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Wellborn Roofing: The San Francisco Owner’s Guide
We stock and install Wellborn-compatible roofing parts across San Francisco, with most replacements priced between $470 and $2,125 installed depending on the specific component, roof pitch, and access. Same-week scheduling is typical for in-stock parts. Most owners discover a Wellborn roofing part has failed the way you probably did: a stain on the ceiling after rain, a shingle in the yard after a windstorm, or a drip you can hear from inside the house during a heavy January storm. The good news is that Wellborn roofing systems are built around standard dimensions and common flashing profiles, which means the part you need is almost always available and the fix is usually contained to a single section of the roof rather than a full reroof.

Which Wellborn Models This Applies To
Wellborn roofing components break down into three broad categories: asphalt shingle systems, metal drip edges and flashing, and roof deck underlayment. The compatibility gotcha to watch for is shingle exposure width. Wellborn’s architectural shingle lines use a 5-5/8-inch exposure on most San Francisco homes, but some of their older three-tab lines from the 1990s and early 2000s used a 5-inch exposure. That half-inch difference matters if you are patching a section: mixing exposures leaves visible seams and changes how water sheds on the slope. Check the back of any shingle you have left over from the original install, or pull a single shingle from the eave edge and measure the exposure before calling us. We also ask for the color code printed on the shingle wrapper; Wellborn uses the same color names across most of their lines, but the grain mix has shifted slightly over the past decade, and matching an older roof often requires ordering from the current production run rather than pulling from stock. For flashing and drip edge, Wellborn specifies 26-gauge galvanized steel on most residential roofs in the Bay Area. Aftermarket 28-gauge is cheaper and common in big-box stores, but we do not install it on coastal San Francisco homes: salt air eats through the thinner gauge noticeably faster from the Richmond District out to the Sunset.
Styles & brands we work with







Signs Your Wellborn Roofing Is Failing
- Stains or discoloration on ceiling drywall, especially near the chimney or skylight. This usually points to failed step or counter flashing around a roof penetration. The shingles themselves may be fine; the metal flashing is what gave out first. Wellborn flashing is solid, but San Francisco’s fog-and-sun cycles expand and contract metal repeatedly, and the sealant at the flashing joints fails before the metal does.
- Granules collecting in gutters or at the bottom of downspouts. Shingle granules protect the asphalt layer from UV. When you see bare patches of fiberglass mat showing through on the shingle, the shingle is near the end of its life. On a flat-lot San Francisco roof with partial oak or eucalyptus shade, granule loss accelerates unevenly: the sunny sections go first.
- A shingle in the yard after a windstorm, or shingles that lift when you watch from the street. This means the sealant strip on the shingle has failed or was never properly bonded. It is the most fixable failure: a lifted shingle can be re-sealed, and a blown-off shingle can be replaced individually if we can match the color and exposure.
- Sagging between rafters visible from the attic, or a roof that bounces when walked on. This is deck failure, usually from a slow leak that finally soaked the plywood or OSB. By the time you see the sag, the fix is no longer a shingle swap; we replace the deck section first. This is the main reason we do not ignore small leaks, even if the ceiling stain is small.
- Daylight visible through the ridge, or ridge cap shingles that look cracked from the ground. The ridge is the highest-wear point on any roof because it catches wind from every direction. Wellborn ridge caps are made from the same material as the field shingles, but on San Francisco hills where wind wraps over the peak, the ridge wears out several years before the rest of the roof.
See the difference
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After
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
For Wellborn roofing work in San Francisco, installed replacement pricing breaks down like this:
- Single shingle replacement or reseal: $470 – $1,180 depending on roof access, pitch, and whether we need to order a color match. Includes a full check of the surrounding shingles.
- Flashing repair or replacement (chimney, pipe boot, valley, step): $590 – $1,770 for most accessible roofs. Steep pitches and multi-story homes in neighborhoods like Noe Valley or Russian Hill run toward the top of the range because of ladder time and hoisting.
- Partial deck replacement plus new underlayment: $1,180 – $2,125 for a small section, depending on the thickness of the existing deck and how much cutting is involved.
- Full roof replacement: $9,440 – $23,600 for a typical San Francisco roof, with the spread driven by square footage, story height, roof pitch, and whether we are replacing decking underneath.
Every quote is a written price before any work starts. You will see the line items: the exact part, the exact quantity, the labor, the haul-away. If the job needs more than what the written price covers, we talk through it with you before the tool touches the roof. The workmanship warranty follows the 365-Day Done Right Promise: if the repair is not done right, we make it right. The shingle and flashing manufacturers carry their own warranties separately, and we give you those documents at the end of the job.

DIY or Call Us?
Roofing work in San Francisco involves height, ladders on unlevel ground, and material that shifts underfoot. We never recommend a homeowner walk their own roof, especially on the city’s steeper grades. What you can safely do from the ground or from inside: check the attic after a storm for a wet deck, check gutters for granule buildup, and take a photo of any shingle you can see lifting from the street. That gets us most of the information we need for the first conversation. What we would not do yourself: anything involving a ladder against a two-story wall, any work near a skylight or chimney flashing, or any attempt to lift and re-seal a shingle without knowing the roof’s condition underneath. Falls from residential roofs in San Francisco are common enough that we treat roof work the way we treat electrical panels: it is a trained-professional job. If you have a shingle lifting or a stain you do not like, call (831) 480-4497 and describe what you are seeing. We will tell you over the phone whether it sounds urgent or whether it can wait a week for a scheduled visit.
FAQs

Architectural Wellborn shingles typically last 20 to 30 years in San Francisco, with the shorter end of that range common on west-facing slopes that take full afternoon fog and sun cycling. Shingle warranties are prorated after year 10, so a 30-year shingle failing at year 22 still has some material value left, but the labor to replace it is not covered. If you are seeing granule loss, call (831) 480-4497 and we will give you an honest read on how much life is left before you need to budget a full replacement.
Yes, in most cases where the failure is isolated: a lifted shingle, a single flashing boot, or a small section of ridge cap. What matters is whether the failure is a single point or a pattern. If one shingle blew off in a windstorm and the rest of the roof is sound, repair makes sense. If shingles are failing in patches across multiple slopes, you are patching a roof that is telling you it is done. We will show you photos of what we find and give you the repair price and the replacement price side by side. Call (831) 480-4497 and we will take a look.
One to three hours on the roof for a single shingle or flashing replacement, plus drive time and setup. A partial deck replacement takes a full day. A full roof replacement on a typical San Francisco home takes three to five working days, depending on weather and whether we find deck damage that needs replacing once the old roof is off. We schedule around your family’s quiet hours where possible and tell you in advance which days the crew will be on the roof.
We keep common Wellborn shingle colors, drip edge, pipe boots, and step flashing on the truck for the most requested San Francisco models. Less common color codes or older Wellborn lines may need to be ordered, which typically adds two to four business days. If we are matching an older roof, we may order from the current production run and do a side-by-side comparison before we install anything. For other brands, we also stock KraftMaid cabinet parts, Cambria countertop care products, and Silestone touch-up kits.
Written by Graham Stein, Owner, Elmstead Remodeling San Francisco, serving San Francisco and nearby areas.


