Roofing Contractor in Stanwood, WA

Wind and rain off the Stillaguamish delta

Roofs on the delta side of Stanwood take wind straight off Port Susan and the open fields. Fasteners work loose at the edges first. A shingle that lifts once will lift again, and water finds the gap. The rake edges and the ridge are where we start looking.

Back off the water the trouble is the opposite. Homes out toward Cedarhome, Lake Goodwin and Warm Beach sit under fir and cedar. Needles pile in the valleys and behind the chimney, and north planes stay damp all winter. Moss grows in that damp, and it works under the shingle edges.

The wet season here runs roughly October through April. A roof that stays wet that long is hard on the wood underneath. Rot turns up in fascia, soffits and window trim, so wood rot repair is part of the job. Much of downtown Stanwood also sits in a mapped 100-year flood zone, so roof water needs somewhere sensible to go.

How old are the roofs in Stanwood?

Stanwood grew up twice. The old town by the riverfront came first, with small lots and houses from the late 1800s. East Stanwood grew a mile east around the 1890 railroad depot. The two ran as separate towns until they merged in 1960.

Then the highway brought the subdivisions. City figures show the population more than doubled between 1990 and 2005, and it has kept climbing since. Between 2010 and 2020 Stanwood added 506 housing units, 74 percent of them single-family homes. About 71 percent of the housing stock is single-family detached, by the city's own housing plan.

That history sets the roof age. A 1990s subdivision roof is at or past the point where the second roof goes on. Houses near the river have often been re-roofed more than once. What sits under those shingles is the real question.

Do you need a permit to re-roof in Stanwood?

Inside the city limits, yes. The City of Stanwood Community Development Department lists re-roofs as over-the-counter permits. The permit is issued at the counter once the application and the fee go through. The office is at 10220 270th Street NW and takes applications through the city's online permit portal.

Outside the city limits, Snohomish County covers the address. Snohomish County Planning and Development Services in Everett lists re-roof as a residential permit type. That is the office for acreage homes, shops and barns past the city line. Its county line is 425-388-3411.

Permit rules change, so confirm the current requirement with the office that covers your address. We pull the permit where the jurisdiction lets the contractor do that. Siding, window and door work is handled differently from roofing, so ask before the job starts.

Metal roofs, shingle roofs and siding around Stanwood

Out past the city line, many Stanwood properties have a shop, a barn or a carport by the house. Standing-seam metal roofing suits those buildings. Fir needles slide off metal instead of sitting in the valleys, and moss has less to grab. We use Nu-Ray Metals panels, made by a Washington manufacturer.

In the subdivisions, asphalt shingle is still the common roof. We use CertainTeed Landmark, Landmark Pro and Presidential Shake TL shingles. Landmark and Landmark Pro are dimensional shingles. Presidential Shake TL is a triple-laminate shingle with the look of hand-split wood shake.

Walls take the same weather the roof does. Lap siding, board-and-batten, fiber cement, cedar and vinyl all show up around Stanwood. Each one flashes a little differently at the windows and corners.

We come to Stanwood from the island two ways. Some days it is north up Whidbey and over the Deception Pass bridge to I-5. Other days it is the Clinton ferry to Mukilteo and I-5 north. Either way we come into town on State Route 532.