Service area: Galveston County
Commercial roofing in Galveston, TX
Commercial roof repair, coatings and replacement in Galveston, TX. Parapet roofs on the Strand, hotels on the Seawall, salt from both shores.
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Commercial roofing in Galveston, TX
Galveston is an island with water on both sides of its commercial buildings. The Gulf runs along Seawall Boulevard, the harbor along Harborside Drive, and downtown sits between them. Nothing on the island is far from salt.
Downtown is the part no other city we cover has. The Strand and Mechanic Street, west from 20th Street, hold one of the country's largest collections of cast-iron-front commercial buildings, most from the late 1800s. Postoffice and Market streets carry more historic blocks a few streets south. Behind the fronts, low-slope modified bitumen or built-up roofs sit inside brick parapets. The parapet usually fails first: the coping, the flashing up its inside face, and the joint where roof meets wall.
The Seawall Boulevard hotels, from early-1900s buildings to new construction, take salt spray straight off open water in calm weather as well as rough. Their roofs carry packaged units, exhaust fans and elevator housings, each curbed, strapped and flashed where the weather reaches first.
At the east end, between Harborside Drive and Market Street, medical and research buildings sit close together under crowded roofs. For the clinics and medical offices there, medical office roofing covers planning work over rooms in use.
West along Harborside Drive, past the cruise terminals, the warehouse, shop and storage buildings outside the terminal gates are often R-panel metal within sight of the channel. Warehouse roofing covers those. Back toward the causeway, 61st Street and Broadway carry strip centers, grocery-anchored retail, restaurants and offices, covered under retail and strip center roofing.
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Salt, old masonry and more than a century of storms
Downtown, salt and damp work on the parapet itself. Mortar along the top softens and opens, and coping joints stop closing. Base flashing let into the brick long ago pulls out as the mortar breaks down. After that, the joint between wall and roof is held shut by whatever sealant the last person left.
A parapet also has weather on both faces: Gulf rain on the outside, a damp roof side within. Through-wall scuppers corrode where salt sits on the metal. When one narrows, the roof inside the box has nowhere to shed its water.
The island has come through major storms more than once. The 1900 storm is why the seawall exists, and Ike in 2008 damaged buildings across the historic district. Many of the repairs afterward went on in a hurry, with the only goal to close the building up. On plenty of older buildings, that stopgap work quietly became the roof.
None of it shows from the street. Commercial roof maintenance on the island is mostly parapets, copings, scuppers and equipment. Buying downtown? A commercial roof inspection records those walls and joints first.
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Commercial roof repair in Galveston, TX
Commercial roof repair in Galveston, TX happens mostly where a roof meets something else: a parapet, a scupper, an equipment curb, a pipe. We check every one of those joints across the roof, including the ones nobody reported.
On a parapet building, the joint gets rebuilt, not dressed. Failed base flashing is cut back and replaced, carried up the wall, and covered by counterflashing instead of a sealant smear. Open coping joints get closed, loose coping re-set, and corroded scuppers replaced and flashed in. Where the brick or mortar has failed, that is a mason's job, and we sequence the roofing around it.
On the Seawall hotels, repairs gather around equipment: curb flashings, rusted stands and supports, and penetrations whose metal parts failed before the membrane. Near the port, corroded fasteners get replaced and laps treated. The method is on the commercial roof repair page, and water coming in now is an emergency roof repair call.
Parapet flashing resealed after every storm?
Then the joint between wall and roof has been covered, not rebuilt. We will walk every wall on the roof, cut the failed flashing back to sound material, and set out the repair in a written scope.
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Roof coatings and restoration in Galveston
A fluid-applied restoration suits more of the island's roofs than owners expect, and the historic downtown buildings are the clearest case. Tearing off a roof sunk inside parapets means carrying all of it down past a landmark front onto a working street. A restoration leaves the roof in place. Wet areas are cut out, details reinforced with fabric in the base coat, and the surface closed in up over the base flashings. It can carry a manufacturer warranty of its own.
On the Seawall hotels, it means no open deck over occupied floors and far less noise than a re-roof. On the port-side metal buildings, sound panels with tired fasteners and laps can be closed in rather than taken off.
A coating cannot repair a wall. Loose coping, pulled-out flashing or a rotted scupper gets rebuilt first. Systems are on the roof coatings and restoration page, and panel roofs on metal roof coating.
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Commercial roof replacement in Galveston
Replacement is the answer when the roof inside the walls has nothing left to repair. That means wet insulation across much of the field, a rotting or rusting deck, or post-storm fixes with no sound surface left between them. Short of that, repair or restoration does more with the money.
A new roof is the one moment to rebuild parapet flashing, scupper openings and curb heights for Gulf weather. A building in the downtown historic district may sit under design review; if yours does, tell us early. Hotels get phased around occupancy and season, with no more deck opened than can be closed before the crew leaves. The process is on the commercial roof replacement page.
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Roofing systems we work on in Galveston
The island's roofs split by district. Downtown, inside the parapets, is modified bitumen and built-up, some of it already coated. The Seawall hotels and the medical campus commonly carry single-ply or mod-bit crowded with equipment, and the port-side buildings are largely metal. On all of them, the metal and masonry parts (flashings, copings, scuppers, fasteners) go before the membrane.
More on each system: TPO roofing, flat roof repair and metal roof coating and retrofits.
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Response and coverage in Galveston
Windstorm certification is the other island question, and the one to settle first. All of Galveston County falls inside it. Repairs as well as re-roofs here can need to be WPI-8 certified work for the owner to keep TWIA wind coverage. We do WPI-8 certified work. Raise it on the first call, before the repair is scheduled, whether the building is a Seawall hotel or a brick building on the Strand.
The island is an I-45 run over the causeway, and we cover all of it: downtown, the Seawall, Harborside Drive, 61st Street and Broadway, and the west end. Water actively coming in gets same-day emergency response. Planned work sent through the form gets a reply within 24 hours, usually the same day.
Start with a roof assessment, free when we are quoting the work, or an inspection for a condition report.
Need someone on a roof in Galveston?
Active leaks get a same-day response. For planned work, send the address and we will walk the roof.
Who you are dealing with
Coons Roofing is a commercial-only roofing contractor working across the Houston metro. It is owned and run by Wade Coons, who is on every project from the first roof walk to the final walkthrough. There is no salesman between you and the person who looked at your roof.
Certified applicator for Versico, FiberTite, Duro-Last, Karnak, IPC, Western Colloid, Elevate and GAF. Fully insured with general liability and workers compensation coverage.
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Commercial roofing in Galveston: FAQs
Do you repair roofs on historic buildings on the Strand in Galveston, TX?
Yes. The buildings along the Strand, Mechanic, Postoffice and Market carry low-slope roofs inside tall brick parapets. Most of the work happens at the walls: base flashing, coping, scuppers and the joint where roof meets masonry. Brick or mortar that needs attention belongs to a mason, and we will tell you so. If your building is under design review, tell us early.
Does a commercial roof repair in Galveston need windstorm certification?
It can. Galveston County is windstorm certification territory. A roof repair on a commercial building here can need to be WPI-8 certified work for the building to keep TWIA wind coverage. We do WPI-8 certified work. Ask at the planning stage, before the repair is scheduled, not after it is finished.
How fast can you get to a roof leak in Galveston, TX?
Same day for active water intrusion, anywhere on the island: downtown, the Seawall, Harborside Drive, 61st Street, Broadway and the west end. The first visit covers the opening and protects what is underneath. The permanent repair follows once the roof is dry enough to take it.
Can a hotel roof on Seawall Boulevard be worked on while the hotel is open?
Yes, with planning. Hotel roofs are worked in phases around occupancy, opening only as much deck as can be made watertight before the crew leaves. Noisy work is timed with the property. Where the roof qualifies, a coating restoration avoids a tear-off over guests altogether.
Is a roof coating a good idea on a building behind a historic parapet?
Often, once the walls are dealt with. A restoration keeps the existing roof in place, so nothing is carried down past the front of the building, and the coating runs up over the base flashings. It will not fix loose coping, flashing pulled out of the brick or a rotted scupper. Those get rebuilt first, then the roof gets coated.
Do you work on metal warehouses near the port on Harborside Drive?
Yes, for warehouse, shop and storage buildings outside the port's terminal gates. They are often R-panel metal within sight of the channel. Salt shows up as corroded fasteners, rust at the laps and failed flashings at penetrations. Sound panels with those problems usually call for a repair or a restoration rather than a new roof.
What does commercial roof repair cost in Galveston?
A standard repair generally runs $1,500 to $3,500, and the firm price comes from walking the roof. On the island it moves with how much parapet flashing and coping is involved, whether scuppers need replacing, how far corrosion has spread, and whether insulation is wet. You get a written scope and price, and the assessment is free when we are quoting.
Get a roof assessment in Galveston
Send the address and what you are seeing, and we will put the scope in writing.
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Schedule a free roof assessment
We'll walk your roof, take photos, and give you straight answers. The assessment is free when we are quoting the work.
We reply within 24 hours, usually the same day. No pressure, no sales visit you did not ask for, and we never sell your information.