Free written scope consultation - allowances, timeline, and change-order rules on paper before a single trade is scheduled
Boral Roofing: The San Francisco Owner’s Guide
We stock and install Boral-compatible roofing parts across San Francisco, with most repairs running $470 to $2,125 installed. A typical Boral tile or component replacement is done in one visit. Most San Francisco homeowners call us after a storm or a visual inspection turns up a cracked tile, lifted flashing, or a failed underlayment seam. You’ll hear it first as a leak in the ceiling or see it as a water stain running down an interior wall. Curtis Lane and our crew have handled Boral roof repairs throughout the city long enough to know exactly which parts fail first and why. Straight number, real scope, no surprises at close-out.
Which Boral Models This Applies To
Boral manufactures three roofing profiles we see most often on San Francisco homes: flat concrete tile, low-profile concrete tile, and the Boral Steel line. The flat and low-profile tiles are the ones you’ll find on the majority of stucco and craftsman houses in the Sunset, Richmond, and West Portal neighborhoods. If you have Boral concrete tile, flip over a loose tile and look at the underside. You’ll see a stamped code, usually a letter and number sequence like “FT” for flat tile or “LP” for low profile, followed by a color code. That stamp tells us the exact profile, color lot, and manufacturing run, which matters because Boral tile dimensions are not universal. A flat tile from a 2006 run will not seat properly against a low-profile tile from a 2012 run, even if the color looks close. When we match tile, we match profile first, color second. OEM Boral tile is still manufactured, and for most San Francisco homes that’s the right call. Aftermarket equivalents exist, but on a pitched roof facing the Pacific, the clay density and freeze-thaw tolerance are not the same. We’ll tell you when an aftermarket tile works. More often than not, we recommend OEM.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Boral Roofing Is Failing
- Water staining on ceiling or upper wall. This is the one symptom San Francisco homeowners notice first, especially after a long fog cycle. Moisture wicks through a cracked tile or a failed underlayment seam and shows up as a brown ring or a soft spot on the drywall. The actual roof damage is rarely directly above the stain.
- Cracked or chipped tiles visible from the ground. Concrete tile holds up to sun well but not to impact. A fallen branch in a January windstorm, a soccer ball, even a raccoon can fracture the corner of a tile. Once cracked, water gets under the tile and sits against the underlayment, which is not designed to stay wet.
- Granules or tile dust in the gutters. This is the Boral-specific early warning. Concrete tile sheds a fine dust as the surface wears, especially on south-facing roof planes. If you clean your gutters and find a sandy, gritty residue that wasn’t there before, the tile surface is degrading faster than it should.
- Flashing lifting away from chimneys or skylights. The flashing is the metal transition between your tile and the vertical surface. San Francisco’s temperature swings, fog, and salt air work the fasteners loose over 15 to 20 years. When flashing lifts, water runs straight under the tile and down the roof deck.
- Loose or sliding tiles near the ridge line. Boral tile relies on interlocking geometry plus a fastener at the top. When a fastener corrodes, and in the Outer Sunset they all eventually corrode, the tile slides. A sliding tile cracks the one below it and creates a chain reaction across the roof plane.
See the difference
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After
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After
Before
AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
Boral tile repair in San Francisco runs $470 to $2,125, and a full Boral roof replacement runs $9,440 to $23,600. The repair range covers a single cracked tile swap at the low end up to flashing replacement plus underlayment repair at the high end. What drives the price: how many tiles need to match, how steep the roof plane is, whether the underlayment is compromised, and how much flashing work is involved. We give you a written price before any work starts, and that number does not move at the door. You get a line-item breakdown showing the tile cost, the labor cost, and any flashing or underlayment material. Every Boral repair we complete is covered by our 365-Day Done Right Promise. If the repair fails within that year, we come back and correct it at no charge. The manufacturer’s warranty on OEM Boral tile still applies, and we document everything so your claim stays clean.
| Boral Repair Scope | Typical San Francisco Price Range |
|---|---|
| Single tile replacement (flat or low-profile) | $470 – $825 |
| Multiple tile replacement (same roof plane) | $710 – $1,180 |
| Flashing replacement at chimney or skylight | $950 – $1,650 |
| Underlayment repair with tile reset | $1,400 – $2,125 |
| Full Boral roof replacement | $9,440 – $23,600 |
DIY or Call Us?
You can safely do a visual inspection from the ground or from a ladder placed against the gutter. Look for cracked tiles, missing tile pieces, lifted flashing, and roof debris. What you should not do is walk the roof. Boral concrete tile is brittle, and a 200-pound homeowner walking across the tile will crack more tile than they diagnose. Steep San Francisco roof pitches, especially in the hills around Twin Peaks and Diamond Heights, make the job genuinely dangerous. We use ridge ladders and roof jacks to distribute weight. If you find a failed tile, call (831) 610-5598 and tell us what you’re seeing. We’ll ask you to snap a photo from the ladder. That photo tells us the tile profile, the color, and whether we need to grab an extra bundle from our supplier before we roll out.
FAQs
Boral concrete tile typically lasts 50 years or more in San Francisco, but the underlayment beneath it has a 20 to 30 year service life and fails first. The tile itself holds up; what you’re usually repairing is the waterproofing layer underneath. Call (831) 610-5598 and we’ll tell you which layer has failed on your roof.
No. Once concrete tile fractures, the crack lets water through and the tile cannot be structurally glued back to original strength. Replacement is the only correct repair. Call (831) 610-5598 for a written price on the exact tile match.
Most single-tile and flashing repairs take two to four hours on site, and we complete them in one visit. Full underlayment repairs can take a full day because the tile must come off, the deck must dry, and the tile goes back on in sequence. Call (831) 610-5598 and we’ll give you a time window before we arrive.
We stock the most common Boral flat and low-profile tile profiles in the colors we see across San Francisco, along with standard flashing and underlayment. If your tile is from an unusual color lot, we source OEM tile from our supplier before we schedule the repair. We also stock compatible parts for KraftMaid, Cambria, and Silestone products.
If you’ve got a Boral roof problem and you want a written price before any work starts, call (831) 610-5598. A live person answers, day or night. We’ll schedule the estimate, get on the roof, and hand you a line-item scope. If it’s not done right, we make it right for a full year.
Written by Curtis Lane, Owner, Bradford Remodeling Co – San Francisco, CA at Bradford Remodeling Co San Francisco, serving San Francisco and nearby areas.
