Roof repair and re-roofing in Lakewood, CA

Lakewood sits just north and northeast of Long Beach, close enough that our crews from the 1st Street office reach most streets in 15 to 20 minutes by way of Lakewood Boulevard, Bellflower Boulevard or the 405. The city was built quickly as a planned community after the war, so whole blocks share the same roof shapes, the same pitch and often the same age of roofing.

That sameness helps us. We have worked on many of the same floor plans, we know where the attic access usually is, and we know which details tend to fail first: the low-slope porch tie-ins, the original plank sheathing under newer shingles, and the vents that were added during later remodels. We repair what can be repaired and tell you plainly when a full re-roof makes more sense.

Post-war tract houses with low, simple roofs

The typical Lakewood house is a one-story stucco ranch from the early 1950s with a low to medium pitch gable or hip roof, wide enough eaves to shade the windows, and a detached or attached garage. Original roofs were often wood shingle or light composition. Most have since been covered in asphalt shingle, and some still carry two layers, which adds weight and hides problems in the deck below.

Over the decades, owners have added family rooms, patio covers and bedrooms off the back. Those additions frequently have a flatter pitch than the main roof, and the joint where old meets new is where we find many Lakewood leaks. A smaller share of homes have been re-roofed in concrete tile, which brings its own questions about whether the framing was built to carry that weight.

Roof problems we see most in Lakewood

Permits and planning a re-roof in Lakewood

Lakewood has its own building department, separate from Long Beach, and a full re-roof here needs a city permit and inspection. We pull the permit, schedule the inspection and have the crew on site for it. If your re-roof triggers California's Title 24 cool roof rules, we check what applies to your roof slope before ordering material.

Lakewood is inland, so salt air is less of a factor than it is at the beach, but summer heat and strong sun are harder on roofing here. We aim to schedule re-roofs in the dry months and keep tarps ready from November through March, when a winter storm can show up with little notice. Most streets have driveway access wide enough for a dump trailer, which keeps tear-off days short.