Memphis Premium Roofing: Roof Replacement, Repair & Storm Damage
Expert residential and commercial roofing services. Free slope-by-slope inspections across Shelby, Tipton and Fayette counties.
- ✓Licensed and insured Tennessee roofing contractor
- ✓Free slope-by-slope inspection with a dated photo report
- ✓Written scopes that name products, fasteners and dead load
- ✓Serving Shelby, Tipton, Fayette, Haywood, Lauderdale and Hardeman counties
Memphis Premium Roofing is a licensed, insured roofing contractor in Memphis, Tennessee, working on roof replacement, roof leak repair, storm and hail damage restoration, asphalt shingle and metal roofing, flat and low-slope membrane systems, chimney flashing, gutters, fascia and commercial roofing. We cover the city, Shelby County and the Tennessee counties around it, on houses, small commercial buildings and distribution space.
We install laminated architectural shingles rated to ASTM D3462 with a D7158 Class H wind classification, twenty-four gauge standing seam steel on concealed clips, sixty and eighty mil TPO, fully adhered EPDM and two-ply SBS modified bitumen, over self-adhered underlayment at every eave, valley and masonry junction. Every proposal names the product, the fastening pattern and the covering's dead load per square foot.
What makes a roof different in this city is what it is attached to. Shelby County sits in Seismic Design Category D, and Memphis and Shelby County adopted the seismic retrofit appendix of the existing building code while specifically declining the wind retrofit appendix. So we read chimneys, parapets and deck-to-wall connections as part of the roof, and we will say plainly when a heavier covering is the wrong answer for your framing.
Why Memphis Chooses Memphis Premium Roofing
- ✓Every proposal states the new covering's dead load in pounds per square foot next to the load of whatever comes off, because Shelby County is a Seismic Design Category D jurisdiction and weight is not a decorative question here.
- ✓Our inspection report includes the chimney's anchorage at the roof line, the parapet's unbraced height and the deck fastening where it meets masonry, three findings that are almost never on a Memphis roof report.
- ✓We tear off rather than overlay, because a tear-off is the only hour in which the chimney straps, the deck fastening and the top of the wall are all visible at the same time.
- ✓We turn down tile on existing stick-framed houses unless a Tennessee-licensed structural engineer has written down what the framing can carry, and we will help you find that engineer.
- ✓On commercial tilt-ups we treat the perimeter deck fastening as structure and route any new penetration inside a subdiaphragm region to the engineer of record before cutting.
- ✓We say out loud that anchorage work is not an insurance claim in this state, because Tennessee's insurance department is clear that standard policies exclude earthquake damage.
About Memphis Premium Roofing in Memphis, TN
Memphis Premium Roofing works the Tennessee side of the Mid-South, from downtown and Midtown out through Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown and Millington, north to Covington and Atoka, and east to Somerville and Oakland. Houses, small commercial buildings and the distribution space this city runs on.
The reason our estimates read differently is that we treat the roof as part of the building, not a finish on top of it. Shelby County is a Seismic Design Category D jurisdiction that adopted the seismic retrofit appendix of the existing building code and declined the wind retrofit appendix. That is not an abstraction. It decides whether a covering is too heavy, whether a chimney needs more than flashing, and whether a parapet is maintenance or structure.
When not to hire us. If your roof is sound and simply needs a repair, do not pay us to replace it, and any inspection that ends with us saying so costs you nothing. If you want a tile roof on an existing stick-framed house without an engineer's letter, we are the wrong company.
And if the finding is unreinforced masonry above the roof line, you need a structural engineer before you need a roofer, and we will give you a name rather than a quote.
Our Roofing Services in Memphis, TN
Roof Replacement
A replacement is the only moment you get to change what your roof weighs. In a county the building code treats as Seismic Design Category D, that number belongs on the proposal.
Roof Leak Repair
Most leaks we chase in Memphis end at masonry. A chimney, a parapet, a brick wall a roof dies into.
Storm Damage Restoration
Memphis loses roofs to wind and hail, not to earthquakes. We lead with that because the rest of this site argues about anchorage and dead load, and it would be dishonest to let that reasoning drift onto a page where it does not belong.
Hail Damage Roofing
The standard answer to hail is a Class 4 impact shingle. It is also a heavier shingle than the one it replaces, and on a Memphis house that is a trade-off worth saying out loud rather than burying in a product brochure.
Wind Damage Roofing
Here is a fact about Shelby County that almost nobody selling roofs in Memphis will mention. When the city and county adopted the existing building code, they specifically adopted its seismic retrofit appendix and specifically declined its wind retrofit appendix.
Roof Inspections
Our inspection report carries three lines that most Memphis roof reports do not. Whether the chimney is anchored where it passes the roof.
Asphalt Shingle Roofs
On most Memphis houses we recommend a laminated asphalt shingle, and one of the reasons is unglamorous. At roughly two pounds per square foot it is the lightest covering that will do the job, on framing that was designed around exactly that assumption.
Metal Roofing
Somebody will eventually tell you that a standing seam roof is an earthquake upgrade because metal is light. It is not.
Tile Roofing
We turn down more tile work in Memphis than we take, and the reason is arithmetic rather than taste. A stick-framed house here was designed around a two-pound covering.
Flat & Low-Slope Roofing
On an older Memphis brick building the parapet is a bigger question than the membrane. It is unreinforced masonry standing free above the roof deck, and the existing building code this county adopted contains a table that says how tall it may stand that way.
Roof Coatings & Sealing
A coating is the lightest way to buy years on a low-slope roof. It is also the way that leaves everything underneath it unexamined.
Roof Ventilation
Attic ventilation has nothing to do with earthquakes. We say that plainly, because the rest of this site reasons about anchorage and load, and stretching a good frame across a page it does not cover is how roofing companies talk themselves into nonsense.
Skylights
A skylight is a hole cut in a structural surface. On a low-slope Memphis building that surface is also the diaphragm that carries lateral load across the roof and into the walls.
Gutters & Downspouts
A gutter does not hang on your house. It hangs on the fascia, and on the brick houses filling Midtown and East Memphis that fascia is a board on a plate above masonry.
Fascia & Soffit
The fascia and soffit on a brick house are the joint where two materials that move at different rates must stay together. That joint is where rot starts here, and it is the one place a roofer can see whether the wall plate is still fastened.
Chimney Flashing
In Shelby County a masonry chimney is not only a flashing detail. It is a place the building code names as an anchorage point.
Emergency Tarping
Tarping is a same-day service and a two-week product. We say that first because the most common way a Memphis roof gets worse after a storm is a tarp that was left on until it became the leak it was installed to stop.
Commercial Roofing
Memphis is a distribution city and its big buildings show it. Concrete tilt-up walls, steel joists, a steel deck roof, and a lot of square footage.
Insurance Claim Help
Most of what this site argues about, the chimney anchorage and the parapets and the deck-to-wall connections, is work insurance will not pay for. Tennessee's insurance department states plainly that traditional homeowners and business policies do not cover earthquake damage.
Commercial and Industrial Roofing Across Memphis and Shelby County
Memphis moves freight, and its commercial stock shows it: concrete tilt-up distribution buildings with steel deck roofs, older brick warehouses with unreinforced parapets, strip retail and small offices. On the tilt-ups that deck is a structural diaphragm holding the walls on, so our scope names the deck before it names the membrane. We photograph the perimeter bays and route any new penetration inside a subdiaphragm to the engineer of record before cutting.
- ✓60 and 80 mil TPO, mechanically attached or induction welded
- ✓Fully adhered EPDM and two-ply SBS modified bitumen systems
- ✓Tapered polyisocyanurate to correct drainage the original design got wrong
- ✓Core cuts and moisture scans before any recommendation is written
- ✓Perimeter bay deck fastening photographed and logged, never disturbed casually
- ✓Parapet height and thickness measured against the code's bracing table
- ✓Coping, edge metal and base flashing terminated in a reglet, not sealant
- ✓Roof management plans and walkway pads on every service route
Recent Projects Across the Mid-South
How It Works
- Inspection, Including What the Roof Is Attached To. We walk every slope we can stand on safely and use a pole camera on the rest, then go into the attic. The report carries three lines most Memphis roof reports do not: the chimney anchorage where it passes the roof line, the parapet where there is one, and how the deck is fastened where it meets masonry.
- A Scope With Numbers Instead of Adjectives. You get product names, the fastener pattern, the underlayment, the flashing method at each junction, and the new covering's dead load per square foot set beside the load of whatever comes off. Anything we think is the wrong purchase goes in the document rather than being quietly left out of it.
- Permits, and the Line Where We Stop. We pull the permit through Memphis and Shelby County Construction Code Enforcement. If the inspection found unreinforced masonry standing above the roof line, or a parapet outside the code's height-to-thickness table, that goes to a Tennessee-licensed structural engineer instead of into our price. We are roofers and we stay inside that.
- Install, Then Hand Over the Photographs. Tear-off to the deck rather than an overlay, deck repairs priced as they are found instead of guessed at up front, and dated photographs of everything that gets covered up: the sheathing, the flashing at every wall junction, and the chimney before the counterflashing goes back on.
What Memphis Customers Say
Third roofer out and the first one who went in the attic. They found the leak was the chimney counterflashing sitting on the face of the brick with caulk behind it, cut a proper reglet, and repointed above it. Two years and nothing since.
I asked for a quote on a tile look and got a straight answer about what the extra weight meant on our framing, plus a lighter option that costs less and looks close. Nobody else even brought it up. They also told us our back slope had six good years left.
Storm took the ridge and one slope. They quoted the one slope, met the adjuster on the roof with photos already taken, and got the drip edge and the ice-and-water added to the estimate. Crew tarped the same evening and came back when they said they would.
They walked our warehouse roof, cored it in four places, and showed us wet insulation in two corners before recommending anything. Ended up tapered polyiso and eighty mil TPO. They also flagged the parapet and told us to get an engineer on it rather than pretending roofing would fix it.
Service Areas
Memphis Premium Roofing serves Memphis, TN and surrounding communities including:
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Memphis actually in an earthquake zone as far as the building code is concerned?
Yes. Federal cost studies of real Memphis buildings put the city in Seismic Design Category D, with short-period design accelerations around 0.66 to 0.74g on stiff soil. Practically, that is why Shelby County's residential permit checklist requires seismic details on new construction and additions over 400 square feet, and why inspectors verify strapping and panels on those plans. It also means the code's masonry chimney anchorage provisions apply here and do not apply in most of the eastern United States.
Does a roofer need a licence in Shelby County?
Tennessee splits it at $25,000. At or above that figure a contractor needs a licence from the state Board for Licensing Contractors. Below it, for residential remodeling between $3,000 and $24,999, a Home Improvement licence is required in nine named counties, and Shelby is one of them. Haywood County, which covers Brownsville and Stanton, is on that list too. Ask any roofer which licence they hold before you sign, and check it against the state's register.
Will my homeowner's policy pay to anchor a chimney or brace a parapet?
No. The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance states that traditional homeowners and business policies do not cover earthquake damage. Earthquake coverage is a separate purchase, and its deductible is a percentage rather than a flat amount, with the department's own example running ten percent of a $200,000 dwelling. So this work is owner-funded. Wind and hail damage is a different matter, and that is where an insurance claim is genuinely worth pursuing.
Can I put a clay or concrete tile roof on my Memphis house?
Not on our say-so. A stick-framed house here was designed around a covering weighing about two pounds per square foot, and tile weighs several times that before mortar is added. In a Seismic Design Category D county that added weight raises the lateral demand on framing and connections nobody is upgrading.
We will quote tile after a Tennessee-licensed structural engineer writes down what your framing can carry, and we will help you find one. Otherwise we will offer you a lighter alternative.
How long should a shingle roof last in Memphis?
Twenty years and often more, if it was nailed in the manufacturer's pattern and the attic actually breathes. Heat is what ages asphalt here, so the shingle and the ventilation are one decision rather than two. The most common reason a sound Memphis roof gets replaced early is not weather. It is a sales call. If your roof has years left, we will tell you that and send you an invoice for nothing.
Which towns outside Memphis do you cover?
All of Shelby County, including Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown, Millington, Arlington and Lakeland. North into Tipton County for Covington, Atoka, Munford and Brighton. East into Fayette County for Somerville, Oakland, Piperton and Rossville. We also work Brownsville and Stanton in Haywood County, Ripley in Lauderdale County and Whiteville in Hardeman County. All of it is Tennessee. We do not cross into Mississippi or Arkansas.