Los Alamitos, CA
Storm damage, and what to do first
Photograph everything before anybody touches the roof. A record made on the day is worth more than any description afterwards.
Describe the storm damage job
Three questions, then the address. Up to three Los Alamitos contractors who do this work.
You are on the list.
No provider in Los Alamitos is taking requests through this service yet. We are lining them up, and yours is kept until one can.
- Nobody gets your details yet. Your request stays with us and is not passed to any company.
- One email when someone can help. When a provider covering your area can take it on, we email you once and ask whether you want that company, by name, to contact you.
- Deleted after 90 days. If nobody can take it on, or you do not say yes, your contact details are deleted 90 days after your request.
- You decide, or you do not. There is nothing to cancel and nothing to pay us.
Nobody will call you about this request unless you say yes to a company by name.
Before you let anybody on the roof
The things worth pinning down on a storm damage job. A contractor who has not raised them has not looked properly.
- Photographs of the damage before any work happens
- What the emergency tarp costs, separate from the repair
- A written scope of the work, line by line
- A local address you could actually drive to
- Whether the contractor is licensed and insured in this state
Photograph the outside, the inside, and the date. Then get a tarp on it. Photographs of the original damage are a record nobody can argue with; a description of what it looked like before the repair is not.
Damage that matters is often invisible from the ground. Bruised shingles, lifted seals and hairline mat fractures fail years later, long after the storm is forgotten.
If two contractors describe the damage differently, ask each to show you on the roof or in their photographs. It changes the conversation.
Locally
Close behind that: dry offshore wind that arrives all at once in autumn. Dry offshore wind lifts material that damp coastal air had been holding down. Most wind losses here happen on a handful of nights a year.
About storm damage here
What time of year is best to re-roof in Los Alamitos?
Here, the long dry run from May to October is the easy window. November through March is when the phone rings hardest, which means less flexibility on dates and less room on price.
Does being near the ocean change what goes on the roof?
Considerably. Salt air corrodes anything ferrous, so fasteners, valley metal, vent collars, flashing and gutter hangers should be specified for coastal exposure — stainless or heavy-gauge coated, not plain galvanised. The covering usually outlives the metal holding it down.
How quickly will someone call?
Most requests are picked up the same day, often within an hour. Emergencies are prioritised. If you have not heard anything by the next morning, check voicemail — contractors usually call from a mobile.
Can I just put a new roof over the old one?
Often you legally can, and it is usually a poor idea. Overlaying hides the condition of the decking, adds weight, shortens the life of the new shingles by trapping heat, and doubles the cost of the next tear-off.
Find out what it costs
No cost. We email you once when a provider near you can take it on.