The city and the township
Bloomfield Hills is two places for roofing purposes. The City of Bloomfield Hills is small, roughly 1,700 homes, and has been a city since 1932. Bloomfield Township surrounds it, and many township addresses also say Bloomfield Hills. Each has its own building department. J&M Roofing works in both, on homes and commercial buildings, and estimates are free.
Estates, then everything after
Until the early 1900s this was farmland. Then wealthy Detroit families began buying large parcels for summer and weekend homes, and the estates followed. The first big houses were mostly Georgian Colonial or English Manor in style. In the 1920s an Arts and Crafts influence produced a local “country style,” and George Booth developed the Cranbrook campus, with buildings by Eliel Saarinen. Modern houses came next, including Frank Lloyd Wright’s Affleck House, begun in 1941. Lots here are generally at least half an acre, and the larger homes sit on an acre or more.
The township filled in later. By census-based estimates, its median home dates to about 1970, and roughly half its houses were built in the 1950s and 1960s.
What that means for the roof
Bigger, older houses here usually mean steeper, more complicated roofs: multiple gables, dormers, valleys and tall chimneys. More intersections means more flashing, and flashing is where most leaks start. Some of the older estate houses carry slate or cedar rather than asphalt. Those are specialty materials, so the first question on any slate or cedar roof is whether the material or only the flashing has failed.
What helps most on these houses:
- An inspection before a price. On a complex roof, a careful roof inspection finds the actual source of a leak, which is often a valley or a chimney rather than the shingles.
- Repair where repair is honest. A well-built roof with one failed detail needs a roof repair, not a new roof.
- Replacement done properly. When an asphalt roof is worn out, a full roof replacement on a steep roof takes proper staging, a full ice barrier at the eaves where code requires it, and new flashing rather than reused metal.
Mid-century modern houses often have flat or low-slope sections, and those need a flat roof approach, not shingles.
Permits: city or township
In the City of Bloomfield Hills, permits come from the city’s Building Department at 45 E. Long Lake Road. A roof permit there covers two inspections, applications can be made through BS&A Online, and contractors applying by mail must include photo ID and their state builder’s license. Starting without a permit violates the State Construction Code and city ordinance.
In Bloomfield Township, the Building Division at 4200 Telegraph Road issues permits, and roofs are on its list of projects that need one.
Where we work
We work throughout the city and the township: along Woodward Avenue past Cranbrook, Long Lake and Square Lake roads, Telegraph Road, and the neighborhoods off Maple and Lahser. Troy is the next city to the east, on the way back to our base in Rochester Hills.
To have your roof looked at by people who’ll tell you plainly what it needs, request a free estimate.