Fishtown Roofing Services

Adilay Roofing’s shop is on Dreer Street in Kensington, three blocks from the Fishtown line. Most days the closest job to our front door is on Cedar, Edgemont, Berks, Norris, Susquehanna, Tilton, or one of the cross-streets between Frankford and Aramingo. We’ve worked roofs on nearly every block in 19125 and we know the specific quirks of Fishtown housing — which streets have the worst parking, which alleys actually open to pull-through access for material delivery, which blocks have nineteenth-century homes with original wood plank decking under the tar, which new-construction blocks have city-required green-roof or roof-deck systems. Driving in from the suburbs to fix a Fishtown roof is harder than it looks. We don’t have to.

The roofs we work on in Fishtown fall into two very different categories:

If there’s one architectural feature that defines new Fishtown construction, it’s the roof deck. We’ve installed and repaired more roof decks in this neighborhood than anywhere else in the city. The fundamentals: a roof under a deck still has to be a real waterproof roof first — reinforced EPDM or modified bitumen, properly seamed, with crickets to direct water to drains, protection board between the membrane and any deck framing, and stainless flashings at every railing post penetration. Most new-construction roof decks in Fishtown were built reasonably well; the failures we see most often are: (1) clogged interior drains causing ponding above the unit below, (2) failed sealant at railing posts after 8–12 years, (3) cracked membrane where pergola feet sat without protection pads. All fixable. We can usually pull a section of decking, address the membrane issue, and reset the deck without a full demolition.

Fishtown property sells fast and the roof comes up in every inspection. If you’re planning to list, a new roof before listing usually pays for itself in the sale price — buyers know they don’t have to negotiate $8,000 off after the inspector finds bubbling membrane and lifted seams. We can usually do a pre-listing flat-roof replacement on a standard rowhouse in 1–2 days, with full documentation (photos, materials list, manufacturer warranty paperwork) ready to hand the buyer’s agent. We’ve done this for dozens of Fishtown listings on Cedar, Hewson, Tulip, Belgrade, and the rest of the side-street grid.

For related neighborhood roofing pages, see Kensington · Northern Liberties · Old City · Center City · all Philadelphia neighborhoods.