Roofers in Rice Military, Houston TX

Three-storey townhomes, tiny lots, and roof details that are nothing like a ranch house.

Rice Military, between Washington Avenue and Memorial Park, was rebuilt almost entirely over the last twenty five years as dense three-storey townhomes on subdivided lots. The roofs here are a completely different job from the rest of our service area and most roofing advice written for Houston does not apply to them.

It is inside Houston city limits, so the permit goes to the City of Houston.

What is different about a Rice Military roof

Low slope and flat sections

Townhome roofs are frequently flat or very low slope, often with a roof deck or a balcony built into them. Shingles do not belong below about a 2:12 pitch, and where they have been used anyway the roof leaks and no repair fixes it. These need a membrane or metal. Modified bitumen and TPO are the right answers, and the seams and terminations are where the work is.

Roof decks

A deck over a living space means people walking on the waterproofing. Without a walkway pad or a properly detailed pedestal system, every gathering up there is a puncture risk, and a puncture over a bedroom is expensive. Planters sitting directly on a membrane are the other common cause: they hold water permanently against the surface.

Party walls and shared parapets

Where units adjoin, the wall and parapet detailing between them is the leak risk, and it is also a question of whose roof it is. Before any work starts it is worth establishing where your responsibility ends, because on attached units that boundary is not always where people assume.

Access

Narrow lots, shared drives, no street parking and three storeys of height. There is often nowhere to put a dumpster near the building. This is genuine labour and it is why townhome roof work prices higher per square than a single-storey ranch.

Drainage

Flat roofs drain to scuppers or internal drains, and both block. A blocked drain on a flat roof means standing water, and standing water finds every weakness and adds weight. Clearing them is twice-yearly maintenance here, not annual.

Who issues the permit here

Your roof permit is filed with the City of Houston, not with Harris County. That matters because Houston is its own incorporated city with its own building department, its own fee schedule and its own inspection, and a contractor who assumes county rules gets it wrong.

We pull it under our own name wherever one is required, and it is passed through at its actual cost with the receipt attached. A contractor asking you to pull your own permit is asking you to carry the liability for their work.

What we do here

Roofing is most of it, and the exterior work exists because the same rain that gets through a failed roof detail rots the boards next to it.

All twenty one services.

What it costs

Every job is priced Cost Plus. You see the supplier invoice for the materials, the crew hours at our published rate, the permit and disposal at what they actually cost, and one service fee of 20 to 30 percent set by job complexity and locked before anything starts. No second number, no change order conversation afterwards. The full breakdown.

Our workmanship warranty is ten years, written into the contract. What that covers, and what it does not.

Common Questions

My townhome roof is flat and it keeps leaking. What is the fix?

First establish the pitch and the material. If it is shingled below about 2:12 it is the wrong material and repairs will not hold. A modified bitumen or TPO membrane, properly terminated, is the actual fix.

Can I have a roof deck without risking leaks?

Yes, with a membrane rated for traffic and either walkway pads or a pedestal system so load is spread and the surface is not walked directly. Planters sitting on the membrane are the other thing to avoid.

Who is responsible for the roof on an attached townhome?

It depends on your deed and any association documents, and it is worth establishing before work starts. On attached units the boundary is not always where owners assume.

Why does a small townhome roof cost so much?

Access and complexity rather than area. Three storeys, no staging space, membrane work and detailed terminations are all labour. On a Cost Plus quote you can see that.

Nearby Areas We Serve

• The Heights
• Montrose
• River Oaks
• Tanglewood
• Briargrove
• Garden Oaks & Oak Forest
• All service areas