Roofing in Feasterville, PA

Capes, dormers and a busy main crossroads

Feasterville grew up around the corner where Street Road meets Bustleton Pike, by the old Buck Hotel, and that corner is still the business center of Lower Southampton Township. Behind the commercial strips are blocks of post-war houses. Cape Cods are a big part of the mix here, along with ranchers, twins and some newer two-story homes, many of them close to the Philadelphia line.

A Cape is a simple box with a steep roof, but most of them have been changed over the years. The upstairs was finished into bedrooms, dormers were added front or back to get headroom, and sometimes a full shed dormer runs across the whole back of the house. Every one of those changes added joints where a wall meets a roof. Those joints, not the open shingle field, are where most Feasterville Cape leaks start.

Why Cape dormers leak, and what the fix looks like

Missing or buried step flashing

Where the side wall of a dormer meets the roof, there should be a small piece of bent metal, called step flashing, woven in with each course of shingles and tucked behind the siding. On a lot of dormers added decades ago, we find a single strip of metal nailed flat, or just a bead of roof cement. It holds for a while, then water runs behind the siding and shows up as a stain on the bedroom wall or ceiling below. Proper step flashing means taking the siding off at the bottom of the dormer wall. More cement on top does not fix it.

The low-slope shed dormer

Big rear shed dormers often have a roof that is barely sloped. Regular shingles are made for steeper roofs, so on a shed dormer that flat, water sits, backs up under the tabs and finds the nails. If yours leaks every heavy rain, the lasting answer is often a flat roof membrane on that section, tied into the main roof.

Valleys and short gutters

Where a front dormer roof meets the main slope, it forms a small valley that funnels a lot of water toward a short stretch of gutter. If that gutter clogs, water spills over at the front door or backs up into the eave. Keeping those few feet clear does more good than most homeowners expect. See gutter repair if the gutter itself has pulled loose.

Hot upstairs bedrooms

A finished Cape upstairs has very little attic space, so the roof sits just above the drywall. Without a clear path for air from the eaves to the ridge, those rooms bake in summer and the shingles above them age faster. When we replace a Cape roof, we look at how the rafter bays can breathe before we choose vents.

Checking a Cape from the inside

Most Capes have small doors in the upstairs knee walls that open onto the low attic space behind the bedrooms. That is the easiest place to look, and you don't need a ladder.

1. Open the knee-wall doors after a heavy rain. Use a flashlight and look at the underside of the roof boards, especially in line with the dormer walls.
2. Look for stains with a hard edge. A brown ring or streak that runs down from where a dormer meets the roof is the classic flashing leak.
3. Check the bedroom corners. Peeling paint or a soft spot where the dormer wall meets the ceiling often points to the same joint from the other side.
4. Go outside and look up. From the yard, look at the bottom corners of each dormer. Thick black tar smeared along the wall is a sign someone has been patching a flashing problem.

Small stain, big repair?: Not usually. Re-flashing a dormer is a roof repair, not a new roof. It only becomes a bigger job if the wood behind the siding has been wet long enough to rot, which is why it is worth catching early.

Storefront roofs, and who shows up

Along Street Road and Bustleton Pike there are plenty of small shops, offices and mixed-use buildings with low-slope roofs. Those roofs fail at the edges, drains and rooftop units more than in the middle. A little maintenance every few years, resealing seams and flashing, goes a long way. We handle commercial roofing for small buildings like these as well as houses.

Armstrong Roofing is family-owned and based in Horsham. Owner Jim Armstrong personally oversees every job, and the team has 50+ years of combined roofing experience. We hold PA license #PA164826, carry general liability and workers' compensation insurance, are GAF certified and BBB A+ rated, and have a 5.0 rating from 200+ reviews on Google. Asphalt shingle roof replacements come with our 25-year workmanship warranty.

We also work in Southampton, Bensalem, Huntingdon Valley and the rest of Bucks County.

What it usually costs

Re-flashing a dormer or fixing a shed dormer roof is usually a repair, well short of a new roof. A Cape with several dormers costs more to re-roof than a plain rancher of the same size because of the extra flashing and detail work.

• Roof Repair: $350 – $2,500
• Roof Replacement: $6,500 – $18,000
• Flat Roof Repair: $350 – $1,800
• Flat roof maintenance (every 3 years): $350 and up
• Commercial Roofing: $5,000 – $40,000

Questions we get asked

Do you work in Feasterville and Trevose?

Yes. We work all over Feasterville and Trevose, from the Street Road and Bustleton Pike corner out to Brownsville Road and the streets near the Philadelphia line. We come from Horsham.

Why does my Cape leak only by the dormer?

Because the joint between the dormer wall and the roof is the weak spot. The step flashing there is often missing, rusted or covered in roof cement. Proper new flashing behind the siding fixes it.

Can you fix a leaking shed dormer without replacing the whole roof?

Usually, yes. If the dormer roof is too flat for shingles, we can put a flat-roof membrane on that section and tie it into the main roof. Flat roof repairs typically run $350 to $1,800.

How much does a new roof cost on a Feasterville Cape?

Most roof replacements we do run between $6,500 and $18,000. Capes are not large, but dormers add flashing and labor, so a Cape with several dormers costs more than a plain rancher. You get a written, line-item estimate after we see it.

Do you work on small commercial buildings?

Yes. We repair and replace roofs on shops, offices and small mixed-use buildings. Commercial jobs typically range from $5,000 to $40,000 depending on size and system, and flat-roof maintenance starts at $350.

Are you licensed and insured?

Yes. PA license #PA164826, with general liability and workers' compensation insurance. We'll show you proof before any work starts.

Related pages

• Roof Repair: Leaks, missing shingles, flashing and vents. We fix the problem and tell you honestly how much life the roof has left.
• Roof Replacement: Full tear-off and new roof when repairs stop making sense. Written, line-item estimate before anything starts.
• Flat Roofing: Low-slope roofs over porches, additions and row homes, where ponding water is the enemy.
• Commercial Roofing: Roof repair and replacement for small commercial buildings, offices and multi-unit properties.
• Gutter Repair: Sagging, leaking or overflowing gutters fixed before they rot your fascia.
• Roof Inspection: A free, top-to-bottom look at your roof with photos, so you know what you actually need before you spend anything.
• Bucks County: Warminster, Doylestown, Newtown, Yardley, Chalfont and everywhere in between.
• Southampton: Upper Southampton neighborhoods next to Warminster.
• Bensalem: Bensalem Township singles, twins and townhomes.
• Huntingdon Valley: Lower Moreland and Abington neighborhoods with bigger lots and trees.
• Langhorne: Langhorne borough and Middletown Township neighborhoods.
• Warminster: Our neighbor to the north; lots of 1950s-70s ranchers and splits.
• Levittown: The planned post-war neighborhoods of lower Bucks.