Sterling Roofers takes roof repair and replacement calls from Arlington homeowners. Arlington works differently from the Fairfax County towns around it: one county government handles every permit, and the county publishes its own roof rule. This page walks through that rule, the one neighborhood with local historic review and what the housing mix means for your roof.
What we do here
Arlington calls tend to start with a symptom: a ceiling stain under a chimney, a patch of lifted shingles after wind, or a roof that has reached the point where each repair only moves the problem along. For a leak, roof repair for Arlington homes means tracing the water to the flashing, vent boot or valley where it enters rather than sealing the stain.
When the covering is worn across the whole slope, roof replacement for Arlington homes removes the old layer, looks at the decking, renews flashing and ventilation and closes with debris removal, all in one written scope. If you are not sure which of the two you need, a roof inspection documents what is visible first.
Low-slope sections on additions, porches and small buildings are covered on our flat and commercial roofing page, and the full menu lives on roofing services.
Permits
Sometimes. Arlington County is the only permit authority, and it has no town or city offices inside its borders. Residential building permits are applied for online through Permit Arlington, and the county posts a short table for roof covering replacement.
| Your roof scope | Building permit per the county table |
|---|---|
| New covering, existing decking left as is | No permit |
| New covering plus less than 256 sq ft of decking | No permit |
| New covering plus more than 256 sq ft of decking | Permit required |
| New plywood laid over existing decking | Call the Permit Arlington Center, 703-228-3800 |
| Townhouse or other roof that needed fire-retardant-treated lumber when built | Permit required whatever the amount of decking |
The table applies to replacing an existing covering, not to putting a first roof on a new structure, and it follows the exemptions in Virginia’s statewide building code. The state code treats 256 square feet or less as exempt, so any job near that line deserves a phone call to Arlington County before work starts.
Apartments and condos
Not for permits. The county treats apartment buildings with three or more dwelling units as commercial under the Building Code, and those jobs need a commercial building permit instead of the residential path above. So the table on this page describes houses and townhouses, not a garden-apartment or condominium building.
That matters here because most Arlington housing sits in larger buildings. If a condominium board is replacing a flat or low-slope roof, the board, its manager and the county are the parties to talk to, and the same goes for a small duplex or a house with a flat addition. See our roofing materials compared page for how shingle and membrane options differ.
Historic review
Fewer than most people assume. A neighborhood being on a historic register and a neighborhood being a Local Historic District are two different things.
Of the county’s residential neighborhoods, only Maywood is a Local Historic District, designated in 1990. It runs roughly from Lorcom Lane south to Langston Boulevard, between North Nelson Street and Interstate 66, with about 300 buildings from 1909 to 1941.
Lyon Village, Ashton Heights, Lyon Park, Aurora Highlands, Westover, Cherrydale and Fairlington are on the National Register of Historic Places, which the county calls honorific. They are not Local Historic Districts, so the county’s Certificate of Appropriateness does not apply to them.
Three garden-apartment complexes, Colonial Village, Buckingham Villages and Cambridge Courts, are also local districts, along with individual houses, schools and other sites. Inside a local district, a Certificate of Appropriateness is required for exterior alterations except routine maintenance, repairs and replacements using the same materials. Reading that wording, a like-for-like re-roof sits on the exempt side and a change of roofing material is an alteration, but the county’s Historic Preservation staff make that call, so phone them at 703-228-3838 before you choose a material. The state code also lets a building official require a permit for replacement roofing in a locally designated district.
The housing mix
Census data describes the buildings. It does not record roof age or material.
Across 121,970 housing units, per the Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 estimates.
About 40,800 units come from the 1950s or earlier, so many Arlington roofs have likely been replaced at least once.
Townhouse-type homes are 8.9%, and 61.5% of units are in buildings of five or more. Owners occupy 41.3% of occupied homes.
The house and townhouse minority is still tens of thousands of roofs, and those are the jobs a homeowner can book directly. Fairlington, the 1940s garden-apartment and townhouse community near Shirlington, is described in public sources as mostly slate-roofed. Slate calls for a roofer who works with it, so ask about that experience first.
How a job runs
Four steps, with a document you can request at each.
A free 15-minute call covers the symptom, the building type and whether a board or district is involved.
Someone looks at the roof at a time you set, records what is visible and flags what stays hidden until tear-off.
Covers the area, tear-off, decking allowance, flashing, ventilation, haul-away, exclusions and the county answer on permits.
Done to the scope, with any county or historic inspection scheduled afterward.
Storms and trees
On August 10, 2026, a thunderstorm line with warned gusts near 60 mph cut power to nearly 2,500 homes and businesses across the county, and a large tree came down across Wilson Boulevard near Bluemont Park. In July 2023, storms left more than 34,000 Arlington customers without power and put trees on at least eight houses. Those reports describe outages and fallen trees, not a tally of damaged roofs.
The county measured a 35.2% tree canopy in 2023, up from 31.7% in 2014, with a goal of at least 40%. Canopy does not prove a roof is worn, but limbs above a roof are worth a look after wind. If a tree or storm does damage a roof, read our storm damage roofing page and roof insurance claim help before you call your carrier.
Reviews
Word for word from the Google profile, rated 5.0 across 28 reviews.
“When some parts of my roof was damaged last winter, I had called another company. They said they would come by and email an estimate to me within a week. I waited for two weeks and never heard back.”
FAQ
Arlington County. There are no incorporated towns or cities inside it, so the county handles building permits, zoning and local historic review for every Arlington address. Residential building permits are requested online through Permit Arlington, and 703-228-3800 reaches the permit staff.
The county’s table says replacing the roof covering without changing the decking needs no building permit, and the same holds when less than 256 square feet of decking is replaced. More than 256 square feet needs one, and so does a townhouse roof that required fire-retardant-treated lumber at original construction.
Only if it is a Local Historic District. Maywood is the one residential neighborhood with that status. Lyon Village, Ashton Heights, Westover, Fairlington and similar areas are on the National Register, which the county calls honorific, and the Certificate of Appropriateness process does not apply there.
No. The county treats apartment buildings with three or more units as commercial for permit purposes, so those roofs go through commercial building permits. Ask your board or property manager who is handling the application.
Columbia Pike begins at the Fairfax line near Bailey’s Crossroads, so the western end is Fairfax County territory and the rest runs through Arlington. Shirlington is in Arlington. Some Arlington-area ZIP codes, such as 22206, are shared with Alexandria, so the parcel location decides who issues the permit, not the mailing city.
The county’s published walk-in hours run Monday to Thursday, with shorter hours on the third Wednesday of the month, and phone staff take calls Monday to Friday. Those hours and the check-in location can change, so phone ahead rather than driving to 2100 Clarendon Boulevard.
Ask who owns the roof, since many Fairlington homes are condominiums, and ask the roofer how the work handles slate or the existing material. Fairlington is on the National Register but is not a Local Historic District. Confirm any association rules with your board before you order anything.
The county’s permit pages do not give a figure we can quote here. Ask for the fastening and underlayment specification in your written scope instead, and ask Permit Arlington whether any design value applies to your project.
Nearby
Arlington borders Falls Church and Alexandria, which are independent cities with their own permit offices, so their rules are not the ones above. See Falls Church, Alexandria, McLean and Fairfax, or the full service areas list.
Sterling Roofers is based at 8466 Tyco Road, Suite B, Vienna, VA 22182, and the office number is (703) 436-4445. Ring first, since the roof itself is looked at on site. Learn more about Sterling Roofers.
Talk through the next step
Share the property address, the condition you are seeing and the decision you need to make.
