Bungalow and Two-Flat Roofing in Avondale, Chicago
Rehab work often leaves new roofs tied into old flashing. A licensed roofer traces the leak to its source.
What goes wrong on roofs in Avondale
Avondale carries a substantial mix of Chicago-style brick bungalows with low hipped roofs, brick and frame two-flats with low-slope roofs behind parapets, and frame workers cottages. The bungalow blocks behave like the rest of the bungalow belt: shallow hipped roofs, wide overhangs, and attics that were often finished into living space without the ventilation being reworked. The two-flat blocks behave like Logan Square. There has been significant rehab and deconversion activity in recent years, which adds new penetrations and roof decks to older buildings.
On the bungalows, ice damming at the eaves driven by finished attics and blocked soffit intake is the signature winter problem, and the durable fix is ventilation and ice-and-water shield rather than repeated repairs. On the two-flats, it is parapet, coping and membrane termination work, plus the rear porch roofs that nearly every one of these buildings has.
Avondale sits on the Northwest Side, covering 60618 and 60641 and 60647, so the roof detail above is specific to these blocks rather than to Chicago as a whole.
What gets called in around Avondale
On the bungalows, ice damming at the eaves driven by finished attics and blocked soffit intake is the signature winter problem, and the durable fix is ventilation and ice-and-water shield rather than repeated repairs.
Roofing questions from Avondale
My Avondale bungalow gets ice dams every winter. What is the fix?
Usually ventilation and ice and water shield, not repeated repairs. A finished attic and blocked soffit intake put warm air against the roof, the snow melts and refreezes at the eaves, and water backs up. Opening the air path and laying ice and water shield at the eaves is the durable answer.
Why do rehabbed buildings in Avondale leak where new meets old?
Rehab work often puts a new roof on but leaves the old flashing in place where it meets walls and parapets. The new roof is tied into flashing that has already failed. Trace the leak to the junction between new and old, which is where it usually is.
How do two-flat parapets in Avondale differ from bungalow roofs?
Completely. The two-flats carry low-slope roofs behind parapets, where coping and counterflashing fail. The bungalows have low hipped shingle roofs where ice dams are the problem. Two different trades on one block. If you own one of each, they will likely need separate quotes.
What is blocked soffit intake?
Soffit vents let fresh air into the attic from under the eaves. On many bungalows they have been painted over, covered by insulation, or blocked during attic finishing. With no intake, the attic cannot breathe, and ice dams follow. Clearing or restoring the intake is often part of the fix.
Adjacent neighborhoods
- Logan SquareNorthwest Side
- Irving ParkNorthwest Side
- Albany ParkNorthwest Side
- Portage ParkNorthwest Side
Roofing estimate in Avondale
Give us the address and what the roof is doing. 60618 and 60641 and 60647 and the rest of the Northwest Side are covered, and the estimate is free.