Roofing Contractor in Covina, CA

Why Covina's flat valley lots put the stress on gutters and edges

Covina is mostly flat ground at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains. Rain leaves slowly, and on small lots it has few places to go. The roof edge takes the hit first: aluminum gutters from the 1960s sag, and water backs up behind them and into the fascia.

The Census median build year is 1965, and 59% of homes are owner-occupied. Many of those roofs have probably been replaced once, sometimes over the first layer. Under state code two applications are the ceiling, so a third covering here means a full tear-off.

From a vineyard town to Old Town cottages

Phillips founded Covina in 1884, and the name comes from "cove" and "vine." The city grew with citrus, and the Southern Pacific reached it in 1895. Near the walkable Old Town, you still find older cottages and bungalows from before the postwar tracts.

Those houses are worth treating on their own terms. Decking can be spaced boards, chimneys and additions add flashing points, and a repair that suits a 1960s ranch may not suit a 1920s cottage. We inspect first and explain our reasoning in plain terms, with samples brought to the house if you want to see color.

Citrus Avenue, the Firehouse Jail Museum and the Metrolink tracks: Old Town Covina roofs

Citrus Avenue is the downtown main street, and the Metrolink San Bernardino Line runs just north of it, on the corridor the Southern Pacific opened in 1895. Behind City Hall stands the Firehouse Jail Museum, built in 1911 as the first municipal building. That is the age of building we mean by Old Town: small, early, and roofed over more than once.

Covina billed itself as the third-largest orange shipping point in the world in 1907. After World War II, houses gradually replaced the groves, and that is where the 1960s ranch tracts come from. The city sits at about 560 feet on mostly flat ground, so a roof edge has little help from the lot in shedding water.

On the job side, two things are specific here. Covina's water service is split among providers, so ask which one serves your address before anyone looks for a shutoff. And the city sends any change of roofing material or color through its Planning Department before the building permit, which matters if you want to leave an older cottage's shingle look and move to tile or metal.

Covina's hot dry summers and the attic

Summers here are hot and dry, according to Wikipedia's climate summary, and low-pitch roofs turn attics into ovens. July's mean daily high is about 89°F, and roof surfaces run well above air temperature. Long dry stretches bake caulk and rubber at every penetration, and those small parts crack before the shingles do. Better attic ventilation is often a smaller job than people expect.

Getting to Covina from Van Nuys, and the permit path

The trip is 44 miles, which we put at about 70 minutes, so Covina visits are scheduled as planned trips and will not promise a quick arrival. Covina has its own city building process, and its published list of express permits includes re-roofs, so the paperwork is often quick once the scope is settled. A permit lapses if work has not started within 180 days, and the contract should say who applies and who books the inspection. Covina is separate from the unincorporated areas on its edges that follow Los Angeles County rules. California's residential code also bars a new roof over one that already has two applications, and when a re-roof replaces more than half the roof, the Energy Code generally brings cool roof rules into play. For leaks, see our roof repair page.