Harris County, home base: roofs and remodels from Cypress out

The county was founded on December 22, 1836, and organized the next March. It carries the name of John Richardson Harris, who founded Harrisburg on Buffalo Bayou in 1826, and at first its lines took in Galveston Island, until they were redrawn in May 1838. The first recorded European settlers arrived in 1822 by sailing into Galveston Bay. Houston, the largest city in Texas, is the seat, and Baytown, Katy, Pearland, Stafford and Missouri City all lie partly inside the county. Bush Intercontinental and Hobby airports are both here, and Interstate 10, Interstate 45, Interstate 69, Interstate 610, U.S. 290 and Beltway 8 tie it together.

Harris County is a patchwork for a contractor. The City of Houston runs its own permit office, and the other incorporated cities, from Bellaire and West University Place to Pasadena, Baytown, Humble and Tomball, issue their own. Then there are the unincorporated communities with no city government at all: Cypress, Spring, Atascocita, Aldine, Channelview, Crosby and others. Out there, city permit rules do not apply, while county rules on floodplain, septic, driveways and culverts, and state rules, still can. Two houses a few minutes apart can sit under different rules, so the address comes first and the scope is written to match it.

Across that much ground the weather is shared. Hail in spring, wind from summer thunderstorms and tropical systems from June to November reach Cypress and Baytown alike, and long humid summers bake attics and streak north slopes with algae. The area’s clay soils shrink in dry spells and swell when wet, and that movement shows up in slabs, door frames and tile. That is why a bathroom remodel here starts with a look at the floor: cracked tile over a moving slab will crack again, and we tell you so before any new tile goes down. On the roof, we check the attic too, because heat and poor ventilation age shingles from underneath.

Leland is a Houston native who spent part of his Army career recruiting in this city, and because we are based here, Harris County gets the full catalog. Roof replacement and architectural shingle replacement for the suburban houses around Cypress, Spring and Katy. Flat roof replacement and TPO roofing replacement for low-slope sections of homes and for small commercial buildings. Kitchen remodeling, bathroom remodeling and veteran ADA remodeling inside the house, and office remodeling or retail remodeling for a small business that has outgrown its layout. If what you need is smaller than any of those, a leak or a loose ridge cap, say so; we would rather fix that than sell you a roof.

Work we take on in Harris County

• Flat roof installation A flat roof is never actually flat, and the ones that leak are usually the ones somebody built that way.
• Flat roof replacement Most residential flat roofs we’re asked to replace failed at the same few places: a low corner that holds water, a tie-in that was caulked, a drain nobody cleared.
• TPO roofing installation TPO is a single-ply membrane that comes off the roll white and gets joined with hot air instead of glue.