Historic Roof Replacement in Glenoaks Canyon

Plan on four to eight weeks before the permit application is even accepted, and more if the first submission has to go back. The way to keep it at the short end is to document what is there properly -- photographs of the existing profile, eaves and ridge -- and to propose something that reads as the original rather than arguing for something that does not.

The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation, applied to roof form and cladding. In practice the question is whether the finished roof reads as the original: same profile, compatible color and texture, and details like exposed rafter tails and open eaves left alone rather than modernized.

No. The inspection is free, the written quote is free, and there is no obligation attached to either. What we will not do is give you a price at the door without going up, and on a tile roof we will not quote at all until the salvageable tile has been counted.

In Los Angeles County most replacements are estimated at $10,000 to $25,000. Composition shingle runs $7 to $11 per square foot here and clay tile $15 to $25. Glendale sits at the tile end of that more often than most of the county, which is why the relay question matters so much locally.

If the property is identified as historic, yes -- roof form and roof cladding are explicitly within scope. The part that catches people out is the order: a Design Review Exemption has to be approved BEFORE a building permit application will be accepted, not at the same time. Check your own address with the City of Glendale before anyone specifies a covering.