Roofing Contractor in St. Matthews, KY

Roofing on St. Matthews' 1940s and 1950s houses

The St. Matthews city flag shows a potato and a farmer, for its history of growing and selling potatoes. In 1946, St. Matthews was believed to be the most populous unincorporated community in the country. It incorporated in 1950 as just three square blocks. By 1954, the city covered two areas home to about 6,500 people.

About a third of the city's homes date from that era. The Census Bureau's latest five-year survey puts about 3,000 of its 9,375 homes in the 1940s and 1950s. Owned homes here run much older than rentals. Rented homes have a median build year of 1981.

On a roof this old, the deck boards can be original even when the shingles are not. The Kentucky Residential Code bars a new layer over a roof that already has two. A roof inspection association's guide lists cracked flashing around vents and chimneys among the most frequent failure points. That is why a roof inspection makes a good first step on a house this age.

Storms and roof leaks in St. Matthews

Water shaped St. Matthews early on. In 1945, a sanitation district formed to bring sewers to what the city calls a poorly drained area. Some knew it as the land of the lakes, because so many streets flooded after brief summer rains.

St. Matthews still runs its own storm drains. When MSD took over storm drainage countywide in 1986, the city was one of five home-rule cities left out. The city built Arthur K. Draut Park in 1994 to hold water during heavy rains, along Beargrass Creek. The city treats gutter water sent onto the next lot as a civil matter between owners.

NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals give Louisville's airport 48.34 inches of precipitation a year. On March 3, 2023, NOAA storm records show peak gusts of 79 mph there and at Bowman Field. When wind or rain gets water past the shingles, our roof leak repair work starts with finding where it enters.

Which office handles a roof permit in St. Matthews?

Kentucky leaves permits on single-family houses to local ordinance. St. Matthews runs its own city government, but Louisville Metro issues its building permits. Before Louisville Metro will issue one, the city requires a Letter of Compliance.

The City Engineer at City Hall handles that letter. The application names every contractor and subcontractor on the job. Work other than interior projects also needs two copies of a site plan, a scaled drawing of the property.

Whether a roof job needs a permit depends on the work. Structural work, such as replacing the roof deck or rafters, is the usual reason to ask. Louisville Metro's permit office answers that question for a specific address, and we point you there.

Older houses and new builds in St. Matthews

St. Matthews counted 17,534 people at the 2020 Census, on about 4.4 square miles of land. About half of its homes are detached houses. Most of the rest sit in buildings with three or more units. Nearly half of the occupied homes in the city are rented.

New homes are a small share here. The Census Bureau counts about 480 homes built in 2010 or later, about one in twenty. A project that creates more than five single-family homes needs a development plan approved by the City Council. When a builder does put up a new house in St. Matthews, our new construction roofing work handles the roof.