What we find under old Wilkes-Barre roofs
Wilkes-Barre's population peaked around 1930, and a lot of the houses in the North End, Parsons, Miners Mills and South Wilkes-Barre date from those coal-boom decades. Almost none of them are on their first roof. When we strip one, the usual discoveries are two or more shingle layers, plank sheathing instead of plywood, and a spot or two where an earlier roofer laid new shingles over a sag instead of fixing it.
The river adds its own layer of history. Tropical Storm Agnes pushed the Susquehanna over the levee in June 1972 and flooded the city, and some homes were rebuilt or added onto afterward. That can mean framing from two different eras meeting under one roof, or decking that has been wet before. We don't guess about any of it. Once the old roof is off, we walk the deck, replace soft or delaminated boards, and add sheathing where old planks are too far apart to hold nails.
That inspection is also why our estimates spell out how deck repair is handled before the job starts. You shouldn't learn about rotted boards from a surprise on the final bill. And if the deck turns out to be in better shape than expected, you'll hear that too.
One house, two kinds of roof
Walk down a block in the North End or on Rolling Mill Hill and you'll see the typical Wilkes-Barre profile: a steep main roof facing the street and a nearly flat roof over the back kitchen or enclosed porch. A good replacement treats those as two different systems.
- The main roof gets a full tear-off, ice and water barrier at the eaves and in the valleys, synthetic underlayment, new drip edge, and architectural asphalt shingles installed by a GAF-certified crew.
- The low-slope section gets EPDM rubber roofing, because shingles can't shed water at that pitch. We flash the EPDM up the main wall and lap the shingles over it, so the joint where most back-of-house leaks start stays dry.
- Chimneys get new step flashing and counter-flashing cut into the mortar, not tar over the old metal.
- Attic venting gets balanced with intake at the eaves and exhaust at the ridge, which keeps the deck cold enough to cut down on the ice dams that are routine in the Wyoming Valley. Our roof ventilation page goes deeper on that.
On a double-block, we can replace your side and tie the new roof in at the party wall with overlapping underlayment and flashing, even if your neighbor isn't ready yet.
Permits and planning a Wilkes-Barre job
Roofing permits in the city are handled by the City of Wilkes-Barre's Building Code Enforcement department. Some residential repair work is exempt statewide under Pennsylvania's Uniform Construction Code, but the city decides what a full re-roof needs locally, so we confirm the requirement for your address before we schedule. When a permit is needed, we pull it and set up the inspection.
The Heights, the East End and the streets near Wilkes University, King's College and Kirby Park each come with their own access puzzles, from tight alleys to on-street parking. We plan dumpster placement and ladder setup around your street before day one. Our Plymouth office is only a short drive down the valley.
If you're not sure the roof needs to come off yet, have us check it for a roof repair first. For details on materials, see our roof replacement page, or get a starting number with the Instant Roof Quote.
More detail on how we handle this work anywhere we serve: Roof Replacement. Everything we do in Wilkes-Barre: roofing in Wilkes-Barre, PA.
