Roof Installation in Audubon, New Orleans
Grand early-1900s houses facing the park and the university campuses, on some of the largest residential roofs in the city. Slate, tile and long shingle runs, all under mature live oak.
- Audubon Park and campus corridor
- Large roof areas, long runs
- Slate, tile and heavy shingle
Audubon building stock, and what it means for a roof
Audubon sits between the park and the river, wrapped around the Tulane and Loyola campuses. The housing is early-twentieth-century and built to a scale that matches the setting — wide detached houses with deep porches, substantial roofs, and in many cases slate or clay tile chosen when those materials were the default for a house of that standing.
The practical consequence is roof area. These are among the largest residential roofs in New Orleans, with long uninterrupted runs that need proper staging rather than ladder access, and enough surface that a small percentage failure is still a significant repair. The live oak canopy around the park adds the same debris load the rest of Uptown deals with.
Why Audubon roofs fail the way they do
Three things we see repeatedly on this stock — not a generic list, and not the same three as the next neighborhood over.
Long-run fixings
Extended slopes expose fixings to more thermal movement. Nail pops and lifted courses show up mid-run, not at the edges.
Tile slippage
Clay tile on a large roof shifts over decades. A handful of displaced tiles opens the underlayment to driven rain.
Gutter capacity
A big roof in a 63-inch-a-year rainfall city overwhelms undersized guttering, and the overflow lands at the foundation.
Tying new roof into old without causing a problem
Installation is not replacement. The roof has not failed — the building is changing. Different buyer, different risk, different sequence.
- Warranty continuity. Cutting new work into an existing membrane can void the warranty on the part you are keeping. That gets established before anything is opened up, not after.
- Elevation work. Raising a house above base flood elevation lifts it into faster wind. A specification that suited it at grade may not suit it eight feet up.
- Additions and pop-tops. New roof volume meeting an old roof creates junctions that did not exist before. Those tie-ins are where a new-build roof leaks first.
- Rooftop decks and galleries. Traffic-rated assemblies over occupied space are a different system from a roof nobody walks on, and the drainage has to be designed rather than assumed.
- Historic-district infill. New construction inside an HDLC or VCC district is reviewed on how it reads against its neighbors, roof included.
- GC sequencing. Dry-in timing drives everybody else on site. We schedule against the trades that follow us, not in isolation.
Replacement is a different job
If the roof you have has failed and you are replacing like for like, that is a replacement, and it runs differently — different survey, different cost drivers, different conversation about tear-off and decking. See roof replacement instead, and if you land on the wrong one, say so on the call and we will point you at the right one rather than quoting you for the wrong job.
A re-roofing permit is required in Orleans Parish — and three different commissions may review it
Residential re-roofing permits are applied for through the Department of Safety and Permits. Properties inside a historic district require additional review time before the permit is issued.
Four stages, no surprises
Inspection
Someone goes onto the roof. Not a drive-by, not a satellite image — the covering, the flashing, the valleys and the deck condition, looked at directly.
Diagnosis
What has failed and why, traced to the actual entry point rather than the spot where water shows up inside.
Written scope
What we found, what we propose, and what it costs, in writing with photographs. No number quoted cold over the phone.
The work
Carried out to the agreed scope, dried in each day, site cleared, and documented for your records and your insurer.
Working around Audubon Park, Audubon Zoo, Tulane University and the surrounding streets. If your address is in Audubon, it is in the service area — there is no travel surcharge anywhere inside Orleans Parish.
Roof Installation near Audubon
Everything else we do in Audubon
Roof Installation in Audubon — straight answers
We are working with an architect and a GC — can you coordinate?
That is the normal arrangement on installation work. Dry-in timing drives the trades that follow us, so we schedule against the program rather than in isolation, and we talk to whoever is running the job.
Will new work void the warranty on the existing roof?
It can, which is why it gets established before anything is opened up. Cutting new work into an existing membrane without checking the warranty terms is a common and expensive mistake on additions and rooftop decks.
We are elevating the house — does that change the roof?
It can change the specification. Raising a building above base flood elevation also lifts it into faster wind, and an assembly that was adequate at grade may need enhanced fixing once it is up. This matters most in Lakeview, Gentilly and the Lower Ninth.
My roof is large — will you quote per square or for the whole job?
For the whole job, in writing, after someone has been on the roof. Per-square pricing quoted over the phone is where large-roof jobs go wrong, because it assumes the decking, the flashing and the valley metal are all in the condition the caller thinks they are. On a roof this size that assumption is expensive when it turns out to be wrong.
Roof Installation in Audubon?
Call and we will get someone on the roof, then put what we find in writing.