Leak repairs, full replacements and storm work, with a straight answer on repair before replacement is ever discussed.
Bensalem Quality Roofing has spent 20+ years on roof repair, roof replacement, leak tracing, gutters and storm work for homeowners in Bensalem, PA and the Bucks County and Burlington County towns around it. We work on shingle, metal and low-slope roofs, chimney flashing and skylights, and every job is written to the rules of the municipality the house actually sits in.
Most calls start with water where it should not be. Before anyone talks about a price, we look at the roof and inside the attic, find where the water really enters, and tell you plainly whether a repair will hold. Replacement comes up only when it is the honest answer.
When a roof does need replacing, the estimate breaks out tear-off, decking, underlayment, flashing, ventilation and gutters as separate lines, so you can set it beside another contractor’s quote and compare like with like. Where the township requires a permit, it is in the schedule and the contract from day one.
What we do
Roof repair and roof replacement in Bensalem, PA
Shingle, flashing, pipe boot and low-slope roof repair in Bensalem, PA, with an honest call on repair versus replacement before any price.
Roof inspections in Bensalem, PA for homeowners, buyers, landlords and building owners, with photos of every finding and a written condition report.
Full tear-off roof replacement in Bensalem, PA, with itemized scopes, the township permit in the contract and every flashing replaced with new metal.
Roof leaks traced from the attic and the roof in Bensalem, PA, then fixed at the real entry point, from pipe boots and chimneys to flat roof seams.
Seamless aluminum gutters and downspouts in Bensalem, PA, sized to the roof, pitched to the downspouts and tied into the drip edge above them.
Standing seam metal roofs, porch roofs and bay window roofs in Bensalem, PA, with concealed fasteners and flashing built for each wall and edge.
TPO, EPDM, modified bitumen and metal roofs for Bensalem businesses, apartment buildings and associations, with written condition reports.
Fast tarping, temporary protection and permanent repairs for storm-damaged and actively leaking roofs in Bensalem, PA and nearby towns.
EPDM, TPO and modified bitumen flat roof repairs in Bensalem, PA, with wall tie-ins, edges and ponding spots fixed at the cause.
Wind, hail and fallen-tree roof damage repaired in Bensalem, PA, with dated photos and a written scope you can use for your own insurance claim.
Chimney leaks in Bensalem, PA fixed with new step, counter and apron flashing, a cricket behind wide chimneys and no reliance on caulk.
New and replacement skylights in Bensalem, PA, installed with the manufacturer's flashing kit and ice barrier so the opening stays dry.
Our crews have been repairing and replacing roofs for more than 20 years. That time shows up in small decisions: which flashing detail fails first on a 1970s split-level, how the shared roof line of a twin has to be tied in, and when a stain on the ceiling is not a roof problem at all.
Every leak call includes a trip into the attic as well as onto the roof, so we follow the water track back to the nail hole, cracked boot or open seam where it actually gets in. That keeps us from pricing a patch on the spot where the stain appears rather than guessing at shingles and coming back after the next storm.
Bensalem’s fee schedule, Resolution 2024-04, lists residential reroofing at $75 plus the residential permit fee, so a re-roof here is treated as permit work and the cost and timing go into the schedule and the contract from the first estimate. No homeowner of ours learns at resale that the job was done without one, which is what happens when a contractor assumes nobody checks.
Each township and borough we work in sets its own re-roof permit rule, and New Jersey runs on a different code entirely, so the rule for your municipality is confirmed before the job is priced. Never do we price a Burlington County house on a Bucks County rule, which is how a contractor working from habit ends up with a stop-work order.
Bensalem has 807 mobile homes, 760 of them owner-occupied, and none of those roofs is quoted like a shingle roof. A low-slope roof-over gets its own plan for seams, fasteners and the HUD-code structure underneath, rather than the shingle-crew approach that drives fasteners where the home was never built to take them.
Each work day ends with the driveway, yard and gutters cleaned and a magnet sweep for roofing nails. Decking found rotten after tear-off is photographed and shown to you before it is replaced at the per-sheet price written into the contract, rather than turning up as a surprise total on the final invoice.
A drip that shows up on dry days, or only in January, is often a bathroom fan venting into the attic or frost on the underside of the sheathing rather than a roof leak at all. We check the attic for loose ductwork, frost and water tracks before we touch a shingle. That saves you paying for a roof repair that was never going to stop the water.
A brown ring on the ceiling marks where the water finally pooled, which is rarely where it got in, because water runs along rafters and the top of the drywall before it drops. We trace it from above and below to the actual entry point. You get one repair in the right place instead of a fresh stain two feet away next month.
Penetrations are the most common leak source we see: cracked rubber pipe boots, step flashing behind a chimney that was reused under the last roof, and skylight curbs that never got a proper flashing kit. We replace pipe boots with new boots or lead flashing boots and rebuild the flashing rather than smearing roof cement over it. Cement buys a season, while new metal fixes the joint.
When a windstorm strips shingles, the exposed underlayment can hold for a short while, but the seal strips and nail lines on the surrounding shingles are often broken too. We replace the missing pieces, check the seal on the shingles around them, and photograph the damage for your records. When a whole slope is replaced, we reach for shingles rated to ASTM D3161 Class F or ASTM D7158 Class H.
Ice dams form when attic heat melts snow that refreezes at the cold overhang, pushing water back under the shingles. The 2021 International Residential Code as adopted in Pennsylvania deals with this through the ice barrier at the eaves in section R905.1.2, typically a self-adhering membrane meeting ASTM D1970. We run that membrane at the eaves on our re-roofs and look at insulation and ventilation so the dam does not form in the first place.
Water that runs behind a gutter rots the fascia board and soaks the top of the wall, usually because the drip edge is missing or the gutter hangs too low. We fit drip edge at the eaves and rakes and set the gutter so the water lands in it. Gutters and downspouts are sized and pitched with the roof rather than left as an afterthought.
Where an addition or dormer meets the main roof, the valley or wall joint carries more water than any other part of the slope. Missing kick-out flashing at the bottom of a roof-to-wall joint is a common cause of rotted siding and wet wall cavities. We rebuild the valley over ice and water barrier and add apron and kick-out flashing where the wall needs it.
A single failed boot or a few blown shingles on an otherwise sound roof is a repair, and we say so. Widespread granule loss, curling across a slope, soft decking or repeated leaks in different places point toward replacement. You get a straight answer before replacement is ever raised, with photos that show why.
A roofing crew should be covered by its own workers’ compensation and liability insurance, which is why you should ask for certificates before work starts. Bensalem’s own contractor license application asks for liability limits of at least $1,000,000 per occurrence plus workers’ compensation. For a question about your personal exposure, your homeowners insurer or an attorney is the right call, and we can tell you what coverage to ask any roofer for.
Bensalem Township’s fee schedule, effective March 1, 2024, prices a residential reroofing permit at $75 plus the residential permit fee, with a $15 single-discipline application fee and a $4.50 UCC surcharge. The township publishes no re-roof exemption, so we treat the re-roof as permit work. Permit fees are invoiced through Code Inspections, the township’s inspection agency, and the application is part of our job.
Every Bucks County township writes its own rule, so a Bensalem permit tells you nothing about Lower Southampton or Middletown. Across the Delaware, New Jersey treats repair or replacement of the roof covering on a detached one- or two-family home as ordinary maintenance under NJAC 5:23-2.7, while attached and multifamily buildings stay permit work. We confirm the rule for the house’s own municipality before the estimate is written.
A tear-off starts with the dumpster placed and the landscaping covered, then the old roof is stripped to the deck in sections so nothing sits open overnight. We inspect and replace damaged decking, then lay drip edge, ice barrier, ASTM D8257 synthetic underlayment, flashing, shingles and ridge vent. The day ends with the gutters cleared, the yard raked and a magnet sweep for nails.
Census figures put 7,417 of Bensalem’s 25,415 homes in the 1970s, the largest single decade of building in the township. Many of those houses are on their second or third roof, and some already carry two layers. Section R908 of the residential code limits a roof to two layers, so a house that already has two gets a full tear-off rather than another layer on top.
Bensalem has 4,891 attached homes, and replacing one unit of a shared roof means tying new material into the neighbor’s roof and flashing the party wall so water does not cross the line. Who pays depends on the community’s declaration under Pennsylvania’s Uniform Planned Community Act, since some associations maintain roofs and some leave them to owners. We read the roof clause with you before the job is scheduled.
Bensalem’s residential rental use and occupancy checklist, revised July 18, 2023, lists ‘Roof – No obvious defects’ as item 4. Non-owner-occupied dwellings carry a $50 yearly rental license and a $100 per-unit inspection for buildings of one to three units. We can look over a rental roof ahead of that inspection so a curled shingle or open flashing does not hold up a new tenant.
Shingle color is the one choice you see every time you pull into the driveway. Warm brick usually sits well with brown, weathered wood or charcoal blends, while gray or white siding takes charcoal, slate or black. We bring full-size samples from lines such as GAF Timberline HDZ, Owens Corning Duration and CertainTeed Landmark so you can judge them against the house in daylight.
An attic needs air coming in low at the soffits and leaving high at the ridge, and the two have to be balanced by net free area. A ridge vent over blocked or painted-over soffits does almost nothing, and it can pull conditioned air out of the house. We check the intake before we add exhaust, which protects the shingles from heat and the deck from winter moisture.
A roof under solar panels has to come off with the panels lifted and reset, and that is a separate trade with its own calendar. We plan the panel removal and reinstall into the schedule from the start, with new flashing at every mount. Finding out on tear-off day that nobody booked the solar crew leaves a roof half open.
A Pennsylvania seller’s disclosure asks about the roof’s age and any known leaks, and the buyer’s inspector will look hard at both. Bensalem’s resale use and occupancy permit, filed a month before settlement, names chimney, electrical and heating certificates but no roof item. We can inspect and document the roof before listing so any repair is done on your terms rather than the buyer’s.
Three-tab shingles are flat and thin and have largely given way to architectural, or laminated, shingles, which are thicker and shed wind better. Designer shingles imitate slate or shake at a higher weight and price. Impact-rated shingles tested to UL 2218 Class 4 resist hail, and nearly every modern asphalt shingle carries an ASTM E108 or UL 790 Class A fire rating.
Standing seam metal runs its panels with raised, interlocking seams and concealed fasteners, so there are no exposed screws to back out. It suits a whole low-pitch roof, and it is a common upgrade on a porch roof or a bay window bump-out. We detail the panel ends and the wall flashing so the metal sheds water instead of driving it into the joint.
A manufactured home built to the HUD code under 24 CFR 3280 has a low-slope roof and a light structure, so the usual shingle approach does not apply. A roof-over adds a new framed or membrane surface over the original, and its seams and fasteners decide whether it lasts. We quote it as its own job, and we only consider a coating where the existing roof can carry one.
On a low-slope roof the choice is between torch-down SBS or APP modified bitumen, EPDM rubber membrane, and TPO or PVC single-ply membranes. Modified bitumen is tough and easy to patch, EPDM is simple and long-lived, and the heat-welded seams of TPO hold up where the roof sees foot traffic. We match the membrane to the deck, the drainage and whatever sits on the roof.
Rear additions, enclosed porches and attached garages often carry a nearly flat roof that ties into the house wall. Those tie-ins and the edge where water leaves the roof are where these roofs fail. We flash the wall with counter flashing set into a reglet, add a proper edge or gutter, and build up any ponding spots so water does not sit.
The best time to replace or add a skylight is while the roof is open. We install curb-mounted and deck-mounted skylights with the manufacturer’s flashing kit, Velux skylight flashing kits among them, and tie each one into the new underlayment. An old skylight left in place under a new roof is often the first thing to leak.
Aluminum is the everyday choice for drip edge, step flashing and seamless aluminum gutters and downspouts, while copper goes where it will be seen or needs to outlast the shingles. Step, counter and chimney flashing is replaced with the roof rather than reused under new material. A chimney cricket, or saddle, goes behind any wide chimney so water is split around it.
Under the Uniform Condominium Act the roof of a condominium building is usually a common element the association maintains, while in a planned community the declaration may put each roof on its owner. The document controls, not the habit of the last board. We confirm who is authorizing the work before we quote it, so the right party signs the contract.
After a storm, photograph the damage from the ground and inside the house, then keep receipts for any tarp or emergency repair, because insurers generally expect you to prevent further damage. Bensalem knows this well: the July 29, 2021 EF-3 tornado, given a peak wind of 140 mph by the National Weather Service, crossed Trevose and ended in Bensalem Township Community Park. We photograph and write up storm damage for your own claim.
Pennsylvania’s unfair claims settlement rules in 31 Pa Code 146 give an insurer 10 working days to acknowledge a claim, 30 days to investigate, and 15 working days after proof of loss to accept or deny it. The rules set no deadline for payment. We document the roof and will meet the adjuster on site when you ask, but the claim and its negotiation stay yours.
In Pennsylvania, the people who may negotiate a claim on your behalf are you, your attorney or a licensed public adjuster. Pennsylvania licenses public adjusters under its Public Adjuster Licensing Law, and New Jersey licenses them separately. A roofer who offers to handle your claim is offering something the law does not let a contractor do, which is why we stop at documentation.
Whether a policy pays for an older roof depends on its terms, not the roof’s age alone. Many policies settle older roofs at actual cash value, which subtracts depreciation, and some carry roof schedules or exclusions for wear and tear. Read the declarations page and ask your agent, and we will document what failed so the adjuster sees storm damage rather than age.
The deductible is the share of the loss your policy assigns to you. A contractor who promises to absorb it has to recover that money somewhere, either by inflating the claim or by trimming the work. We price the roof the job actually requires and leave the deductible where the policy puts it.
In Pennsylvania a contractor installing a roof on real estate pays sales tax on the materials when they are bought, under 61 Pa Code 31.11-31.12, rather than charging it to you as a line item. That is why a Pennsylvania estimate shows no separate tax. New Jersey works differently, with a Form ST-8 capital improvement certificate on qualifying work, and each job is written to the rules of the state the house is in.
Pennsylvania’s Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act requires a written contract with the approximate start and finish dates, the total price and a three-business-day right of rescission. On a contract over $5,000 the deposit may not exceed one-third of the price. Our Pennsylvania contracts follow those rules, and the itemized scope makes the price easy to check.
Pennsylvania has no statewide roofing license. Home improvement contractors register with the Attorney General under the Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act, and many townships add a local license on top, Bensalem’s among them at $100 a year with insurance minimums. Ask any roofer for the state registration number and the township license before you sign.
Homeowners sometimes hear that repairing more than 25 percent of a roof forces a full replacement. That rule comes from Florida’s building code, not Pennsylvania’s. Here the question is how your township treats a repair against a reroofing, and the repair exemption in the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code, 34 Pa Code 403.1(b)(9), is where that line starts.
Bensalem Quality Roofing provides roofing throughout the greater Bensalem area, with the same crews and the same standards on every job.
Good to know
The price depends on the size and pitch of the roof, how many layers come off, how much decking turns out to be bad, and the shingle line you pick. We give a written, itemized scope after an inspection rather than a number over the phone, and the per-sheet price for replacement decking is fixed in the contract so the one unknown has a known cost.
Most single-family houses are finished in a few working days once the permit is issued and the materials are delivered. Steep or cut-up roofs, two-layer tear-offs and solar panel removal add time. The schedule is written into the estimate so you know when the dumpster arrives and when the crew leaves.
We repair roofs as readily as we replace them, and a repair is the first thing we look for. If a cracked pipe boot, a lifted flashing or a patch of blown shingles is the whole problem, that is what we fix. Replacement only comes up when the roof itself has worn out, and we show you the photos that say so.
The residential code allows no more than two layers, so a house that already has two must be torn off to the deck. Even where a second layer is allowed, we usually recommend a tear-off, because it is the only way to see and replace damaged decking and to install a proper ice barrier and new flashing.
We mostly install architectural shingles from lines such as GAF Timberline HDZ, Owens Corning Duration and CertainTeed Landmark, with impact-rated and designer options where a homeowner wants them. We bring full-size samples so you can judge the color against your brick or siding in daylight.
Yes. Porch roofs, rear additions, garages and commercial buildings get torch-down modified bitumen, EPDM or TPO depending on the deck, the drainage and how much foot traffic the roof sees. Manufactured home roofs are quoted separately as roof-overs.
We photograph the damage, write it up for your claim and will meet the adjuster on site if you ask us to. We do not negotiate the claim, because in Pennsylvania that is for you, your attorney or a licensed public adjuster.
We stop, photograph it and show you before any sheet is replaced. The contract already lists the price per sheet, so the final invoice reflects the number of sheets you saw rather than a surprise lump sum.
It can, on dry days above the shingle maker's minimum temperature, though the self-sealing strips on asphalt shingles bond slowly in the cold and may need hand sealing. We watch the forecast closely and never leave a section of roof open overnight.
We size and pitch seamless aluminum gutters and downspouts with the roof, so the drip edge, the gutter height and the downspout locations are planned together. Gutters hung as an afterthought are a common cause of fascia rot and water against the foundation.
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