Local roofing experts are roofers who know the conditions and rules at your address: the energy-code climate zone that decides whether a new roof must be a cool roof, if the house sits in a fire hazard zone that calls for Class A, which office issues the permit, and what the local weather does to each material. Between the Santa Barbara coast and the San Bernardino mountains those answers change several times. To ask how they apply to your roof, call NEMA Roofing at 866-631-3366.
Five roofing regions, five different problems
The table sets out what changes from region to region. Climate zones are the California Energy Commission’s building climate zones by ZIP code; weather figures are NOAA’s 1991 to 2020 climate normals for the nearest station.
| Region (example ZIP) | Climate zone | Weather that matters | What wears roofs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Barbara and Ventura coast (Santa Barbara 93101, Oxnard 93030) | 6 | Mild: August average high 74.5°F at Santa Barbara airport and 73.5°F at the Oxnard airport, only a few days a year at 90°F | Salt air and damp on metal flashing, fasteners and vents |
| San Fernando Valley (Woodland Hills 91364) | 9 | Hot: August average high 97.4°F at Pierce College, about 115 days a year at 90°F or more | Heat on asphalt, sealants and rubber boots; attic heat |
| Southeast Los Angeles County (Downey 90241) | 8 | Inland of the coastal zone, and inside the zones where the steep-slope cool-roof rule applies | Sun and heat on shingles, sealants and flat roofs |
| Inland Empire valleys (Riverside 92501, San Bernardino 92401) | 10 | Hot: August average high 96.2°F at Redlands, about 104 days a year at 90°F or more | Heat, and dry winds from the interior |
| San Bernardino mountains (Big Bear Lake 92315) | 16 | Cold: about 59 inches of snow a year and some 176 nights at or below freezing | Snow, ice at the eaves, freeze and thaw |
On the coast: salt and damp, not heat
Near the ocean the enemy is corrosion. Salt carried on onshore air settles on metal flashing, fasteners, vents and gutters, and the marine layer keeps roofs damp for hours. The U.S. Department of Defense’s roofing criteria (UFC 3-110-03) note that Galvalume-coated steel “does not perform as well when in direct contact with salt spray” and that aluminum may be the better choice in some coastal settings. A roofer who knows the coast asks what metal your flashings and fasteners are, not only what the covering is.
Energy rules differ here too. California’s steep-slope cool-roof requirement for residential reroofs applies in climate zones 4 and 8 to 15, which leaves Santa Barbara and Oxnard (zone 6) outside it. For a closer look at the coast, read how marine layer wears roofs in Santa Barbara.
In the valleys: heat and the cool-roof rule
Inland, heat does the damage. Asphalt shingles lose oils and granules faster, sealant dries and cracks, and the rubber boots around plumbing vents split. Attic ventilation matters more, because a hot attic cooks the roof from below.
The rules follow the heat. The Valley (zone 9), Downey (zone 8) and the Riverside and San Bernardino valleys (zone 10) all fall inside the zones where a residential steep-slope reroof replacing more than half the roof generally needs a cool-roof product, with some exceptions. In the City of Los Angeles, the Department of Building and Safety requires a product certified by the Cool Roof Rating Council for a residential roof replacement over 50 percent of the roof area.
Wind and wildfire
The National Weather Service describes a Santa Ana wind as strong, hot, dust-bearing winds that descend to the coast around Los Angeles from inland desert regions. Those winds lift loose shingles and ridge caps and drive embers. Where a property sits in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, the roof covering has to be Class A; in the City of Los Angeles that is spelled out in the permit rules, and both Woodland Hills ZIP codes include mapped Very High zones. A local roofer should know if your street is in one before quoting a material.
In the mountains: snow and ice
Big Bear Lake is a different climate altogether (zone 16). California’s residential code requires an ice barrier (two cemented layers of underlayment or a self-adhering membrane from the eaves inward) on shingle, metal shingle, slate and wood roofs where there is a history of ice forming along the eaves and backing up water. Snow load, eave ice and freeze-thaw cycles decide the material and the details there, not heat.
Who issues your permit
A reroof permit comes from whoever governs your address, and that is not always the town name on your mail. Woodland Hills, Tarzana and Encino are neighborhoods of the City of Los Angeles, so their permits come from the Department of Building and Safety. Montecito is unincorporated, so it goes through Santa Barbara County, and it has its own Board of Architectural Review. Cities such as Carpinteria run their own building divisions. A local roofing expert knows which one applies and what it asks for before the job is priced.
How to test a roofer’s local knowledge
- “Which climate zone is my house in, and does my reroof need a cool roof?”
- “Is my property in a fire hazard severity zone?”
- “Who issues the permit here, and does my area have design review?”
- “What fails first on roofs in this area?”
Clear, specific answers are the sign of a roofer who works near you. For the rest of the vetting (license, insurance, contract), see questions to ask a roofing company.
Local teams across five counties
NEMA Roofing keeps that knowledge local by working from five Google-verified locations: Santa Barbara, Oxnard, Woodland Hills, Tarzana and Downey. From them we cover Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties in full, coast, valleys and mountains alike. See our roofing contractor services, or call 866-631-3366 and tell us your town.
