Roofing in Reading, MA

Senco Home Services is a licensed roofing company that has replaced roofs in Reading, MA. Most of what we do here is full asphalt shingle replacement on homes that have been standing a long time. This page covers what's specific to Reading: the age of the houses, the town's permit steps, and the historic district. For our materials and process in full, see the main roofing page.

Re-Roofing an Older Reading Home

More than a quarter of Reading's homes were built before 1940, against roughly 1 in 10 in Billerica. A roof on a house that age has usually been replaced before, sometimes more than once, and what's under the shingles is where the surprises live: board sheathing instead of plywood, a second layer nobody mentioned, or soft wood at the eaves where ice has backed up over the years. We tear off to the deck, repair the decking, then install new underlayment, flashing, ice barrier, and CertainTeed shingles. You see what we found before anything gets covered up.

3-Tab, Architectural & Luxury Shingles

The shingle you pick changes how the house looks from the street and how long the roof lasts. We'll walk you through the options for your home and budget, and in the historic district we'll steer toward what the Commission is likely to approve.

Reading's Permit, Step by Step

Reading's residential checklist is direct about it: the building permit has to be issued and posted at the property before work starts. The roofing application asks for the number of squares, and it goes in online to the Building Division at Town Hall, 16 Lowell Street (781-942-6613) with the contractor's license, HIC registration, insurance certificate, and signed contract. We handle all of it as part of the job.

Roofing in the West Street Historic District

West Street is where today's Reading was first settled, and it's the town's local historic district. Inside it, roofing is on the Historic District Commission's review list, and the Building Inspector can't issue a permit for exterior work until the Commission issues a certificate. The guidelines ask for new roofing that matches the old in composition, color, size, shape, and texture where possible. After an application goes in, the Commission decides within 14 days whether it needs a hearing, and any hearing is held within 45 days, so we build that time into the schedule.

Free Roof Inspections in Reading, MA

Before we quote a Reading roof, we get up on it and look at the shingles, flashing, decking, and attic ventilation. That inspection is free. It might end with a replacement quote, a smaller roof repair, or the news that you've got a few good years left.

Reading's Roofers, a Short Drive Through Wilmington

Senco is based at 1150 Main St in Tewksbury, about 10 miles and a 16-minute drive from Reading. We've replaced roofs in Reading, and the jobs here tend to share a profile: an established house, a roof that's been done before, and a homeowner who wants it done once and done properly.

Reading has 89 listings on the National Register of Historic Places, most of them added together in 1984, plus the Common Historic District downtown and the Woburn Street district. A National Register listing doesn't put your roof under local review on its own. The West Street local historic district does, and we'll check which applies to your address before we quote.

On snow, the state building code puts Reading at a 50 psf ground snow load, the same as Tewksbury and Wilmington. Every Reading roof we install gets ice-and-water shield at the eaves to the state's ice-barrier rule and sealed flashing at every chimney, wall, and valley.

Tewksbury is home base, and we roof the towns around it:

• Tewksbury, HQ
• Billerica
• Wilmington
• Andover
• North Andover
• Chelmsford
• Lowell
• Dracut
• Reading
• North Reading
• Burlington
• Methuen