Janesville Premium Roofing: Roof Replacement, Repair and Reroofing
Expert residential and commercial roofing services. Free written quotes across Rock, Walworth and Green counties.
Every quote starts with the year the house was built·Layer count and deck condition documented before pricing·Code sections named in the estimate, not just in conversation·Straight answers when the cheaper option is the right one
Janesville Premium Roofing handles roof replacement, roof repair and reroofing across Janesville and the rest of Rock County. Asphalt shingles, standing-seam steel, low-slope membrane, gutters, ventilation and flashing, on houses and on commercial buildings. Every quote is written, itemized and priced before anybody sets a ladder against your house. No subcontracted crews, and no salesman between you and the person doing the work.
Here is what makes our estimates read differently from the rest. Wisconsin's Uniform Dwelling Code took effect June 1, 1980, and under SPS 320.05 it does not apply to houses built before that date or to work done on them later. Roughly two thirds of the housing in Rock County sits on the older side of that line.
So we start every quote with the year the house went up. On a 1994 house the state code is the floor and we build to it. On a 1962 house nothing in SPS 321.28 legally applies, so we write the same standard into the contract instead, and tell you plainly which parts are law and which parts are our opinion. That distinction is in the estimate, in writing.
Our Roofing Services in Janesville, WI
Roof Replacement
A full reroof in Janesville starts with a question that has nothing to do with shingles: what year was the house built? The answer decides which rulebook governs the work, and it moves the scope more than any brand choice ever will.
Roof Leak Repair
A leak repair in Janesville is unregulated work on every house in the city, whatever year it went up. SPS 320.05 puts repairs and maintenance outside the Uniform Dwelling Code entirely.
Storm Damage Restoration
After a storm the first thing we count on a Janesville roof is layers. SPS 321.28 forbids laying a new covering over existing roofing where two or more applications are already down, and pre-1980 houses in this city very often have exactly two.
Hail Damage Roofing
Here is the part almost nobody in this trade says out loud: Wisconsin's Uniform Dwelling Code has no hail requirement. Read SPS 321.28 end to end and there is not a word about impact resistance, Class 4 ratings or UL 2218.
Wind Damage Roofing
Wind rarely takes a roof that was fastened properly. In Janesville the difference usually comes down to two numbers written into SPS 321.28, and to whether the house sits on the side of the 1980 line where those numbers were legally binding on the installer.
Roof Inspections
Our inspection starts in the Rock County assessor's records, not on the ladder. The year the house was built decides which findings are code violations and which are simply bad ideas, and no report that skips that step can tell the two apart.
Asphalt Shingle Roofs
Asphalt covers almost every roof in Janesville, and the Uniform Dwelling Code is unusually specific about it. What changes with the year on the deed is not the right way to install a shingle.
Metal Roofing
Metal is the one roof covering where the manufacturer's printed instructions become the rule, on both sides of the 1980 line. SPS 321.28 sends other roof coverings to the manufacturer's installation instructions or a nationally recognized standard, and then stops offering specifics of its own.
Tile Roofing
We will install a tile roof in Janesville, and we will spend the first meeting trying to talk you out of it. That is not modesty about our crews.
Flat & Low-Slope Roofing
Below the slope where shingles work, the Uniform Dwelling Code stops giving instructions and hands the job to the manufacturer. SPS 321.28 says other roof coverings are installed per the manufacturer's instructions or a nationally recognized standard, and that is the whole of the rule.
Roof Coatings & Sealing
Roof coatings work on metal and on low-slope membranes. They do not work on worn asphalt shingles, and the shingle rejuvenation spray being sold door to door around Janesville is the clearest example of a product that survives entirely on the absence of a rule.
Roof Ventilation
Attic ventilation is governed by a different chapter of the Uniform Dwelling Code than the roof is, and that chapter took effect on a different day. SPS 322 became effective December 1, 1978.
Skylights
Cutting a new skylight into a Janesville roof is an alteration, and whether the state code follows it into your house depends entirely on when the house was built. That is not a technicality.
Gutters & Downspouts
The Uniform Dwelling Code has essentially nothing to say about gutters. SPS 321.28 requires that roofs be designed and constructed to assure drainage of water and that fasteners be corrosion resistant, and that is where it stops, on both sides of the 1980 line.
Fascia & Soffit
Soffit is not trim. It is the intake half of the ventilation arithmetic in SPS 322.39, which requires the remainder of the net free area to be distributed low once the high venting is counted.
Chimney Flashing
Chimney flashing is one of the few roof details the Uniform Dwelling Code addresses directly, and its best clause is about width. SPS 321.28 requires a cricket where a chimney runs over 30 inches across, and Janesville's older houses are full of wide chimneys that never got one.
Emergency Tarping
Emergency tarping is exempt work on every house in Janesville. SPS 320.05 puts repairs and maintenance outside the Uniform Dwelling Code entirely, whatever year the house was built, so there is no permit to pull and no inspection to schedule before somebody covers a hole.
Commercial Roofing
The Uniform Dwelling Code stops at two families. Add a third unit and the building leaves chapters SPS 320 through 325 altogether and falls under the Wisconsin Commercial Building Code, chapters SPS 361 through 366, which is built on the International Building Code.
Insurance Claim Help
Code upgrade coverage is where a lot of Janesville claims go sideways. Ordinance and law coverage pays to bring damaged work up to current code, and on a house built before June 1, 1980 there is frequently no current state code for the reroof to be brought up to.
Why Janesville Chooses Janesville Premium Roofing
- ✓We pull the assessor's construction year before we price a roof, because June 1, 1980 decides whether the state code governs your reroof or your contract has to.
- ✓Our estimates name specifications rather than adjectives: No. 15 felt or a labeled ASTM D226 Type I synthetic, four fasteners per strip shingle, a two-inch head lap.
- ✓We count existing layers by lifting shingles at the rake and a valley, and the count goes in writing before anything is sent to your insurance carrier.
- ✓We go in the attic on every inspection. Fastener rust, valley staining and packed eaves show on the underside of the sheathing long before they show on top.
- ✓We refuse work we think is wrong, including third layers, shingle rejuvenation sprays and code-upgrade claim lines on houses the dwelling code never covered.
- ✓We know the difference between a Dwelling Contractor certification and a Dwelling Contractor Qualifier, and we can tell you which one to ask any bidder to produce.
About Janesville Premium Roofing in Janesville, WI
Janesville Premium Roofing works Rock County and the ring of small cities and villages around it, out into Walworth and Green counties. Asphalt reroofs, low-slope membrane, standing-seam steel, gutters, ventilation and flashing repair, on houses and on commercial buildings. We are set up for the local stock, which is older than most of Wisconsin and mostly framed before the state had a dwelling code at all.
That shapes how we work. We look up the construction year before we quote, count the layers before we price, and put the underlayment, fastener and flashing specifications in writing whether or not anybody has the authority to check them. On a pre-1980 house the contract is the standard. We would rather hand you one you can hold us to.
There are jobs we turn down, and you should know what they are before you call. A third layer over two existing applications. A coating sprayed on worn shingles and invoiced as a roof. Code-upgrade lines written into a claim on a house the dwelling code never covered. If price alone is deciding this, somebody else will take the work, and honestly you should let them.
Service Areas
Janesville Premium Roofing serves Janesville, WI and surrounding communities including:
How It Works
We look up the year built first
Before we quote anything we pull the Rock County assessor record for the property. The construction year decides whether the Uniform Dwelling Code governs your reroof or whether the contract has to carry the whole standard on its own. That one fact shapes the entire scope.
Ladder, attic and a layer count
We walk the roof where the pitch allows, lift shingles at the rake and at a valley to count existing applications, and go into the attic to read the underside of the sheathing. Deck condition and layer count move the price more than shingle selection ever will.
A written scope with section numbers
You get an itemized estimate that names the underlayment, the fastener type and count, the valley method and the flashing details, with the code sections that apply to your house. Where a line is our standard rather than the state's, the estimate says so in plain language.
Tear-off, deck repair, then the roof
We tear off to the deck, replace boards or panels that have lost nail grip, dry the building in, and then install. Photographs at each stage go to you with the invoice, so you can see what was under there long after the roof covers it up again.
Recent Projects Across south central Wisconsin
What Janesville Customers Say
They looked up the year our house was built before they looked at the roof, then explained why that changed the estimate. Nobody else who bid it mentioned the code line at all. Tear-off and reroof took two days and the deck repairs were photographed.
Our chimney had been recaulked three times by three companies. These guys said the chimney was too wide to work without a cricket and built one. First spring in eleven years with no stain on the bedroom ceiling.
I called about a full replacement and they talked me into a repair instead, with a written reason why the rest of the roof still had life in it. Saved me about nine thousand dollars. They will get the reroof when it is actually time.
We own a three-unit building and had no idea it fell under a different code than a duplex. They explained it, scoped it properly and phased the work around our tenants. The proposal listed the membrane thickness and the warranty term in writing.
Commercial and multifamily roofing across Rock, Walworth and Green counties
The dwelling code stops at two families. A third unit moves a building out of chapters SPS 320 through 325 and into the Wisconsin Commercial Building Code, chapters SPS 361 through 366, which is built on the International Building Code and carries no 1980 exemption.
In a city where large old houses were routinely cut into three units, plenty of owners do not know which code their building falls under. We tell you before we quote, then work to it: low-slope EPDM and TPO, structural and standing-seam metal, and pitched asphalt on the smaller multifamily.
- ✓Triplex and larger buildings identified and scoped under SPS 361 to 366
- ✓60 mil EPDM and TPO single-ply, mechanically fastened or fully adhered
- ✓Core cuts and moisture surveys before any restoration coating is quoted
- ✓Standing-seam and structural metal on shops, warehouses and farm buildings
- ✓Tapered insulation and re-pitched decks where drainage has been lost
- ✓Roof asset reports with remaining service life and a repair sequence
- ✓Night and weekend phasing over occupied tenant space
- ✓Written system, thickness, attachment pattern, R-value and warranty term
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Wisconsin building code apply to my roof?
It depends on when the house was built. The Uniform Dwelling Code, chapters SPS 320 through 325, took effect June 1, 1980, and SPS 320.05 says it does not apply to dwellings whose construction started before that date or to alterations to them. So a 1993 Janesville house is governed work. A 1968 house is not, which means the quality of the roof rests entirely on who you hire and what the contract says.
Who actually runs the code in Wisconsin?
The Department of Safety and Professional Services administers it through its Division of Industry Services, and it is enforced in every municipality in the state. That is genuinely unusual. In most states one- and two-family construction is left to whatever each city adopted, so requirements change at the town line. In Wisconsin the standard for a post-1980 dwelling is the same in Janesville, Milton and Browntown.
Do I need a permit to replace my roof in Janesville?
Permit requirements for reroofing are set locally and they do change, so call the City of Janesville Building Division before you assume it either way. What we can tell you is the state side: repairs and maintenance are exempt from the Uniform Dwelling Code under SPS 320.05, and on pre-1980 dwellings the code does not reach alterations at all. We handle the permit where one is required.
Can I put a third layer of shingles on my house?
SPS 321.28 says a new covering may not go over an existing one where two or more applications are already down, or where the existing roof is water-soaked or deteriorated, or where it is wood shake, slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile. On a post-1980 house that is enforceable. On an older house it is not, but it is still a bad idea, and we will count your layers and tell you what is up there before you decide.
Are impact-rated shingles required in Rock County?
No. There is nothing about hail, impact resistance or Class 4 ratings anywhere in SPS 321.28. If somebody tells you the code requires an impact-rated shingle here, they are mistaken. The upgrade can still be worth buying if your insurer discounts the premium for it and you are staying in the house long enough to collect. That is a policy question, not a code question.
What credentials should a Wisconsin roofer hold?
Two separate things, and they are often confused. A Dwelling Contractor certification is held by the business, and it requires proof of financial responsibility, either a bond or general liability insurance of at least $250,000 per occurrence, plus compliance with worker's compensation and unemployment insurance.
A Dwelling Contractor Qualifier is an individual credential earned by completing at least 12 hours of an approved initial qualifier course. The business certification sits in SPS 305.31 and the Qualifier in SPS 305.315, and a company needs both before it can take out a building permit.