SERVICE AREA / TEMPE, AZ
Roofing in Tempe
happens on a city
that cannot grow outward.
Tempe is landlocked. It cannot annex more land, so it finished building outward decades ago. That makes the housing stock older than most of the valley, and the roofs older along with it.
A USEFUL FIRST QUESTION
“Is this owner-occupied or a rental, and who has been maintaining it?”
01 / WHEN TEMPE WAS BUILT
Forty square miles,
and no more
land to take.
Tempe incorporated in 1894 and grew hard through the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Then it ran out of room to expand, built out its remaining land in the 1980s and 1990s, and most building since has been infill and replacement.
| 1950 | 7,684 |
|---|---|
| 1960 | 24,897 |
| 1970 | 63,550 |
| 1980 | 106,919 |
| 2020 | 180,587 |
The city covers 40.15 square miles and cannot expand. Its single-family housing is largely from the 1950s through the 1970s, which puts much of it between 47 and 76 years old.
An older stock changes the question entirely. In the boom suburbs you are usually looking at a first underlayment. In Tempe you are almost always looking at somebody else’s previous work, of unknown vintage and unknown quality.
02 / ACROSS THE CITY
Not every
part of Tempe
is the same age.
01
The prewar and postwar core
Around Mill Avenue and the original town
The oldest housing in the city. Shallow pitches and low-slope roofs with long, undocumented repair histories.
02
The 1960s and 1970s neighborhoods
The bulk of Tempe single-family housing
Originally shingle and built-up. Now on a second or third roof, and the quality of those roofs varies enormously from street to street.
03
Rental-heavy areas
The neighborhoods around Arizona State University
Roofs on rental property are maintained to a different standard and often by whoever was cheapest at the time. Worth assessing on evidence rather than on the age of the house.
04
The infill and redevelopment
Along the Town Lake and the transit corridors
Newer construction on old ground, often multi-unit and often low-slope. Different systems, different maintenance expectations, and usually a managing agent rather than an owner to deal with.
03 / WHAT THE ROOFS ARE MADE OF
What you
tend to find
in Tempe.
Asphalt shingle, the most common by far
What most of the 1950s to 1970s housing was built with and mostly re-roofed with. Shorter life in this heat than tile, but easier to read: a failing shingle roof generally looks like one.
Low-slope and foam
Postwar Tempe built a lot of shallow and flat roofs, and foam over an older built-up system is a very common find. Recoated on schedule these last well; ignored, they fail at the seams and penetrations.
Tile, usually added later
Present but less dominant than in the newer suburbs, and frequently a retrofit rather than an original roof. Where tile has been added to a house built for shingle, the detailing deserves a closer look.
04 / WHAT SHOWS UP HERE
The patterns
worth knowing
about.
01
Deferred maintenance on rentals.
A roof maintained by a landlord between tenancies tends to have been patched rather than repaired. Patches are not a problem in themselves, but a roof that is mostly patches is a different proposition.
02
Multiple layers left in place.
Older Tempe houses frequently carry more than one roof. Layers add weight, trap heat and hide what is beneath, and they change what a replacement involves and costs.
03
Low-slope treated as though it were pitched.
A lot of Tempe housing has low-slope sections. These need a system designed for low slope. Treated as though they were pitched roofs, they fail, and they fail at the seams.
05 / WHAT CHANGES THE PRICE
Why two quotes
can differ by
thousands.
01
Whether there are layers to remove
Tear-off is labor and disposal, and on a roof carrying two or three layers that is a real number. It also means someone finally sees the deck, which is worth what it costs.
02
Deck condition underneath
On housing this age the deck is the unknown. Sound decking costs nothing extra; damaged decking is a variation. A proposal should say what rate applies if repairs are needed, so the number is agreed before it arises.
03
Occupied rental scheduling
Working around tenants constrains hours and access, and it is legitimate for that to affect the schedule. Best settled when the quote is written rather than on the first morning.
07 / TEMPE QUESTIONS
Common ones.
I am buying a Tempe rental. What should I check?
Ask what the roof actually is, not what year the house is. On rental stock the relevant history is the repair record, and if there is not one, the roof should be assessed directly before the price is agreed rather than after.
Can layers be left on to save money?
Sometimes it is permitted and sometimes it is a false economy. Leaving a layer means you never see the deck, so any rot or damage beneath stays hidden and gets built over. Where the deck condition is unknown, tearing off is the honest option.
My Tempe house has a flat roof. Is that a problem?
No, it is a different system with different maintenance. Low-slope roofs are coated and maintained on a cycle rather than installed and forgotten. Problems arise when they are treated as though they were finished work.
Is an older roof automatically a replacement?
No. Age indicates where to look, not what to do. A well-maintained older roof can have years left, and a badly detailed newer one can be failing already. That is what the assessment is for.
I own several rental properties. Can you look at all of them?
Yes, and it is usually more useful than looking at one. Properties bought around the same time often share a roof age and a maintenance history, so assessing them together tells you which needs attention first.
What does a foam roof need and how often?
Recoating on a cycle, with the interval depending on the coating, the exposure and how the last one was applied. The point of the cycle is that the foam itself never gets damaged, because that is the expensive failure.
Roofing in Tempe?
Rental or owner-occupied, a free inspection gives you a dated, written record of the roof as it is today.