Cambria County Roofing
Lester’s Roofing & Carpentry is a roofing contractor working throughout Cambria County, Pennsylvania. We are based in Rossiter in neighbouring Indiana County, about forty minutes from Ebensburg, and we have been working on roofs across this part of Pennsylvania for over 16 years.
We work on commercial, industrial, agricultural and residential roofs: repairs, leak tracing, restoration coatings and full replacements. We are a certified Conklin Roofing Systems contractor and a registered Pennsylvania Home Improvement Contractor, HIC #PA042939.
Call 814-952-2469, or read on for what we do across the county.
Roofing Services in Cambria County
- Roof leak repair. Tracing where water is actually getting in, which is rarely above where it appears inside.
- Metal roof repair and coating. Fasteners, seams and flashing on metal buildings, which is where metal roofs almost always fail first.
- Roof restoration. Coating a sound roof rather than tearing it off, where the deck and insulation allow it.
- Roof maintenance. Scheduled inspections, drainage clearing and minor repairs, with the written records your warranty needs.
- Commercial roof replacement. Where a roof is genuinely past restoring.
- Residential roofing. Repairs and replacements on homes across the county.
- Free roof inspections. On commercial, agricultural and residential buildings.
Roofing in Ebensburg
Ebensburg sits at around 2,100 feet, which makes it one of the higher and more exposed places in the county. Roofs there take more wind, more snow and a longer freeze-thaw season than roofs down in the Conemaugh valley, and they age accordingly.
We work on both homes and commercial buildings in and around Ebensburg, including Colver, Revloc, Nicktown, Carrolltown and Cresson.
If you are weighing up roofing materials for a property in the area, our guide to commercial roof types compares the seven systems used on flat and low-slope buildings, with typical lifespans for each. For pitched residential roofs, asphalt shingle and metal are the two that dominate locally, and metal is worth serious consideration at that elevation.
Roofing in Johnstown
Johnstown is the largest city in the county and has the county’s oldest building stock, which means a lot of older flat and low-slope commercial roofs: built-up roofing, modified bitumen and early single-ply membranes that are now well into or past their design life.
Many of those roofs are better candidates for restoration than replacement, provided the deck is sound and the insulation is dry. We have a dedicated page covering our work in the city: roofing contractors in Johnstown, PA.
We also cover the surrounding boroughs, including Westmont, Southmont, Geistown, Richland, Ferndale, Dale, Daisytown, East Conemaugh and Conemaugh.
Metal Roofing in Cambria County
Metal is the standard roof on farm buildings, workshops, pole barns and industrial units across the county, and it has the longest service life of any system we work on.
The thing worth knowing about metal is how it fails. The panels themselves rarely wear out. What fails is the fasteners, whose rubber washers harden and shrink over years of heat and cold, along with the seams and flashing details. A metal roof leaking in several places is usually not a worn-out roof, it is a roof with worn-out fasteners.
That means a leaking metal roof is very often repairable and coatable rather than a replacement job. Full detail is on our metal roof repair and metal roof coatings pages.
Why Cambria County Roofs Fail
This county is harder on roofs than most of Pennsylvania, for three reasons.
Elevation and snow. Much of Cambria County sits on the Allegheny Front above 1,800 feet, and the Laurel Highlands catch considerably more snow than the lowlands to the west. That means real snow load, and it means ice building at eaves and valleys when a warm roof melts snow that then refreezes at the colder edge.
Freeze and thaw. Winter here moves above and below freezing repeatedly rather than staying cold. Water gets into a small opening at a seam or fastener, freezes, expands and makes the opening slightly larger, then does it again. A gap that was sound in October can be leaking by March.
Age. A lot of the commercial and agricultural building stock here dates from the coal and steel era, and many of those roofs are on their second or third covering already.
The practical consequence is that autumn is the sensible time to deal with a known problem. A small repair before winter is a different job from the same repair after a season of freeze and thaw has worked on it.
Towns We Serve in Cambria County
- Johnstown
- Ebensburg
- Northern Cambria
- Portage
- Cresson
- Carrolltown
- Patton
- Nanty Glo
- Lilly
- South Fork
- Summerhill
- Gallitzin
- Loretto
- Hastings
- Vintondale
- Westmont
- Southmont
- Geistown
- Richland
- Ferndale
- Dale
- Daisytown
- East Conemaugh
- Conemaugh
- Scalp Level
- Brownstown
- Colver
- Revloc
- Nicktown
- Sankertown
- Elim
- Lorain
We also work in nearby Somerset County communities including Windber, Hollsopple and Davidsville, and across Indiana, Clearfield and Jefferson Counties.
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Free Roof Inspections in Cambria County
We provide free roof inspections on commercial, industrial, agricultural and residential buildings throughout the county.
An inspection tells you three things: what condition the roof is actually in, where water is getting in if it is leaking, and whether the roof can be repaired and coated rather than replaced. You get a written report with photographs, and a price based on what we found rather than a guess.
If it has been more than a year since your roof was last looked at, or there has been a storm since, that is the point to book one.
Call 814-952-2469 or get in touch to arrange an inspection.
Your Local Cambria County Roofing Company
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Cambria County Roofing FAQs
Do you work on homes as well as commercial buildings?
Yes. Most of our work is commercial, industrial and agricultural, but we handle residential roofing across the county too, including repairs, shingle work and metal roof installation.
Can I extend the life of my existing roof instead of replacing it?
Often, yes. Where the deck and structure are sound and the insulation is dry, a roof can be repaired and coated rather than torn off. Where a Conklin restoration system is suitable, it carries a 20-year non-prorated manufacturer warranty, with the option to renew for a further 20 years, subject to the system installed and its renewal requirements.
Do you offer a warranty on workmanship?
Yes. Lester’s Roofing & Carpentry provides a 3-year contractor workmanship warranty on our installations, alongside the Conklin manufacturer warranty on the coating system itself.
Can my roof lower my energy bill?
It can. A white reflective coating reflects solar energy rather than absorbing it, which reduces cooling load on a large roof. Conklin coatings carry EnergyStar and Cool Roof Rating Council ratings and can lower cooling costs by up to 30%. Savings vary considerably by building, so treat that as a ceiling rather than a promise.
How do I get my roof ready for snow season?
Clear the drains and gutters, deal with any known small repairs before the cold sets in, and have the roof inspected in autumn. Pennsylvania winters are hard on roofs. Heavy snow, freezing rain, ice buildup and repeated freeze-thaw cycles expose weak seams and flaws in flashing and drains, and those usually show up as leaks during or after a thaw.
How do I handle a roof damage insurance claim?
Photograph the damage with dates, note the weather event that caused it, and get the roof inspected before you file. We have written a guide to roof damage insurance claims covering what is generally covered, how to file, and what to do if a claim is denied.