Roofing contractors in Medford, Massachusetts
Medford holds both halves of this market on one map: three-deckers with flat roofs near the square, and older single-family stock up toward West Medford where the roofs are steep and the trees are old.
What Medford roofs are dealing with
The neighborhoods around Medford Square and Glenwood are dense two and three-family wood frame from the streetcar years, with the shallow or flat main roofs and rear porch stacks that define the type.
West Medford and the higher ground hold Victorians and Colonials on larger lots under a mature canopy, which puts a leaf load in every valley each autumn and makes valley metal the most frequent surprise line in a local estimate. The Mystic river bottom also runs damp, and on an unventilated attic that moisture ends up on the underside of the deck rather than outside where it belongs.
Around the square and through Glenwood, dense two and three-family wood frame with shallow or flat main roofs and rear porch stacks. West Medford and the higher ground hold Victorians and Colonials on larger lots under mature trees, where valley metal is the most frequent surprise line in an estimate. The river bottom runs damp, which shows up in the attic more than on the roof.
The age of the shingle and the age of the roof are two different numbers. The roof age check separates them.
Covering West Medford, Medford Square, Wellington, Glenwood, Fulton Heights and the rest of Medford.
- 1 Ridge caps. The thinnest pieces up there, and the first to work loose over a hard winter.
- 2 The field. Slate on the older stock, shingle on the rest. They age on very different clocks.
- 3 Valleys. Leaf litter mats in them, and two slopes then drain through one line.
- 4 Flashing. Old masonry chimneys, and the porch roof that meets the wall three stories up.
- 5 The vent boot. Rubber that hardens and splits well ahead of the covering it sits in.
- 6 Eaves and ice dams. Where meltwater refreezes at the cold edge and backs up under the courses.
When the work happens in Medford
Medford follows the inland calendar, April to early November, and the flat-roof constraint applies here as it does in Malden: membrane has a minimum application temperature that shingle does not. The other date that matters is the autumn leaf drop: under this canopy the valleys fill, and whatever sits in them goes into the freeze season wet.
What moves the price in Medford
Two lines to settle before comparing anything. On the three-deckers: material and drainage, because a flat roof is a different trade. On the older single-family stock: valley metal, which decades of leaf load has usually finished, and which a quote that assumes reuse has left as a change order waiting to happen.
Three things decide the price on a house this old, and none of them is the product on top. Hold two estimates against the comparison checklist and the gaps show themselves:
- Is the sheathing solid, or boards with gaps, and what is the rate if the whole slope has to be covered?
- Are the parapets and scuppers part of this job?
- Flashing: new metal, or the old metal sealed?
The work
Before you call anyone in Medford
Three questions arrive with nearly every call in this city, and the answer is the same in Lynn as in Quincy. They sit in the guides:
Why roofs fail here
Half of what goes wrong around the river is about water leaving rather than water arriving. Six of them, a page each.