Laguna Beach, CA
The tile is fine. The roof might not be.
The most common tile job is not a replacement at all. It is a lift-and-relay: the same tile comes off, new underlayment goes down, the tile goes back.
Describe the tile and slate job
Three questions, then the address. Up to three Laguna Beach contractors who do this work.
You are on the list.
No provider in Laguna Beach is taking requests through this service yet. We are lining them up, and yours is kept until one can.
- Nobody gets your details yet. Your request stays with us and is not passed to any company.
- One email when someone can help. When a provider covering your area can take it on, we email you once and ask whether you want that company, by name, to contact you.
- Deleted after 90 days. If nobody can take it on, or you do not say yes, your contact details are deleted 90 days after your request.
- You decide, or you do not. There is nothing to cancel and nothing to pay us.
Nobody will call you about this request unless you say yes to a company by name.
Before you let anybody on the roof
The things worth pinning down on a tile and slate job. A contractor who has not raised them has not looked properly.
- The condition and age of the underlayment beneath
- Whether battens are being replaced at the same time
- What percentage of tile breakage they expect and how it is priced
- Fastener specification, especially near salt air
- Whether the tile can be salvaged and relaid
Slate wants copper or stainless fasteners and a crew who has done it before. Steel nails on a slate roof is a hundred-year covering held down by a thirty-year fixing.
Walking a tile roof breaks tile. That is not carelessness, it is physics, and any honest contractor will tell you a small percentage will be lost and replaced.
Underlayment life under tile is typically twenty to thirty years. The tile above it is rated for fifty or more. Plan for one relay in the life of the roof.
Locally
The failure that leads here is old houses carrying more layers, and more surprises, than the estimate assumed. Cottages from the 1920s to the 1950s have usually been re-roofed over rather than stripped. What is under the top layer decides the real price, and nobody knows what that is until the tear-off starts.
About tile and slate here
Should I take the cheapest quote?
Only if it is the same roof. Most large gaps between quotes are scope gaps. Ask the cheapest contractor which of the other quotes items they have left out, and why.
I have solar panels. What happens to them?
They come off and go back on, and that is a separate cost, often handled by the solar installer rather than the roofer. If the roof is near the end of its life, do the roof first — removing and refitting panels twice is money wasted.
Is moss on the roof a problem?
It matters more than it looks. The damage is not the moss, it is the permanent damp underneath it. Kill it and brush it off gently; never pressure wash asphalt.
What time of year is best to re-roof in Laguna Beach?
Here, the long dry run from May to October is the easy window. November through March is when the phone rings hardest, which means less flexibility on dates and less room on price.
Ready for a real number?
Free, no obligation, and your details go to no company until you say yes.