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Roof Replacement · San Rafael, CAWhen a roof is honestly done, a new one is not a sales pitch — it is arithmetic. Our roof replacement San Rafael team tears off to the deck, shows you what is under there, and installs the right system for your street: shingle, tile, metal, or low-slope, permitted and inspected by the City.
A replacement is also the one chance to fix what repairs never could: soft decking, tired underlayment, undersized drainage — and, on fire-zone streets, an assembly that is not Class A.
Start with the inspection. You get photos, straight findings, and a written quote — no obligation.
Request a Free Inspection →Open 7 days a week · San Rafael, CA
Tear-off to final inspection
With a median San Rafael home built in 1967, plenty of roofs here are older than their materials were meant to live. Shingles shed their granules into the gutters and curl across whole slopes; tar-and-gravel gives up at 10–15 years; tile keeps its looks long after the underlayment beneath it has died.
Every roof replacement San Rafael job we quote starts with the same free inspection — and sometimes the honest answer is still “repair it.” When the signs below stack up, though, replacement is not the expensive option. It is the cheap one, done once.
One leak is a repair. These are the patterns that flip the answer to replacement.
Architectural shingles run 20–30 years, tar-and-gravel 10–15. Granules in the gutters and curling across whole slopes are the tell — the surface is done, and patches will not hold.
A new leak every season, in a new place, is a system at the end — underlayment and flashing failing together. Chasing them one by one costs more than replacing once.
Spongy spots underfoot mean the plywood sheathing has been wet for a while. No surface material fixes rotten deck — it has to come off and be replaced, which means a tear-off.
When a single repair quote reaches a large fraction of a replacement quote on an old roof, the arithmetic stops working. We show both numbers and let the math talk.
San Rafael’s resale report (RBR) puts roof condition in front of every buyer. A documented new roof — or a documented clean inspection — removes the biggest negotiation lever a buyer has.
We measure, photograph, and check the deck from the attic side. The quote itemizes tear-off, deck work, materials, permit, and disposal.
We file the building permit with the City through OpenGov and schedule around the dry-season calendar.
The old roof comes off completely. Rotted sheathing is replaced and photographed before anything new goes down.
Underlayment, flashing, ventilation, and your chosen material — Class A wherever the fire map requires it.
Inspection signed off, final walkthrough with you, and the file: permit, stage photos, warranty documents.
A replacement is a system, not a surface. These five pieces decide whether the new roof lasts twenty years or forty.
We strip the old roof completely — no roofing over failed layers — so the new system starts on sound wood, not on hope.
Soft or rotted sheathing is cut out and replaced. You see the photos of what was under your old roof and what is under the new one.
New underlayment across the whole roof, ice-and-water protection where it matters, and new flashing at every chimney, valley, and wall junction.
Shingle for most homes; lift-and-relay or new tile where tile belongs; standing-seam metal on the hillsides; TPO or foam for Eichlers and low-slope roofs.
Old material hauled, landscaping protected, and the site swept — magnets included — every day we are on your property.
| Material | Typical lifespan | Where it fits in San Rafael |
|---|---|---|
| Architectural shingles | 20–30 years | The default for most homes both sides of the hill — best cost per year, Class A rated. |
| Clay / concrete tile | 50–100 years | Dominican, Peacock Gap, Montecito. The tile lasts; budget for underlayment renewal at 20–30 years. |
| Standing-seam metal | 40–70 years | Hillside and WUI streets — long life, Class A, sheds debris and embers. |
| TPO / foam (low-slope) | 20+ years, coating-dependent | Eichlers in Terra Linda and Lucas Valley, flat roofs in the Canal. Drainage design matters more than material brand. |
Real published figures with their sources — the same ranges we quote against.
| Job | Published range | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Shingle roof replacement | $18,000 – $38,000 | Lifetime Roofing, Marin County guide |
| Replacement, all materials | $18,000 – $45,000 | Hamilton Exteriors, Marin guide |
| Tear-off & replace, per sq ft | Shingle $9 · Tile $14 · Metal $21 | Marina Bay Roofing, Marin table |
| Flat roof (TPO/PVC), residential | $15,000 – $28,000 | Lifetime Roofing, Bay Area guide |
Two published Marin case studies show the real-world spread: a Mill Valley replacement at $26,000 and a Corte Madera project at $41,500. Where a roof replacement San Rafael job lands inside those ranges depends on size, pitch, layers coming off, deck condition, and material — your written quote follows your free inspection, and it itemizes all of it.
A Marin shingle roof at the end of its life — the published case study in Lifetime Roofing’s Marin County guide.
Full replacement completed at $26,000 — inside the published Marin shingle range of $18,000–$38,000.
A larger, more complex Marin replacement, published in the same Marin County guide.
Completed at $41,500 — the upper end of the range, where size, pitch, and material choices land a project.
A new roof fails early for boring reasons, decided in the first week. These are the four we get called to fix.
Ask a Pro →A second layer hides deck rot, adds weight, and voids the point of replacing. Cheaper this year, a tear-off plus two layers of disposal later.
New shingles over soft sheathing feel fine for a season. Then the fasteners lose their bite and the surface starts to move. The deck is the roof’s foundation — repair it while it is exposed.
Shingles on an Eichler-pitch roof, or a flat system with no drainage design, will pond and leak no matter who installs them. Pitch decides the material, not preference.
An unpermitted replacement surfaces at resale — in the RBR, in the buyer’s questions, in the price. The permit is a small line item and a permanent asset.
From Eichler low-slopes north of the hill to tile roofs in the Dominican, replacements here are specified street by street — not off a template.
Eichler country — low-slope foam and tar-and-gravel roofs, downspout seams, and recoats on the 94903 side of the hill.
ZIP 94903 · Replacement projectsVictorians and Craftsman homes from the 1880s–1910s: layered roofs, tired valleys, and flashing that has earned a rebuild.
ZIP 94901 · Replacement projectsTile roofs over aging underlayment, bay-side wind exposure, and larger homes where drainage has to be sized, not guessed.
ZIP 94901 · Replacement projectsCosts, permits, tile, timing — the questions homeowners ask before they sign anything.
Call (628) 202-3250 →Published Marin County guides put shingle replacement at $18,000–$38,000 and replacement across all materials at $18,000–$45,000, with per-square-foot tear-off pricing around $9 (shingle), $14 (tile), and $21 (metal). A roof replacement San Rafael quote from us is itemized and in writing after a free inspection — size, pitch, layers, deck condition, and material decide where you land.
Yes. The City of San Rafael expressly requires a building permit for roof replacements, processed online through OpenGov. We pull the permit, schedule the inspections, and keep the paperwork in your job file.
Usually not — tile lasts 50–100 years while its underlayment lasts 20–30. If the tile is sound, a lift-and-relay (lift the tile, renew underlayment and flashing, relay the same tile) solves the problem for a fraction of a new roof. Full replacement is for when the tile itself is failing.
Once the permit is in hand and materials are on site, most single-family replacements here are a few working days of tear-off and installation, weather permitting. Eichler low-slope systems and tile jobs run longer. Your quote states the expected schedule before we start.
The dry season — roughly late April through October. San Rafael’s 32–34 inches of rain arrive mostly between November and April, often in atmospheric rivers. Booking before the rains beats shopping during them; inspections and quotes run year-round.
✓Leak tracing, flashing, tile underlayment, and Eichler foam seam repairs — quoted in writing.
Roof Repair in San Rafael →
✓Free on-roof and attic-side inspections with photos and straight written findings.
Roof Inspection in San Rafael →
✓Seamless gutters and downspouts sized for atmospheric-river rain.
Gutter Installation in San Rafael →
✓Emergency dry-in and tarping, insurer-ready documentation, permanent repairs.
Storm Damage Roof Repair in San Rafael →Neither are we — until we have been on the roof. The inspection is free, and if the honest answer is a repair, that is the quote you will get.
Call (628) 202-3250 →Start with the free inspection and the itemized written quote. Both numbers — repair and replace — on the table before you decide.