Slate & Tile Roof Restoration in Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans
Where the Industrial Canal floodwall failed in 2005. The rebuilt housing here was designed to withstand 160 mph winds and sits elevated above base flood elevation — some of the most storm-resilient stock in the city, alongside surviving older houses.
- Elevated post-2005 construction
- Designed for 160 mph wind
- Mixed with surviving older stock
Lower Ninth Ward building stock, and what it means for a roof
The Lower Ninth Ward took the most complete destruction of any New Orleans neighborhood when the Industrial Canal floodwall failed in 2005, and its recovery has been the slowest — uneven, protracted, and shaped by how recovery funding was disbursed. What has been rebuilt, though, was rebuilt to a standard: the first new homes here were elevated against floodwater and engineered to withstand 160 mph winds.
The result is a neighborhood of two very different roofing propositions on the same street. New elevated construction with modern engineered assemblies and high wind ratings sits alongside surviving pre-storm houses that have had two decades of weather and limited maintenance. Quoting one as though it were the other is not possible, and we do not try.
Why Lower Ninth 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.
Two stock types, one street
A 2010 engineered rebuild and a 1950s survivor need entirely different assessments. The street view does not tell you which you have.
Elevation increases wind load
Raising a house above base flood elevation lifts it into faster wind. Elevated stock takes more uplift than the ground-level houses it replaced.
Vacant-lot exposure
Remaining gaps in the street mean less shelter from neighboring buildings, so wind reaches roofs that would otherwise be screened.
Keeping a historic roof rather than losing it
A slate or clay tile roof that is shedding units is usually not finished. It is usually telling you something specific, and the specific answer is cheaper than the general one.
- Establish what is actually failing. On most historic roofs the slate outlives the copper. Valleys, step flashing and gutter linings go first, and the symptom presents as a slate problem.
- Match rather than substitute. Replacement slates are matched on color, size and thickness; tile is sourced to profile. The HDLC and the VCC both treat a visible mismatch as a change to the building, not a repair to it.
- Check the fixings, not just the units. Nail fatigue is what makes a slate roof start dropping slates at random rather than in one area. That is a re-fixing job, not a re-roofing job.
- Respect the deck. Original plank decking under a century-old slate roof behaves differently from modern sheathing, and modern underlayment has to be specified to suit it.
- Document for review. Before-and-after photographs and a written material schedule are what a historic-district review actually wants to see.
What the commissions will not accept
Design guidance for the local historic districts is explicit that standing seam metal is typically not an appropriate material to replace asphalt, slate or asbestos roofing. Traditional slate and clay tile are supported for restoration, and modern substitutes are permitted only where they match in material and color. If a contractor proposes stripping your slate for metal because it is quicker, that is a review problem as well as a preservation one.
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 Industrial Canal, Jackson Barracks, Claiborne Avenue Bridge and the surrounding streets. If your address is in Lower Ninth Ward, it is in the service area — there is no travel surcharge anywhere inside Orleans Parish.
Slate & Tile Roof Restoration near Lower Ninth Ward
Everything else we do in Lower Ninth Ward
Slate & Tile Roof Restoration in Lower Ninth Ward — straight answers
Can my slate roof be repaired rather than replaced?
Usually, yes. Slate is one of the few coverings where individual units genuinely can be replaced, and a roof dropping the occasional slate is more often telling you the fixings or the copper valleys are tired than that the slate itself is finished.
Can I put metal on instead? It is cheaper.
Not in a local historic district, in most cases. Design guidance is explicit that standing seam metal is typically not an appropriate replacement for asphalt, slate or asbestos roofing in these districts. Traditional slate and clay tile are supported for restoration, and substitutes have to match in material and color.
How do you match a slate or tile that is no longer made?
On color, size and thickness for slate, and on profile for tile, sourcing salvaged or matched stock rather than putting the nearest available item on the roof. A visible mismatch is treated by the HDLC and the VCC as a change to the building rather than a repair to it.
My house was built new after the storm — is it already due a roof?
Probably not due, but worth documenting. A rebuild from 2010 is fifteen years old with a covering designed for high wind, which is a strong position. The reason to have it inspected and documented anyway is insurance: Louisiana carriers increasingly want evidence of roof condition at renewal, and on a house engineered to 160 mph you have a genuinely good story to tell if somebody has written it down.
Slate & Tile Roof Restoration in Lower Ninth Ward?
Call and we will get someone on the roof, then put what we find in writing.