A New Roof for Your Reston Home

Yes, and it matters more than the county permit does. Every residential property under the Reston Deed is automatically an RA member, and RA’s Design Review Board is responsible for decisions on all exterior improvements. The roofing standard is usually that shingles must match the existing house in style, profile, and finish, and that any brand of architectural shingle is acceptable within that. Your individual cluster then adds its own standards on top of RA’s, so there are two documents governing your roof, not one. We read both before we quote.

For a like-for-like shingle replacement, no. Reston is unincorporated Fairfax County, so Land Development Services is your building office, and the county lists replacement of roof shingles as not requiring a permit. Two things bring the permit back: replacing 256 square feet or more of decking, and any fire-rated decking, which covers a lot of Reston’s townhouse clusters. If you’re at Lake Anne, add county Architectural Review Board approval, because the village center is a Historic Overlay District.

Probably not, and the distinction is worth getting right because it changes who has to approve your roof. Lake Anne Village Center is a Fairfax County Historic Overlay District and has been on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register since 2017, so roof work there needs county ARB approval on top of RA approval. Hickory Cluster, which people often assume is covered because of its Charles Goodman pedigree, sits outside the district boundary and was explicitly not part of the 2017 listing. For Hickory, it’s RA and your cluster, not the county ARB.

The price comes down to five things: the number of squares of roof area, the pitch, how many stories the house is, the condition of the decking underneath, and how many layers of old shingle have to come off. Two houses on the same street can differ by thousands on decking and tear-off alone, which is why we won't quote a roof over the phone. Every estimate is free and on-site, and it comes back the same day with both packages priced so you can see exactly what you're choosing between.

Most roof replacements run 3 to 5 days from tear-off to final walkthrough, and one-day installs are available on qualifying homes. The install itself is often a single day on an average home; the rest of the window is material delivery, weather, and any approval your HOA or historic district needs first. You get the schedule before the crew arrives, not after.

If the damage is localized and the roof still has service life left, repair is the right call and we'll tell you so. Replacement makes sense when the shingles are at the end of their life, when there's damage across multiple slopes, or when you've already patched the same roof more than once. We inspect the attic and the decking before making that call, because what a roof looks like from the driveway isn't the whole story.

It depends on why the roof failed. Insurance covers sudden damage from wind, hail, or a storm. It doesn't cover a roof that simply wore out. We document the damage for your carrier, handle partial approvals, and regularly overturn denied claims. If a claim isn't the right path, we'll say so, because a denied claim on your record doesn't help you.

We show you before we replace it. Decking condition is invisible until the old roof is off, which makes it the most common reason a final number moves off the estimate. We agree the per-sheet price for decking replacement up front, and you get photographs of anything we pull.

Because a roof with bad ventilation dies early. Trapped heat and moisture cook shingles from underneath, shorten the life of the roof, and can void the material warranty. Ventilation is part of the roof system, not an upsell. We inspect the attic and assess ventilation on every job, and we'll tell you if what's up there is undersized for the roof going on top of it.

We don't do it as a default and we generally advise against it. A layover hides the decking, adds weight, traps heat, and shortens the life of the new shingles, and most manufacturers won't warranty the result. Tearing off costs more up front, and it's the only way to see and fix what's underneath.

Felt is tar paper. It tears when a crew walks on it and it holds water once it gets wet, which is a problem on the one layer that is supposed to shed water if a shingle ever lifts. Synthetic underlayment is a woven sheet that does not tear underfoot and does not absorb. Both packages we install use synthetic across the entire deck.

Starter is a sealed strip along every eave and rake, which is exactly where wind gets its grip on a roof. It also does something most homeowners never hear about: on the Platinum package the starter is made by TAMKO to bond to the Titan XT shingle, and that single component is what takes the wind warranty from 130 mph to 160. A competitor quoting the same shingle with generic starter isn't selling the same roof and can't register the same warranty.

Nobody knows for certain until the old roof comes off, and any contractor who tells you otherwise on the driveway is guessing. What we usually find is one of four things. Half-inch to five-eighths CDX plywood is what we want, and it's ready for a new system as-is. OSB is acceptable while it's dry. Three-eighths plywood and older plank decking typically need to be addressed before shingles go on, because nails don't hold reliably in either one.

It's a limited warranty with conditions, not a performance guarantee. TAMKO's WindGuard 160 mph coverage applies to the Titan XT shingle installed with TAMKO starter and TAMKO hip and ridge. The shingle on its own does not qualify. TAMKO also states plainly that its limited warranty does not cover hurricanes, whatever the product does in a storm, so nobody should be selling you one on that basis.

It doesn't have to be, but the highest warranty tier requires it. TAMKO's DiamondShield program requires four TAMKO accessories: starter, underlayment, ice and water shield, and hip and ridge. Install a TAMKO shingle with generic components and the roof is not eligible for that coverage at any price. That is an eligibility rule TAMKO wrote, not an upsell we invented.

Class 3 is an impact rating from UL 2218 laboratory testing, and the Titan XT shingle on our Platinum package carries it. Whether it lowers your premium is a question for your agent. Some carriers discount impact-rated roofing and many do not, and it varies by state and by policy, so it is worth asking rather than assuming either way.