Conshohocken's roof permit addendum asks 12 questions that a roofing quote should answer line by line

Conshohocken requires a Roof Permit Application Addendum with every re-roofing permit. The form, revised January 2, 2025, asks 12 numbered questions about the old roof and the new one: how many layers there are and how many come off, the pitch, the number of squares, the flashing, the ventilation, the ice and water shield and the drip edge. Each answer is also a line a roofing quote should show.

This article walks through those lines on an example roof, then works out the borough's permit fee and the state's deposit limit for an example price of $18,000. The guide to what moves the price of a roof replacement lists the same items without numbers.

1The example roof is 40 feet along the ridge, 30 feet eave to eave, at 8 in 12

The example is made up, with round numbers chosen for easy arithmetic. It is a plain gable roof, two slopes meeting at a ridge, on a house in the borough. Measured level, as on a plan, the roof is 40 feet along the ridge and 30 feet from eave to eave, including a 1-foot overhang on every side. The pitch is 8 in 12, meaning the roof rises 8 inches for every 12 inches it runs. It has one layer of asphalt shingles, and all of it will come off.

21,200 square feet on the plan is 14.4 squares on the slope

Roofers sell by the square. The addendum defines a square as 10 feet by 10 feet, or 100 square feet of roof surface, and asks how many squares will be installed. A plan measurement understates the surface of a sloped roof, so the roofer multiplies by a factor for the pitch. For 8 in 12, the slope is the square root of 8 squared plus 12 squared, divided by 12, or about 1.202. The example roof covers 1,200 square feet on a plan and about 1,442 square feet on the slope, which is 14.4 squares.

A quote should state the squares installed. If two quotes give different counts for the same roof, ask each roofer how they measured.

3The borough allows at most two layers, and the example roof has one

The addendum asks how many layers exist, what they are, and how many will be removed. The borough allows a maximum of two asphalt, fiberglass or low-slope roofing systems, so a roof that already has two layers has to be stripped. A new roof cannot go over slate, wood shake, asbestos or clay tile.

Sheathing is the layer of boards or plywood the roof is nailed to. The borough requires sheathing at least 1/2 inch thick over rafters 16 inches apart, and at least 5/8 inch with H clips, small metal brackets that join the panel edges, where rafters are farther apart. The roofer's signature on the addendum certifies that decayed sheathing found after tear-off will be replaced with the owner's written approval.

4On the example roof, the ice and water shield reaches 43 inches up the slope

Ice and water shield is a self-sticking waterproof membrane laid at the eaves, where melting snow can back up under the shingles. The addendum requires it to reach at least 24 inches inside the exterior wall line. On the example roof, the overhang is 1 foot, so the membrane has to cover 3 feet measured level from the eave edge. On an 8-in-12 slope, that is about 3.6 feet, or 43 inches, measured up the roof.

A quote that says only "one course" of membrane leaves the width open; ask how far up the slope it reaches.

Drip edge is the metal strip at the roof edge that sends water into the gutter and away from the fascia board. The addendum asks whether it will be installed along every eave. The example has two 40-foot eaves, so 80 linear feet.

5The 1,064-square-foot attic needs 1,022 square inches of vent, or 511 with high and low vents

The addendum asks for the type of flashing and how it will be installed. It requires flashing to be rebuilt to the manufacturer's installation instructions and metal flashing to be primed before any bituminous material, the tar-based kind, is stuck to it. A quote should name the flashing metal and say whether old flashing at the chimney and walls is reused or replaced.

For ventilation, the borough's rule is a net free area, the open area of the vents after screens and louvers, of at least 1/150 of the area of the space being vented. The space may have 1/300 instead when at least half of the vent area is high on the roof, at least 3 feet above the eave or cornice vents, and the rest is at the eaves. The example attic floor, inside the walls, is 38 by 28 feet, or 1,064 square feet.

When a quote names the vents and how many, ask the roofer for the net free area of each and add them up against the table. The addendum also asks whether the owner was told that inadequate venting may void the manufacturer's warranty.

6On $18,000 of work, the permit costs $224.50 and the deposit can be at most $6,000

The borough's building permit application lists a residential fee of $50 for work up to $1,000, plus $10 for each additional $1,000 or part of $1,000. The application also lists a Pennsylvania UCC permit surcharge of $4.50. On $18,000 of work, the fee is $50 plus 17 times $10, or $220, and $224.50 with the surcharge. Torch-down roofing, a membrane softened with a propane torch as it goes down, needs a separate $75 operational permit, and the addendum tells the roofer to call the fire marshal's office before work starts.

Pennsylvania's Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act, which names roofs among the work it covers, limits the deposit on a contract over $5,000 to one-third of the price, plus the cost of any special-order materials the contract designates. On $18,000, that is $6,000.

7Copy the 12 addendum questions onto one page and fill in each roofer's answer

A blank in one column is a question to ask before you sign. The contract's specifications should carry the same answers, because the act bars a contractor from departing from the plans or specifications in any material way without a written change order, dated and signed by both sides, that states the price change. The guide to roofing contracts lists everything else the contract must contain, and the permit guide covers filing.

If a quote separates special-order materials from the deposit, ask which items are special order. The act defines them as items that are not stock, are made or processed for that job, and cannot be returned for a refund or credit.