Maybe you're building from the ground up. Maybe it's an ADU in the back, a second story going on, or a garage becoming a room somebody actually lives in. Either way there's no roof up there yet, and what goes on is a decision you live with for the next few decades.
A new install is the one time you get to choose the whole system instead of inheriting what somebody picked in 1994. Deck, underlayment, flashing, ventilation, finish material. All new, all specified for this building and this climate.
Below roughly 2:12 you're in low-slope territory and shingles or tile don't belong there. That's a membrane system. Above it, you have real choices. The pitch narrows the list before anyone talks about looks.
Concrete tile weighs several times what an asphalt roof weighs. On new construction that gets designed in. On an addition tied into an older house, it's a structural question first.
Class A is the top fire rating in the standard assembly test, and it comes up constantly in foothill areas. It describes how an assembly performed in a test, nothing more, and we won't tell you what any specific fire will do.
Get in when the deck is ready, dry it in, and get off the roof so the next trade can work. Framing and inspections set the calendar, not us.
Architectural shingle is the workhorse: reasonable to install, easy to repair, and a system we build a lot of, using Owens Corning Duration over Owens Corning synthetic underlayment. Concrete and clay tile last a very long time as a surface and take Southern California sun well, but the tile is never the clock. The underlayment beneath it is, and tile is heavy enough that the framing has to be planned for it. Standing-seam metal sheds water better than anything else on a simple roof line and handles wind uplift well, though it looks like what it is. Low-slope sections need a membrane, and on most homes here the flat porch or patio tie-in is the part that eventually leaks, so it's worth specifying properly the first time.
Ventilation is the part people skip and regret. An Inland Empire attic in August runs far hotter than the air outside, and that heat cooks the underlayment from below while it drives your cooling bill up. Intake at the eaves, exhaust up high, sized to the attic and actually connected, not blocked by insulation, not four vents on one side and none on the other. On a new build or an addition the framing is open and the choice is free. Later it's a retrofit.
Sometimes, but not automatically. Tile weighs several times what an asphalt roof weighs and the framing has to carry it. That's a structural engineer's call before it's ours, and we'll tell you straight if we think it needs one.
Both work in this climate. Shingle is cheaper to install and far simpler to repair; tile lasts longer as a surface and handles the sun well, but it's heavy and its underlayment is what you'll eventually be dealing with. Tell us the building and what you want out of it in twenty-five years and we'll lay out the trade-off.
Yes. Residential and commercial, new construction and additions. We schedule around framing and inspections and coordinate with whoever else is on site.
We'll come out, get on the roof, and put it in writing. Free inspection across LA and the Inland Empire.
