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Syracuse and the surrounding Onondaga County area

Full Roof Replacement and Tear-Off

Replace a roof that has reached the end of its life, stripped back to the deck so the boards underneath can be seen, repaired and detailed for a Syracuse winter.

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Overview

What Roof Replacement covers

A full replacement removes every existing covering down to the roof deck, exposes the sheathing so it can be inspected and repaired, and rebuilds the roof from the deck up: eave protection, valleys, flashings, covering, ridge and ventilation. It is the only option the code leaves open once a roof carries two or more coverings, and the only way anyone finds out what the deck is doing. In Onondaga County the deck is the real unknown. The median house in the City of Syracuse dates from 1948 and 85.5 percent of city housing predates 1980, which means plank sheathing rather than plywood, unrecorded layer counts, and flashing details put in by someone whose name nobody remembers. The work is carried out by insured New York roofing contractors, and the contract for it is governed by New York General Business Law article 36-A, which names roofing expressly.

  • Complete tear-off of existing coverings down to the deck, with layer count confirmed at the eave before anything is priced
  • Deck and sheathing inspection and repair, including plank decking and rotted eave boards on pre-war houses
  • Ice barrier membrane at eaves, valleys and other detail areas, run to the depth the code sets rather than one token course
  • New metal flashing at chimneys, wall tie-ins, skylights, valleys and pipe penetrations
  • Drip edge, starter course and ridge and hip detailing
  • Intake and exhaust ventilation designed for the new roof, including soffit baffles where the intake is blocked
  • Architectural asphalt shingle, metal shingle and standing seam installation
  • Replacement in kind on slate and other coverings that may not lawfully be recovered
  • Identification of pre-1980 coverings before demolition, and sampling where the material is presumed to contain asbestos
  • Gutter and downspout renewal where the existing run has to come off for the eave detail anyway
  • Permit application filed with the municipality that actually governs the address
Assessment

What changes the scope of the work

Every property is different. These are the factors that decide what the job actually involves.

How many coverings are already on the roof

Section R908.3.1.1 of the code adopted in New York does not permit a recover where two or more applications of any roof covering already exist. A third layer is not a cheaper option, it is not an option. Counting layers at an exposed eave or rake takes a minute and decides the whole job.

What the existing covering is made of

The same section bars covering over slate, clay, cement and asbestos-cement tile, and bars a recover where the existing roof is water soaked or too deteriorated to be an adequate base. With 22.6 percent of county housing built in 1939 or earlier, those coverings are still in service here.

The age of the house against the EPA asbestos list

The EPA lists roofing shingles among the products in which asbestos is found and warns that fibers may be released when the material is disturbed during demolition. A tear-off is exactly that disturbance, so on an older house the covering should be identified before it is ripped, not after.

Painted fascia, soffit and rake trim

The EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule covers anyone paid to disturb painted surfaces in homes built before 1978, and states that demolition of painted surfaces is covered regardless of area. Roof work routinely disturbs painted trim, so on most city addresses this is the normal case rather than the exception.

Which municipality the address sits in

The ice barrier requirement, the ground snow load and the permit position are all set locally. The City of Syracuse lists Roof as a permit type in its own right, the Village of Liverpool requires a permit for any new roof covering, and the Town of Cicero requires none provided no more than two layers are covered. A village address files with the village, not the surrounding town.

Ground snow load and site elevation

Ground snow load is read from the state figure and entered by each municipality, and above 1,000 feet it increases by 2 pounds per square foot for every 100 feet of elevation. On the higher ground toward Pompey, LaFayette and Onondaga Hill that changes what any structural repair to a sagging deck has to achieve.

Roof geometry and overhang depth

Valleys, dormers, deep overhangs and low-slope tie-ins all take more eave membrane and more metal than a simple gable. The ice barrier has to reach a point not less than 24 inches inside the exterior wall line, and on a deep overhang or a shallow pitch that is several courses, not one.

What the attic is doing

The New York State Department of Health names ice dams and insufficient attic ventilation among the moisture sources that cause mold in homes. A new covering over an attic that is still venting badly buys the same problem again, so intake and exhaust belong in the scope rather than in a list of extras.

Process

How the work runs

  1. Establish what is actually on the roof now

    Layer count read at an exposed edge, covering material identified, deck viewed from the attic side where there is access. This is the survey that decides whether a recover is even lawful and how much risk sits under the surface.

  2. Get the local numbers before the specification is written

    One call to your own code office answers it: does our Table R301.2(1) say YES for ice barrier underlayment, what ground snow load is entered for this municipality, and does a re-roof need a permit here. The answers differ from town to town and from the town to the village inside it.

  3. Put the scope into a written contract

    Above five hundred dollars, New York requires a signed writing containing the contractor's name, address and telephone number, approximate start and completion dates, a description of the work and the materials including make and model, the price, a progress payment schedule tied to specific work, a mechanic's lien notice in conspicuous bold type, an insurance disclosure and a three business day right to cancel.

  4. Agree how surprises are priced before the tear-off starts

    Rotted sheathing is found after the covering is off, never before. A unit rate per sheet or per board agreed in advance turns the worst moment of the job into arithmetic instead of an argument on the driveway.

  5. Tear off and inspect the deck

    Everything comes off to the boards. Soft sheathing, split planks, rotted eave and rake edges and old fastener damage are dealt with now, while the deck is visible, because nothing after this point can reach it.

  6. Build the eaves, valleys and penetrations first

    Ice barrier from the lowest edge of the roof to at least 24 inches inside the exterior wall line, metal in the valleys, new flashing at every chimney, wall and pipe. About 84 days a year the temperature crosses freezing in both directions here, and these are the details that decide whether that matters.

  7. Lay the covering and open the ventilation

    Field, hips and ridge to the manufacturer's stated fastening pattern, with intake at the soffit balanced against exhaust at the ridge rather than one without the other.

  8. Clean up and close the paperwork

    Ground and gutters cleared, magnet run over the site, and where a permit was pulled, the inspection completed so the record on the property is straight for the next sale or rental inspection.

Scope

When you may not need this at all

  • If the covering is a single sound layer and one detail has failed, a valley, a chimney flashing or a vent boot, a repair is the honest answer and the replacement can wait for a year you choose rather than a year that chooses you.
  • If your roof is original slate in reasonable order, ask about repair in kind before agreeing to a tear-off. Slate cannot lawfully be covered over, and it commonly outlasts the asphalt that would replace it.
  • If it is mid-winter, the sequence is usually a temporary repair now and the replacement when the deck can be seen and dried. Snow lies an inch or more deep on about 60 days of a normal Syracuse winter, and nobody can inspect sheathing through it.
  • If your only complaint is ice at the eaves and stained ceilings along exterior walls, the covering may not be the problem at all. That is an attic heat and ventilation question first.
  • If you are being told the roof needs replacing because of hail, note that the county's own 2025 hazard plan scores hail in its low band while winter weather and wind score high. Ask to be shown the strikes.
Limits

What is out of scope

  • Asbestos removal. Where a covering, cement siding or vermiculite attic insulation is presumed to contain asbestos, only sampling and analysis settle it, and the removal is a separately regulated trade in New York.
  • Structural redesign of rafters or trusses. Where a roof has to be rebuilt rather than re-covered, the design snow load is set by a structural engineer or the code officer, not by the roofing scope.
  • Interior repair after leaks: plaster, drywall, insulation and decoration.
  • Mold remediation. New York regulates that work separately and it is a different trade with different rules.
  • Chimney rebuilding above the roofline, which is masonry work, though the flashing around it is not.
  • Deciding what your insurance policy covers. The contractor documents what is on the roof; the policy conversation is between you and your insurer.
  • Detaching and resetting solar arrays, which the solar installer handles.
Coverage

Where we arrange this work

Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I just go over the old shingles instead?

Sometimes, and often not. Section R908.3.1.1 does not permit a recover where the roof already carries two or more applications of any covering, where the existing roof is water soaked or too deteriorated to be an adequate base, or where the existing covering is slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile. Count the layers at an exposed eave before you accept an overlay price, because in this county the answer is frequently two already.

Do I need a permit for a re-roof?

It depends on the address, and there is no county-wide rule. The City of Syracuse lists Roof as a residential permit type with its own application. The Village of Liverpool requires a permit for installing a new roof covering and for any work on a flat roof. The Town of Cicero requires no permit provided no more than two layers of roofing are covered. Clay and Solvay publish permit lists that do not mention roofing either way, and Fayetteville publishes no list at all and asks you to call. State regulation does not exempt roofing outright, so each municipality decides.

There is no state or county register of roofers here, so how do I check a contractor?

The Department of State states plainly that New York State does not issue a credential to home improvement contractors, and the Attorney General's list of places that require a local one covers New York City and five downstate counties, none of them Onondaga. So there is no register to search here, and any New York State roofing credential quoted at you is describing something that does not exist. What you can actually check is a current certificate of insurance including workers compensation cover, and a contract that meets the statute.

What should the ice barrier line in my quote say?

How far up the slope it goes. The code requires the barrier to run from the lowest edge of the roof to a point not less than 24 inches inside the exterior wall line, which on most eaves is more than one course of membrane and on a deep overhang or a shallow pitch is several. Whether it applies at your address depends on whether your municipality entered YES in the ice barrier column of its Table R301.2(1), which the state instructs each jurisdiction to fill in where there is a history of local ice damming damage. A quote that says ice and water shield at the eaves and stops there is not yet a specification.

How should the money be staged?

Against work, not against dates. The Department of State advises never paying the full price upfront and tying payments to completion of specific stages, and on a roof the natural stages are materials delivered, tear-off and deck repair complete, and final clean-up and inspection. The Attorney General also states that progress payments must go into an escrow account used solely for your project unless the contractor carries bond insurance instead. Asking which of those two routes applies is a fair question before any deposit.

My house is from the 1940s. What is different about it?

Almost everything under the shingles. A house of that vintage is likely on its third or fourth covering, over plank sheathing rather than plywood, with painted trim that falls under the EPA lead-safe rules and a covering that should be identified against the asbestos list before demolition. None of that makes the job harder to do well. It does make a price quoted from the street meaningless.

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