Roofers in New Orleans, LA: The Right Roofer for Your Roof Type

New Orleans roofs come in many kinds. The City’s own guidelines for its historic districts describe slate, terra cotta and concrete tile, asbestos-cement shingles, asphalt shingles, several kinds of metal and flat roofing systems. Each kind asks for different skills. A roofer who is quick and careful on shingles is not automatically the person to rehang a slate.

This page is for anyone looking for a roofer in New Orleans, Louisiana. It covers the roofing materials the city has and how long each lasts, which roofers suit which roof, how the type of house changes the job, what the local weather does to a roof, and what to have ready and what to ask on the first call. The facts come from the City of New Orleans, the National Weather Service, the National Hurricane Center and other public sources, and each is named where it is used.

Roofer New Orleans is a referral service, not a roofing contractor. We connect you with an independent local roofer, and any visit to look at the roof, the estimate and the work are between you and that contractor. The call is free, and the about page explains how it works.

The roofs New Orleans has, and how long they last

The city’s roofs are the product of two fires. The roofing guidelines of the Historic District Landmarks Commission (HDLC) record that before the fires of 1788 and 1794 roofing here was generally wood shingles, and that afterwards roofs were rebuilt in terra cotta tile and later in slate. Metal, asbestos-cement and asphalt shingles arrived with industrial production around the turn of the 20th century, along with built-up roofing for flat roofs.

Material	What the City’s guidelines say	Stated service life
Slate	The roofing that followed the fires, often finished with terra cotta ridge tiles. Decorative slate was used particularly in the second half of the 19th century.	60 to 125 years in the HDLC guidelines, 60 to 150 in the Vieux Carre Commission’s
Terra cotta and concrete tile	Long lived, but relatively fragile and easily damaged by a falling tree limb. In the French Quarter it is found on Spanish Colonial period buildings and some shotguns.	Over 100 years
Asbestos-cement shingles	Popular from the beginning of the 20th century and often recognizable by a diamond pattern. The HDLC encourages keeping a roof that is still watertight.	Well over 30 years
Asphalt shingles	Popular from the beginning of the 20th century as a relatively inexpensive, easily installed roof. Today’s are made with fiberglass, in 3-tab or architectural form.	15 to 25 years, longer for architectural shingles
Metal	Standing seam on steeper roofs, flat seam on galleries and porches, corrugated and other paneled roofing on commercial buildings, sheds and garages. Many metal roofs need regular painting.	No figure given. Copper is noted for its longevity
Flat and low-slope systems	Roofs pitched below 3:12, covered with built-up, single-ply or modified bitumen roofing, or with metal.	No figure given

Those lifespans come from the City’s roofing guidelines, and the guidelines tie them to the quality of the installation and the regularity of maintenance. They also explain the local trade. A city with roofs meant to last a century needs roofers who repair, not only roofers who replace.

Why one roofer does not fit every roof

The HDLC guidelines put it plainly: not all roofers are experienced in all materials, so obtain references and verify that a roofer has appropriately completed comparable work. Here is what that means for each kind of roof.

Slate roofers

Slate rarely fails all at once. The guidelines note that problems are usually local, because the fasteners and accessories do not last as long as the stone, and they urge owners to deal with those problems as they appear, using a qualified slate roofer. The work is reattaching or replacing fasteners, securing or replacing single slates on metal hangers, and choosing flashing with a life span similar to or longer than the roofing. Ask how many slate roofs the roofer has repaired in the past year, where replacement slate will come from, and whether its color, size and thickness will match.

Tile roofers

Clay and concrete tile share slate’s long life and its fragility. Repairs mean replacing cracked tiles, preferably with salvaged units of the same dimensions, and securing ridge tiles. The Vieux Carre Commission’s guidelines add that mortar can be installed between tiles to reduce wind uplift in a storm. Ask how the roofer moves across a tile roof without breaking it, and whether they can source tile that matches yours in shape and color.

Shingle roofers

Asphalt shingles are, in the City’s words, a relatively inexpensive and easily installed roofing material, so the question for a shingle roofer is method. Ask what underlayment goes under the shingles, how the roof deck is fastened, and whether the roofer has built to the FORTIFIED Roof standard that Louisiana’s grant program uses. The roof replacement page explains that standard and the program.

Metal roofers

Metal roofing here comes in more than one form. The guidelines describe flat seam roofs, made of small pieces crimped together and soldered, on galleries and porches. They describe standing seam roofs, with long continuous seams, on steeper slopes, and corrugated or other paneled roofing on commercial buildings, sheds and garages. Ask which of these the roofer installs. The guidelines also warn about galvanic action, the corrosion that starts when dissimilar metals touch or share rainwater, so ask what fasteners and flashing metal the roofer pairs with the panels.

Flat roof roofers

A flat or low-sloped roof is often hidden behind a parapet and cornice. It needs a watertight roofing system, and the typical problems the guidelines list are splits, punctures, cracking, standing water and poor drainage. Ask which roofing system the roofer installs, how the roof will drain, and how they handle the flashing where the roof meets the parapet. In the French Quarter, torch-down roofing is not permitted because of the potential fire hazard.

Asbestos-cement roofs

Asbestos-cement shingles are still found on older roofs, and the HDLC encourages owners to keep them while they stay watertight. The guidelines recommend that all asbestos-related work be undertaken by a contractor who holds a license for it. Missing or damaged pieces can be replaced with non-asbestos shingles that match the originals, so ask whether the roofer has done that before.

House types and the roofs they carry

The shape of a New Orleans house tells a roofer a good deal before the ladder goes up. The HDLC’s guide to building types calls the shotgun probably the most prevalent historic building type in the city, built from the 1830s to the 1950s.

• Shotgun singles and doubles. A long, narrow house, one room wide and three to five rooms deep, under a front gabled or hipped roof. The front may have a porch or a deep roof overhang.
• Camelbacks. A shotgun with a second story rising at the rear. The lower roof runs into the wall of the upper story, and a joint like that depends on its flashing.
• Creole cottages. The HDLC describes Creole cottages as having hipped or side gabled roofs. Some carry an abat-vent, the almost flat roof extension that shelters the sidewalk.
• Commercial rows and parapet buildings. A flat or low-sloped roof behind a parapet and cornice, sometimes with a built-in gutter formed of flashing material.
• Galleries and porches. Shallow roofs that were traditionally covered in flat seam metal with soldered joints.

One fact applies to nearly all of them. The City’s storm preparedness guidelines note that almost all buildings in New Orleans have wood framing for the roof and floors, even where the walls are masonry, and that some of the greatest storm damage comes from high wind lifting the roof system. How the roof deck and framing are fastened matters as much as what covers them.

What to tell a roofer about your address

Where the building stands decides who has to approve a change to the roof, and a roofer needs to know that before quoting. The French Quarter answers to the Vieux Carre Commission. The City’s other local historic districts answer to the HDLC, more strictly in some than in others. Much of the city answers to neither. The roofing contractor page lists every district and what its commission controls. For the first call, this is what to have ready.

Where the building is	What to tell the roofer
French Quarter (Vieux Carre)	That the building is in the Vieux Carre, its color rating if you know it, and what is on the roof now.
Faubourg Marigny, Bywater, Treme, Esplanade Ridge, Holy Cross, Algiers Point, the Irish Channel or the Lower Garden District	That the house is in a local historic district, the street address, what the roof is made of now and whether you want to keep that material.
The Garden District, Uptown, Carrollton, Mid-City or Parkview	The street address, and whether the house fronts St. Charles Avenue or Carrollton Avenue, which are reviewed differently from the blocks behind them.
Canal Street, Lafayette Square, Picayune Place or the Warehouse District	Whether the building is commercial, how many units it has, and what kind of roof it has.
Lakeview, Gentilly, New Orleans East, the Lower Ninth Ward beyond Holy Cross, or Algiers beyond the Point	The ZIP code, the roof material and the age of the roof if you know it. These areas are not among the City’s 18 local historic districts.

Individual landmarks can stand outside the districts, so check the address before work is planned. The City’s historic districts page links to a map.

What New Orleans weather asks of a roof

Rain comes first. The National Weather Service keeps 1991 to 2020 normals for two airport stations. New Orleans Lakefront Airport, inside the city, averages 60.12 inches of precipitation a year. New Orleans International Airport, which sits in Kenner, west of the city, averages 63.35 inches. There June is the wettest month at 7.62 inches, August brings 6.91, and even October, the driest, brings 3.70. A roof here is tested by water in every month of the year.

Then wind. The National Hurricane Center gives the Atlantic hurricane season as June 1 to November 30, with the peak on September 10 and most activity between mid-August and mid-October. Its wind scale describes what each category does to a house. At Category 1, with winds of 74 to 95 mph, well-constructed frame homes could have damage to roof, shingles, vinyl siding and gutters. At Category 3, from 111 mph, they may lose roof decking and gable ends.

The city has recent experience. Hurricane Ida came ashore near Port Fourchon on August 29, 2021 as a Category 4 storm with 150 mph winds. The National Weather Service’s post-storm report for Ida lists a peak gust of 75 knots, about 86 mph, at New Orleans Lakefront Airport, in a record it marks as incomplete, and 10.74 inches of rain at the same airport. Heat is the third factor: the normal daily high at the International Airport station is above 91 degrees in both July and August. The HDLC’s advice to anyone re-roofing is short: use appropriate fasteners for New Orleans’ hurricane-strength winds.

Questions to ask a roofer on the first call

1. What roofs like mine have you worked on? Ask for addresses or photos of comparable jobs in the same material.
2. Where will matching material come from? For slate, tile and asbestos-cement, the answer decides whether a repair will blend in.
3. Is my address in a historic district, and who files with the HDLC or the Vieux Carre Commission? The roofer should know the answer before quoting a change of material.
4. How will the roof be fastened? Ask about the deck fastening, the underlayment and the edge metal, not only the brand of shingle.
5. Will I get photos? You will not be on the roof, so photos before, during and after are how you see the work.
6. Which state license classification do you hold, and who obtains the City permit? The roofing contractor page explains what the answers should be.
7. What is in the written estimate? The roofing company page lists what one should contain.

What a roofer will ask you

The first conversation goes faster when you have a few things ready. None of them needs a ladder.

• The address and the neighborhood, and whether the house is in a historic district if you know
• What the roof is made of and roughly how old it is
• How many stories the building has, and whether it is a single, a double or a larger building
• What you have noticed, such as a ceiling stain, slates in the yard or shingles lifted after wind, and when it started
• Whether an insurance claim is open on the roof
• Photos taken from the ground or from an upstairs window

After you find the right roofer

Which roofer suits the roof is one question. Whether that roofer may legally take the job, and on what terms, are two more, and each has its own page. The roofing contractor page covers the state license, how to look a contractor up, the insurance the licensing board requires and the City and historic district approvals. The roofing company page covers estimates, contracts, deposits and warranties. We connect you with independent contractors, and those checks are still yours to make, including on a roofer we connect you with.

Questions, answered