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Home Insurance - 20 Year Old Roof

2,247 Views | 28 Replies | Last: 5 days ago by StillNotAnAggie
Chewy
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6:51a, 2/26/26
AG
I know this is an incredibly boring post, but have a house built in 2006 with 30 year shingles.

Even though the roof is aging as expected, most insurance companies don't want to insure a shingle roof at 2/3 of expected life.

Anyone have any luck with someone who will insure a 20 year old roof?

I do have Swyfft but they've doubled the premium in the last 2 years.

It's at the point we're just going to have to bite the bullet and put on a new roof because it'll pay off in 4-5 years.

Crazy we've got 10 years left but insurance says we don't
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Red Pear Realty
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7:59a, 2/26/26
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AG
I'm sorry you're dealing with this. Unfortunately, this has become SOP the last few years. On sales and purchases, I have clients that have trouble insuring 10+ year old roofs. Makes for a pretty upset seller, for sure.
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Texaggie7nine
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8:05a, 2/26/26
If you check out insurers like Progressive Home what they will do is insure the roof at like a percentage of the replacement cost based on how old it is. So for a 30 year old roof, if it takes like 25k to replace with a new one, they might give you $8k towards replacing it if it gets damaged.
7nine
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P.H. Dexippus
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In reply to Texaggie7nine • 8:32a, 2/26/26
AG
Texaggie7nine said:
If you check out insurers like Progressive Home what they will do is insure the roof at like a percentage of the replacement cost based on how old it is. So for a 30 year old roof, if it takes like 25k to replace with a new one, they might give you $8k towards replacing it if it gets damaged.

In my experience, you can get Progressive (Homesite) to insurer you, but good luck ever making a roof claim. The roof will be considered near 100% depreciated and you'll be paying for it all out of pocket anyway due to the deductible. I went through this exact scenario after Beryl. And I imagine it would be the same with most insurers who would write a policy on a 20 year roof.

If you go in knowing you'll never make a roof claim and just want reasonably priced homeowners insurance coverage for everything else, then I would consider Progressive a good option.
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Serotonin
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In reply to Chewy • 9:40a, 2/26/26
AG
Chewy said:
It's at the point we're just going to have to bite the bullet and put on a new roof because it'll pay off in 4-5 years.

I agree with Red Pear, this is where things have gone in Texas. A 10+ year old roof basically needs to be replaced to get insured.

It's completely ridiculous but unfortunately there's probably been so much shady practice and fraud after storms that now good people are having to pay the piper for all the bad actors.
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TarponChaser
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In reply to Serotonin • 10:10a, 2/26/26
Serotonin said:
Chewy said:
It's at the point we're just going to have to bite the bullet and put on a new roof because it'll pay off in 4-5 years.

I agree with Red Pear, this is where things have gone in Texas. A 10+ year old roof basically needs to be replaced to get insured.

It's completely ridiculous but unfortunately there's probably been so much shady practice and fraud after storms that now good people are having to pay the piper for all the bad actors.


Went through this last year when we got our insurance renewal. 10-year old roof that is in perfectly fine shape and the insurance companies wouldn't cover it unless we got a roof inspection by a certified roofer and even then to keep the premium somewhat manageable we had to get a 2% deductible on the roof policy.

The roofer who did the inspection said that the shady roofers getting everybody new roofs for the slightest bit of damage were the driving force behind all this BS.
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Guitarsoup
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In reply to P.H. Dexippus • 1:01p, 2/26/26
AG
P.H. Dexippus said:
Texaggie7nine said:
If you check out insurers like Progressive Home what they will do is insure the roof at like a percentage of the replacement cost based on how old it is. So for a 30 year old roof, if it takes like 25k to replace with a new one, they might give you $8k towards replacing it if it gets damaged.

In my experience, you can get Progressive (Homesite) to insurer you, but good luck ever making a roof claim. The roof will be considered near 100% depreciated and you'll be paying for it all out of pocket anyway due to the deductible. I went through this exact scenario after Beryl. And I imagine it would be the same with most insurers who would write a policy on a 20 year roof.

If you go in knowing you'll never make a roof claim and just want reasonably priced homeowners insurance coverage for everything else, then I would consider Progressive a good option.

We just upped our deductible to 5% and still had this fight. Our roof is way less than 5% and we still had pushback on it (reroofed in 2008 after Ike) when shopping for insurance.

I just said to the insurance guy "Why do you even care at this point, my deductible is more than the cost of a new roof so I would never make a claim on it anyway."

Homeowners insurance and property taxes are two of the very very long list of ****ty things about living in Harris County.
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Charismatic Megafauna
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1:07p, 2/26/26
AG
I've had a roof completely excluded from my homeowner policy before too, not sure if that was cool with my mortgage but they didn't give me an issue about it.
Honestly though, 30 year shingles or not I'd just replace it if y can swing it. 20 years is pretty much a roof's lifespan. Shop around and get a realtor to recommend their guy. We had A Superior Roof out of Humble do ours a couple years ago
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David_Puddy
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2:42p, 2/26/26
AG
If you decide to put on a new roof, please give me a shout!
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Jason_Roofer
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8:59a, 2/27/26
I've commented on this several times over the past few months. This is the way things will be moving going forward. I can't tell you how many roofs I've done Houston, Austin, BCS, and San Antonio that were purely retail reroofs for no other reason than to get insurance coverage. I've done inspections and ripped off perfectly good roofs that were 12 years old because the carrier won't insure. It's nuts.

Probably 40% of my work is now retail over this. That was never the case in the past.

Here is my advice. Pay now to have it roofed if you NEED it. Get the best shingle you can afford, get the best roofer you can find that is completely connected with their reps and manufacturers. Get the entire system done. Don't half bake anything. Don't buy based on price. This is not where you cheap out.

Then/OR…find a carrier that will insure your home for catastrophic losses with a relatively high deductible and replace your roof on your timeline or when it gets hail damage. It's yours. Your roofer, who is a professional and looks at this stuff 6 days a week should tell you when to replace and you should discuss with him and him alone how that process should take place and when it should occur. The insurance man should not make that call.

Good luck, and as always, as I've done it for a ton of Ags, my contact is in my profile, phone calls are free and productive ways to get educated on the way forward. If you want to bounce things off of me or want any other advice. Happy to get you any info you want or need.
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TarponChaser
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In reply to Jason_Roofer • 9:07a, 2/27/26
I know we'll need a new roof in the next 5-7 years, is there anyway to ballpark the cost just based on the SF of the roof from a perimeter? There's some varying pitches and roof lines that would make it more but it would be a minimum of 4700sf.
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Red Pear Realty
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In reply to TarponChaser • 9:34a, 2/27/26
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AG
Roofs are typically priced by the square. Each square is 10'x10'. You'll also get differences in pricing based on pitch and height and overall PITA factor (trees, location, how annoying you are, etc). I get pricing for most of my homes in the ~$400-450 per square range.
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TarponChaser
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In reply to Red Pear Realty • 9:43a, 2/27/26
Red Pear Realty said:
Roofs are typically priced by the square. Each square is 10'x10'. You'll also get differences in pricing based on pitch and height and overall PITA factor (trees, location, how annoying you are, etc). I get pricing for most of my homes in the ~$400-450 per square range.


So based on that it's at least $400-$450 x 47. Plus maybe 30% for the pitch variance I can't quite measure just on Google Earth and the PITA factor. Call it $30K or so.
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12thAngryMan
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10:04a, 2/27/26
AG
Question for you real estate/mortgage/insurance pros out there -- what is the risk of getting a non-roof-related homeowners claim denied or drastically reduced if you exclude the roof from the policy? Like if a storm blows through and you have water intrusion or other significant issues (unrelated to roof per se), I could envision an insurer trying to play hardball by saying your roof was old/faulty. Is that a realistic possibility, or not something to worry about?
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Diggity
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1:01p, 2/27/26
AG
it's annoying but getting 20 years out of a roof in Houston isn't the worst thing in the world. As others have mentioned, it gets really frustrating when they don't want to insure your 10 year old roof that doesn't have any issues.

"30 year roofs" don't typically hold up that long with the Houston environment.
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one MEEN Ag
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1:36p, 2/27/26
AG
How much more is a metal roof at this rate?
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Guitarsoup
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In reply to one MEEN Ag • 1:40p, 2/27/26
AG
one MEEN Ag said:
How much more is a metal roof at this rate?


Are insurance companies going to flip out on insuring a 40-y metal roof after 15 years?
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TarponChaser
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In reply to Guitarsoup • 2:04p, 2/27/26
Guitarsoup said:
one MEEN Ag said:
How much more is a metal roof at this rate?


Are insurance companies going to flip out on insuring a 40-y metal roof after 15 years?


That's one thing that bugs me is the opposition to metal roofs and siding homes around the Houston area.

Done correctly they look great and not at all cheap. Maybe more construction cost on the front end for the roof but that's offset a bit with the siding.

Go look up and down all of the 30A corridor in Florida- siding and metal roofs dominate and are not at all cheap looking.
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Guitarsoup
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In reply to TarponChaser • 2:50p, 2/27/26
AG
My HOA doesn't even allow metal roofs.
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Diggity
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2:53p, 2/27/26
AG
they can look nice in a uniform development (like 30A or Cinnamon Shores) but do look goofy when it's a one-off in an otherwise asphalt roof neighborhood.

Besides restrictions...builders don't tend to use them because they're more expensive and a new home buyer doesn't usually care about what the roof bill will be in 20 years. Same reason builders cheap out on foundations.
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Jason_Roofer
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In reply to TarponChaser • 2:53p, 2/27/26
Yes but I use measurements. I used to do it based on customer supplied footages but it's not in their best interest due to some variables. I figured If I'm worth asking for pricing then they should be worth me offering as correct a price and measuring accurately. Just shoot me message and I'll hook you up with anything you need.
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TarponChaser
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In reply to Guitarsoup • 2:54p, 2/27/26
Guitarsoup said:
My HOA doesn't even allow metal roofs.

Yeah, me either. Most don't.
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TarponChaser
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In reply to Jason_Roofer • 2:55p, 2/27/26
Jason_Roofer said:
Yes but I use measurements. I used to do it based on customer supplied footages but it's not in their best interest due to some variables. I figured If I'm worth asking for pricing then they should be worth me offering as correct a price and measuring accurately. Just shoot me message and I'll hook you up with anything you need.


Thanks.

Nothing on the immediate horizon. I was just wondering if there was a rule of thumb to guesstimate the cost of a roof.
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Jason_Roofer
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In reply to TarponChaser • 4:01p, 2/27/26
450-550/sq for a very rough range of variables for quality architectural shingles meeting all manufacturer requirements, associated synthetic products, and corresponding lifetime warranties for the above.
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MAS444
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4:56p, 2/27/26
AG
Standing seam metal is superior to asphalt shingles in every way but cost. I personally also think they look better, but I guess that depends on the type of home (and other homes in the neighborhood, as has been said).

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one MEEN Ag
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In reply to Guitarsoup • 1:55p, 3/4/26
AG
Guitarsoup said:
one MEEN Ag said:
How much more is a metal roof at this rate?


Are insurance companies going to flip out on insuring a 40-y metal roof after 15 years?

Maybe someone with more insight can answer but my understanding is that if you:

-don't buy the thinnest gauge
-go for double seamed instead of single seamed
-don't make any hail claims

they'll leave you alone for life.
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Ag83
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2:19p, 3/4/26
AG
All I can say after reading this topic is "f TWIA".
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Jason_Roofer
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In reply to one MEEN Ag • 4:55p, 3/4/26
I don't think I've met but two people working for an insurance company in the inspection part of the industry that would know……

24 vs 26 gauge
Single lock vs double lock vs snap lock
Functionally damaging hail damage

I have only had one customer tell me that their carrier said they need to replace their metal roof after ten years but I think they just canceled their policy and moved on.

To combat the ten year replacement hoax the carriers are pushing I have for several years sold full on roof certifications. If the roof is 10, 15, 20 years old and it doesn't have hail damage and I think it has life left, I'll put it in a report and put my signature on it. It has gotten several people past that hurdle. The carriers are going to ten year replacements because it minimizes their financial exposure while maximizing yours. It's not cool.
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StillNotAnAggie
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2:28p, 3/5/26
Back to the original question, I was able to get AllState with a 2% deductible. If you want my guys name, send me an email at my username at gmail.com.
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