Roofing in Chandler Heights, Chandler (85249)

Common roof types in Chandler Heights

• Concrete Tile
• Clay Tile
• Metal (outbuildings and custom homes)
• Asphalt Shingle
• Flat/Foam (patio sections)

Typical home age: 15–25 years (median year built 2005) · Population: 48,746

Which Chandler Heights is this?

The name causes some confusion. The original Chandler Heights was a citrus settlement that Dr. A.J. Chandler and his partners started in 1928 near the base of the San Tan Mountains, with about 5,000 acres set aside for orange and grapefruit groves and a small townsite of stucco homes with red tile roofs. That historic area lies farther east, mostly within Queen Creek's planning area, and its addresses now use Queen Creek.

This page covers ZIP code 85249, the southern part of the City of Chandler that the road named for that settlement runs through. Chandler's Southeast Chandler Area Plan covers almost exactly the same ground, bounded by Arizona Avenue, Val Vista Drive, Ocotillo Road and Hunt Highway. The city's general plan calls for preserving the area's agricultural atmosphere and sense of openness, which is why you'll find large lots and rural-feeling streets next to standard subdivisions.

If you live in the Queen Creek side of historic Chandler Heights, see our Queen Creek page instead. The permit rules there are different.

Roof ages in 85249

Southeast Chandler filled in late. Census data for 85249 shows about 61 percent of homes were built from 2000 to 2009, 13 percent in the 1990s and 19 percent from 2010 to 2019. Nearly all are detached single-family homes. The median year built is 2005.

That puts the area in three age groups:

• Late-1990s homes, including Springfield, a 55-plus golf community. Original tile underlayment here is now 26 to 29 years old, past the 15 to 25 years it typically lasts in our heat.
• 2000s subdivisions, which are most of the ZIP code. These roofs are 17 to 26 years old, squarely in the window when underlayment starts to fail. This is where most of the major roof work in 85249 will happen over the next several years.
• Post-2010 homes, which mostly need repairs: cracked tile, loose ridge pieces and flashing problems rather than replacement.

Your county assessor record shows your home's build year. If it's 2006 or earlier and the tile has never been lifted, schedule an inspection before the next monsoon.

City of Chandler or Maricopa County?

Not every 85249 address is in Chandler. When we sampled the ZIP code against Census Bureau boundary maps, about one in six points fell in unincorporated Maricopa County rather than the city. Those county islands have Chandler mailing addresses but follow county rules.

The practical differences for a roof:

• City of Chandler: no permit is needed to replace a roof with the same kind of material as long as the new roof doesn't add weight. A permit is required when you switch to a different material, which for a heavier roof like concrete tile also means an engineering check of the framing, and when the existing roof already has more than two layers.
• Unincorporated Maricopa County: a re-roof with the same type of material is exempt from a permit. Material changes and structural repairs go through the County's Planning and Development department, not the city.

Your property tax bill or the County Assessor's parcel lookup shows your jurisdiction. We confirm it before quoting, so the permit plan is right from the start.

One more boundary: Hunt Highway is the county line. Homes just south of it are in Pinal County, where a reroof requires a permit.

Tile roofs at 20 years: what to look for

Most 85249 homes have concrete tile, with some clay tile on custom and higher-end homes. The tile is rarely the problem at this age. The underlayment under it is the actual waterproofing, and summer roof surface temperatures of 150 to 170°F dry it out over time.

Signs your underlayment is near the end:

• A ceiling stain after a heavy monsoon rain, especially near a valley, skylight or where a lower roof meets a two-story wall.
• Repeat leaks in different spots each summer after earlier patches.
• Tiles that have slipped down the roof, leaving gaps at the top of a row.
• Underlayment visible at the eaves that crumbles or tears when touched.

If the underlayment is failing across the roof, a tile underlayment replacement is the usual fix. Our crew lifts and stacks the tile, removes the old layer, installs a high-temperature synthetic or self-adhered underlayment with new flashing, and relays the same tile. Clay tile takes more care to lift and reset because it's more brittle, and it costs a bit more for that reason. On a typical home the job takes 3 to 5 days, weather permitting.

Please don't walk your own tile roof to check. Tile cracks under a misplaced step, and a cracked tile lets more water onto the layer below.

Large lots, outbuildings and metal roofs

Southeast Chandler's large-lot properties often have more than one roof: the house, a detached garage or casita, a barn or workshop, and shade structures. Outbuildings are often exposed-fastener metal, and their usual failure is simple. The rubber washers under the screws dry out and crack in the sun, and each screw becomes a leak. Seams and ridge caps also loosen in monsoon wind.

Options for a tired metal outbuilding roof include replacing fasteners and sealing seams, applying a reflective coating over sound metal, or replacing the panels. We inspect each structure separately and price them separately, so you can decide what to do now.

On houses, standing-seam metal is a durable option, running about $9.50 to $14.00 per square foot installed. But switching a house from tile to metal is a change of material, which needs a permit in Chandler or the County, and many subdivisions here have HOA rules about roof materials and colors. Check those before you fall in love with a product.

Costs and planning

We price every roof after an estimator has inspected it, because size, pitch, the number of valleys and penetrations, solar, access and deck condition all move the number. Typical ranges:

• Repairs: $300 to $5,000.
• Tile underlayment replacement: about $4.00 to $7.00 per square foot for concrete tile and $5.00 to $8.50 for clay, roughly $10,000 to $22,000 for most concrete tile homes.
• New concrete tile roof: about $6.50 to $10.50 per square foot. New clay tile: about $8.50 to $14.00.
• Shingle replacement: roughly $8,000 to $15,000.

Use our roof cost calculator for a rough number and get a free estimate for a real one. Estimates are written in Xactimate line items so you can see what each part costs. If you have solar, we detach and reset panels during tile work at $150 per panel.

Leaks tend to show up with the first heavy monsoon rain, so the cooler months, October through April, are the best time to get an underlayment replacement done. Financing through Service Finance and GreenSky is available, including 0 percent for 24 months for qualified buyers, subject to credit approval.