Syracuse roofing: decide between a repair and a new roof before you sign

Your Syracuse address sits in a city, so no town or village office handles your roofing paperwork. The Central Permit Office at the city's permit counter takes roof applications. Onondaga County issues none. If a roofer says the county will sign off, ask which office they filed with last time.

Most of the housing here is old, and that shapes the first question. The median house in the city dates from 1948, and more than four in ten units were built in 1939 or earlier.

Treat it as a hint about age and nothing firmer. It does mean a Syracuse house is more likely than a newer one to have been roofed more than once, to have older decking, and to carry the paperwork of several owners.

Fewer than half of the city's homes are single-family detached houses. If you own a two-family or a small apartment house, you are the person a roofer will deal with, and your tenants are the ones who see the stain first. If you rent, your job is to tell the owner the date, the room and the weather, and then call us with the same notes.

Two Syracuse checks before any roofer starts

The first check is landmark review. Inside city limits you will find a list of protected sites and four local preservation districts: Hanover Square, Columbus Circle, Sedgwick-Highland-James and Berkeley Park.

The Landmark Preservation Board rules on exterior changes there, and its page does not mention roofs. So ask the Board whether a roof covering change at your address needs a certificate of appropriateness before you accept a start date.

The second check is what the estimate leaves out. New York's residential code asks for a tear-off down to the deck on a replacement, and it does not allow a new layer over a roof that already has two.

It also asks for a drip edge, and for an ice barrier along the eave where ice has formed there. Two Syracuse quotes can differ by exactly those lines. Put them side by side and find the missing line before you pick the lower number.

A repair is a smaller question. If the roof leaks only in a thaw and only near an outside wall, the trouble may sit in the first few feet at the eave while the rest of the roof is sound. A good roofer will say so and price the repair beside the replacement. Ask for both.

After a storm, slow down. Wind or hail can lift, crack or strip shingles, and it can do nothing at all to the roof next door. Find out what yours actually lost before you decide it needs replacing. Take photos of the ground, the gutters and any bare patches, and keep them for the roofer.

Use the four pages below to start with the job that fits. Each page covers what to write down and what to put to the roofer. Then book a visit and compare what comes back in writing.