennsylvania repair versus replacement comes down to condition, your policy and your township’s permit rules. Uwchlan Township, for one, uses a share of the roof area as its permit trigger, which is a local permit question, not a replacement rule.
Delaware County’s Homeowner Resource Guide, revised June 2026, lists no county roof grant. It does list PHFA’s Homeowners Energy Efficiency Loan Program, which names roof replacements, Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery and Delaware Counties critical repairs, and CAADC weatherization.
It also lists the Delaware County Lead Hazard Control Program for homes built before 1978 with children under 6, which matters because painted trim and fascia on older houses fall under the EPA lead-safe RRP rule. We can provide a written scope to support an application.
Haverford Roofing provides roofing throughout the greater Haverford area, with the same crews and the same standards on every job.
Good to know
The price turns on the size and pitch of the roof, how many layers come off, how much decking needs replacing and the material you choose. Haverford adds a $100.00 residential permit fee plus $20.00 per $1,000 of cost. Our written scope lists each of those items on its own line, so you can see where the money goes.
A shingle replacement on a typical house takes a few working days once the weather cooperates. Slate repairs, flat-roof sections, box gutters and any historic resource review add time, and a solar array has to come off and go back on. We give you the schedule in writing before the dumpster arrives.
We repair them. Broken and slipped slates are replaced one at a time with matching slate, fastened with copper nails or slate hooks. Because Haverford Township does not allow a new roof over slate, a sound slate roof that is repaired well is usually the better investment than a full tear-off.
Sometimes. Haverford allows at most two layers of shingles and no new roof over slate, wood shake, clay or cement tile. Where a dimensional shingle roof would stay under a new layer, the addendum has the contractor give the owner a township letter on the problems that can cause. We tell you which case applies before we price anything.
Haverford Township says its Roof Permit Application Addendum must be filled out for all roofing permit applications. We complete it with the estimate whenever the job needs a permit, and for a small repair we confirm with the township whether one applies, so nothing starts without the paperwork the codes office expects.
Yes, when you ask us to. We photograph and write up storm damage for your own claim and walk the adjuster through what we found on the roof. We do not negotiate the claim or interpret your policy, because in Pennsylvania only a licensed public adjuster may do that for you.
We install architectural shingles from the major lines, including GAF Timberline HDZ, Owens Corning Duration and CertainTeed Landmark, and we bring full-size samples so you can judge the color against your stone, brick or siding. The scope names the exact product and color so the roof you get is the roof you chose.
We plan gutters and downspouts with the roof, sizing and pitching them for the roof area they drain. That covers seamless aluminum on most houses, half-round copper on slate roofs, and relining or replacing box gutters built into older cornices. Doing both together means the drip edge and gutter line up the first time.
We photograph it and show you before replacing anything. The contract sets a per-sheet price for decking in advance, so the only question left on tear-off day is how many sheets are actually bad, and you see each one rather than finding a lump sum on the final bill.
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